NBA Finals, Jokic dominates: Denver wins game 1 with Miami

NEW YORK – The question was, how will it stop You love me the Despicable Me of Denver, Nikola Jokic? The answer was: she didn’t stop him. He was in the air, but the Serbian’s overwhelming power was confirmed in Race 1 of the finals NBA. The Nuggets, who were playing at home, won the first, 104-93, always leading the game and confirming, if ever there was a need, that there is a player more unstoppable than the others: the Serbian, author of a triple double with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists. The last one to start the finals for the title with such a round performance had been Jason Kidd but that was in 2002, when Nikola was a 7-year-old kid getting stoned on coca-cola.

Jokic’s game variety

Twenty-one years later the Serbian breaks through the defensive walls with a variety of play that is unmatched at this moment in the circuit. Jokic always seems on the verge of exhaustion, with that red nose, not extraordinary physique, the sum of two normal people, yet he sees all corners of the field, moves like a guard, rebounds like a center and has a habit of wanting to show everyone who gets the last word in the match. It was like that this time too. On the opposite side the center was Bam Adebayo, but while struggling a lot, there was no comparison, not even in team movement economy. Jokic is central to everything: in the area, in Denver’s game, in the minds of his teammates and in that of the fans who immediately began to nominate him as MVP, the best of the game.

The three-pointer digs the furrow

Beyond the divine elements, technically it was the three-point shot that only digged one between the two teams: in the first two quarters, where the game was channeled, Denver shot with 45 percent, Miami with 24. Nikola Jokic had ten points and ten assists, Jamal Murray he had already reached 18 points (he will then close with 26). The two had found each other wonderfully, with rotations at the tip of the Serbian, capable of always attracting two men to him: Jimmy Butler in the first place and then Adebayo, or the opposite. But he has always been able to find one of the three solutions of his baggage: the conclusion of three, the discharge on the weak corner for a free partner, the vertical penetration. The Nuggets led the game on this consolidated guideline throughout the season, winning the first two quarters: the first 29-20; 30-22 the second for a total of 59-42. And then the third, for 25-21 (84-63 the partial result).

Sunday the second challenge

Only an 11-0 run for the Heat, at the opening of the last quarter, saved the appearances of an already packed game. The points for You love methis time, they didn’t come from the other dioscuri of the team: Caleb Martin he finished the first half with 0 points and 0-5 shooting. Max Strus zero and 0-7. In the end they put together 3 points, the result of a basket by Caleb. In the area, the Floridians appeared to be a featherweight: in all they earned only two free throws, the lowest number in the history of the NBA finals. Jokic, at the end of the game, played Jokic and didn’t take the credit: “I have to thank all my team-mates for what we are doing, we are all concentrated and we don’t want to disappoint our fans”. Sunday evening Race 2. The theme remains the same: how to stop the Serbian. For the answer, we begin to have an idea.