The Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat took part in Game 1 of the 2023 NBA Finals Thursday evening, and things pretty much played out as many had expected. Nikola Jokic and company absolutely dominated, as they finished the night off with 104 points scored while shooting 50.6% from the field.

However, despite what the final score may indicate, the eighth-seeded Heat did not make things easy for Denver, and Jokic highlighted their opponent's defensive efforts during his post-game media session.

“That's why they're great. They're really talented and everyone knows what they're doing. That's a hard team to beat because they keep playing the same way the whole game and they're really smart about it [and] how they're doing it,” Nikola Jokic said of Miami's defensive efforts.

Seeing the Heat put forth stellar efforts on the less glamorous side of the ball should come as no surprise. They finished as a top-10 ranked defensive unit during the regular season and, since the start of round two of the playoffs have ranked as the best defensive club.

Nonetheless, despite the high praise for his Eastern Conference foe, Nikola Jokic still went on to have a mesmerizing NBA Finals debut performance. Logging 40 minutes during the contest, the two-time MVP went on to put up a sensational stat line of 27 points, 14 assists, 10 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block while shooting 66.7% from the field and 50.0% from deep.

With this, the superstar big man joins Michael Jordan as the only other player in league history to lead both teams in points and assists in their NBA Finals debut.