Takeaways From Miami Heat's Loss Against Denver Nuggets In Game 1

Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic combined for 53 points in the Denver Nuggets’ victory against the Miami Heat

The Miami Heat had no answer for the Denver Nuggets' star duo of Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic. 

They combined for 53 points in the Nuggets' Game 1 victory in the NBA Finals. .

Here are some takeaways from the game:

-Just like the regular season, coach Erik Spoelstra went with a small-ball lineup against the Nuggets regular five. The Nuggets, particularly Aaron Gordon, took advantage of the major size difference. In the first quarter, Gordon constantly found himself in the paint with smaller players Max Strus and Gabe Vincent, allowing him to easily get dunks and layups. There was even an instance when he had an open path to the rim for a layup.

-When Gordon did most of the work early, Jokic took a passive approach. Instead of taking over in the frontcourt as usual, he stayed in the backcourt, allowing his teammates to get a feel for the game. He finished the first half with 10 assists and scored just 10 points.

-Jimmy Butler was expected to be the one who got his team going. Rather, it was Bam Adebayo. He had a huge first half, scoring everywhere in the midrange but what was really surprising is he did it against Jokic. Before the game, some wondered if Adebayo could handle Jokic defending him. Adebayo made a ton of layups and even hit a few jump shots with Jokic as the primary defender.

-In his first Finals appearances of his career, Haywood Highsmith showed he was ready for the big stage. Usually, a player with minimum experience wouldn’t be gifted with huge minutes but Spolestra had confidence in him. He scored a playoff career-high 18 points in 23 minutes off the bench.

Cory Nelson is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He attended Northern Virginia Community College. He can be reached at corymckenzienelson@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @CKenzyNelson. You can also check out his personal blog HERE.