DENVER — The first NBA Finals game in Denver Nuggets history will go down as a night to remember.
A sellout crowd at Ball Arena was treated to a dominant performance put on by the Nuggets, who rolled past the Miami Heat 104-93 in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series on Thursday night.
Denver grabbed an early lead (which it possessed for all but 19 seconds of the game) and never looked back to pull within three victories of the first NBA championship in franchise history.
The Nuggets had a well-balanced offensive attack as four of their five starters easily reached double-digit scoring figures.
Nikola Jokic recorded his first Finals triple-double by scoring a game-high 27 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out 14 assists.
Jamal Murray also continued his impressive playoff run with 26 points. Aaron Gordon had 14 points, 12 of which were scored in the first quarter, while Michael Porter Jr. hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 14 points.
"I think that's the beauty about what this team is. We have so many different weapons and so many different looks," Murray said. "It's free-flowing and a lot of fun."
Denver led by as many as 24 points in the second half in route to the Game 1 victory. The Nuggets have now won the first game of all four playoff series and remain undefeated at home in the postseason (9-0 overall).
"It's a really nice brand of basketball that we have and everybody buying in," Jokic said. "Everybody contributed and accepted it."
Game 2 is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. MT Sunday night at Ball Arena.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: NBA Finals 2023
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