The Denver Nuggets took care of business against the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Despite being the “greener” team to the Finals, Denver still handled Miami's attack quite well. They held a sizable lead for most of the game, and extinguished the Heat's attempt at a comeback in the fourth quarter. That's cause for celebration, right? Well, not quite: head coach Michael Malone isn't happy about one particular part of their game, per ESPN.
“I don't think we played well in Game 1,” Malone said on Saturday. “I watched that tape, and they were 5-of-16 on wide-open 3's. As I told our players this morning, the fact that they got 16 wide-open 3's is problematic. And if you think that Max Strus is going to go 0-for-9 again or Duncan Robinson is going to go 1-for-5 again, you're wrong.”
While the Nuggets got their free-flowing offense going for most of the game, the Heat struggled to find any consistency on that end. Jimmy Butler did a magnificent job finding open shooters for Miami in Game 1, but said shooters couldn't punish the Denver defense with regularity. Strus, Robinson and Caleb Martin were their best shooters all playoffs long, and first two only went a combined 1-for-14 from deep. That is unlikely to happen again, especially for Strus and Martin.
Article Continues BelowTo be fair, the Nuggets also struggled shooting the ball from the outside. Nikola Jokic helped orchestrate their cutting attack, but Denver shot much worse from deep (29.6% vs. Miami's 33.3%). Both teams have a ton of areas that they can improve on all series long.
Game 2 of the NBA Finals is scheduled on Sunday night. With the nerves of their first Finals game behind them, the Nuggets are looking to impose their will on the Heat. However, Miami won't be backing down without a fight, not with Jimmy Butler and co. still around. Can Denver survive the coming Heat wave for Game 2?