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Jokic/Murray, winning ticket
What a festival of the two stars of Denver. We had never seen two teammates finish in a triple-double with 30 points or more, not in the final, not in the playoffs or in the regular season. That has been done. Nikola Jokic had 32 points (12/21), 21 rebounds and 10 assists, becoming the first player with at least 30 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in the finals. Beyond the numbers, the two-time Serbian MVP perfectly played his role as a control tower during this 109-94 victory on the boards of Kaseya Center, often at the head of the racket, and represented an insoluble problem for the Miami defense throughout the game. 34 points on 12-of-22 shooting for Jamal Murray, with 10 rebounds and as many assists. The interested party took a malicious pleasure in scoring when his team needed it most and when it hurt Miami the most, to stop the "runs" and air condition the room. "It's by far their best performance as a duo in seven years," said their happy coach Mike Malone. It's hard to prove him wrong...
Braun, the X factor
If Aaron Gordon (11 pts, 10 rbs, 5 pds) did good in the fight, Christian Braun's impact was significant. Coming off the bench, the latter hurt the Heat in the second half. He scored 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting, finishing as Denver's third-leading scorer in that game. The X factor was him on Wednesday in Florida.
Butler and Adebayo far too alone
We would talk about Bam Adebayo's big double-double, with 22 points and 17 rebounds, but his nasty 7/21 hurt his own. He was still precious and without him, the locals would have lowered the flag well before the end... Jimmy Butler struggled to stay the course with his 28 units (11/24), even if he grabbed only two small rebounds in this game, contributing to the bankruptcy of his team in this area (see elsewhere). In any case, it would have taken much more, in offense as in defense, to allow Miami to win, despite this close to -9 at the very end of the game after two increases signed Duncan Robinson (9 pts). And this even if the Nuggets relied a lot on their stars and they returned only 27.8% of their shots from long range.
FLOPS
Holes in the racket on the Miami side
Clumsy from afar (27.8%), the Nuggets found the parade by making their butter within the Heat's Gruyère defense in the racket. They scored 60 of their 109 points in the paint (!), compared to 34 for Miami. The rebound battle also turned to the advantage of Nikola Jokic and company (58 to 33). In these conditions, it is already almost miraculous to have seen the Floridians return to -9 in the last minutes of the game, after having a 21-point deficit at the height of the visitors' dominance. Poor Bam Adebayo cannot, of course, do everything alone, but he can and must do better, that is for sure. He finished with a +/- at -22. Note that he took a bounce more than all of his little comrades ... CUMULATES (17 against 16).
" READ ALSO NBA Finals: Jokic and Murray monstrous, Denver takes the hand against Miami
Porter Jr doesn't make it
Already discreet in Game 2, Michael Porter Jr continued on his (bad) momentum. Only 2 small points for him, at 1/7 shooting. He still grabbed 7 rebounds, making himself useful in the shadow spots. Not enough. He walks on trust and clearly, he has none. "KCP" did not bring much either (6 pts, 1/4).
Vincent/Strus, faulty rear wheel drive
Miami's linebacks contributed just 10 points and 3-of-17 shooting when it comes to scoring. Far too little to try to win against the Denver armada, that's clear. Gabe Vincent remained on two solid performances against the Nuggets, while Max Strus woke up in Game 2.
