2023 NBA Finals: Denver Nuggets beat Miami Heat 104-93 in Game 1

Denver Nuggets started off brilliantly in Game 1 of their maiden NBA Finals as they beat Miami Heat 1014-93 to take a 1-0 lead in the best of seven series. The Nuggets took the lead early on and never let it go even when they were outscored by 10 points in the finals quarter.

Both Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray had 20+ point game for the Nuggets while only Bam Adebayo scored in excess of 20 for the Heat. Miami now would hope for a better performance from their ace player Jimmy Butler as they enter Game 2 a couple of days after to level the series.

Here's the quarter-by-quarter breakdown of 2023 NBA Finals Game 1:

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Aaron Gordon led the charge for the Nuggets as Denver scored 29 points in the first 12 minutes and was ably supported by Murray's eight points. For the Heat, Butler and Adebayo teamed up for 15 points, scoring seven and eight points, respectively but Miami still conceded a lead of nine points as they could manage only 20 in 1Q.

The second quarter was all but same Denver came up with a 9-0 run in the middle of the quarter, going from 43 to 52 while the Heat stayed stuck on 37. Adebayo scored another eight points and Haywood Highsmith scored six but Miami scored only 22 in the quarter and were down 17 points at the half-time. For Denver, Murray dropped 10 points while Jokic scored six.

In Story:2023 NBA Finals: Denver Nuggets Beat Miami Heat

The game seemed to get all but over as Miami's deficit increased to 21 points by the end of the third quarter despite starting with a 7-0 run in the quarter. The Heat scored just four points less than Denver's 25 in 3Q but the overall deficit proved too much for them in the end. For Miami, Adebayo added eight points once more, as his tally reached 24. For the Nuggets, Murray and Bruce Brown scored six and seven points, respectively.

Miami came out all guns blazing in the final quarter with an 11-0 run and cut down the deficit to 10 points only with almost 3/4th of the quarter left. Denver, however, rallied for a 6-0 run as the scores hit 74-90 in the Nuggets' favour. Both Nikola Jokic for the Nuggets and Haywood Highsmith for the Heat scored 12 points each in the quarter, but Miami failed to close the huge gap and lost by 11 points.

Bam Adebayo scored 26 for the Heat while Gabe Vincent chipped in with 19 and Haywood Highsmith dropped 18. For Denver, Jokic scored 27 to become the top scorer of the game while Jamal Murray scored 26 and Aaron Gordon scored 16.

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