Jokić Earns Triple-Double & Leads Nuggets to Game 1 Win At Home in NBA Finals

  

Okay, so I admittedly have not been on top of the NBA playoffs this year, as I have fairly often in the past. Not sure why, but I will try to remedy that now.

The Denver Nuggets are playing in their first ever NBA Finals, and they were very impressive. Well-rested after sweeping past  the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, and then sitting back and watching the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics go the distance in the East, the Nuggets had plenty of time to prepare for this with all of the time off. In fact, the concern may have been that they had too much time off, and might be rusty. 

In fact, the Nuggets looked like a well-oiled machine, and were running on all cylinders. Nikola Jokić, the biggest and most recognizable star on the Nuggets, had an incredible game, earning himself a triple-double in his first ever NBA Finals game. That was the first time that anyone did that in their first ever Finals game since Jason Kidd with the then New Jersey Nets, back in 2002 against the Los Angeles Lakers. 

To their credit, the Heat attempted a comeback. But Jokić stepped up and clamped down on that before it grew too serious. Denver simply played far better, and they made sure that the home crowd returned home with reason to smile. 

Right now, the Nuggets go ahead 1-0 in the series. They will get to host the Heat again in Game 2.

As for the Heat, they essentially outlasted the Celtics in the Easter Conference Finals. Like Denver, it appeared like they were making short work of Boston, racing off to a 3-0 series lead. But then, the Celtics came alive, staving off elimination in Miami in Game 4, beating the Heat in Game 5 in Boston, and then  winning one of the best games that I have seen in many years in Miami in Game 6, winning in the final fractions of a second to force the decisive Game 7. But Boston ran out of gas after that, ultimately getting blown out before their home crowd in Game 7. Celtics star Jayson Tatum was injured very early in the game, and it seemed that the Celtics never recovered. Miami cruised to a convincing road win to secure their place in these NBA Finals.

Game 2 for these NBA Finals will take place at 8pm EST this Sunday.