Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets won Game 1 of the 2023 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat by 11 points at home.
However, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone told reporters on June 3 that his team didn’t play well in Game 1.
“Yeah, I don’t think we played well in Game 1,” Malone said. “I watched that tape, and Miami went 5-of-16 on wide-open 3s. The fact that they got 16 wide-open 3s is problematic, and if you think Max Strus is going to go 0-9 again or Duncan Robinson is going to go 1-5 again, you’re wrong. We gave up 30 points in the fourth quarter. They shot 60 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range.
“So there are a lot of areas that we can clean up. I’m not worried about what Miami is going to do. We know the Heat are going to come out and play well. I’m worried about the things we have to do better in order to try and win Game 2.”
NBA NEWS & FINALS COVERAGE: Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets & Miami Heat Updates
The Nuggets won Game 1 by a final score of 104-93. The Heat shot only 40.6% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc, but Malone — a very detail-oriented coach — didn’t like the open looks Miami got.
“The reason I told our players I was excited this morning is because we won Game 1 and we didn’t play well,” Malone said. “There were so many things that we could have done better. I think we’ll have a chance to win Game 2 if we can do a lot of these things at a better level.”
NBA NEWS & FINALS COVERAGE: Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets & Miami Heat Updates
The Nuggets are favored to win Game 2 of the Finals since they are undefeated at home in the 2023 playoffs. It will be interesting to see if Denver’s defense meets the standard Malone is looking for from his group.
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