Bam Adebayo had record night in Miami Heat's NBA Finals Game 1 fumble to Denver Nuggets
DENVER — Bam Adebayo carried the Miami Heat as much as he could on Thursday night in Game 1 of the NBA Finals with a team-high 26 points and 13 rebounds. But the center couldn’t will his team to victory as the Denver Nuggets bested them 104-93.
He scored the first four points of the second half as the Heat went on a 7-0 run after the break. But he couldn't get help from his teammates as Max Strus went 0-for-10 from the field, Eastern Conference finals darling Caleb Martin was held to three points and even a third-quarter dunk from Jimmy Butler, who finished with 13 points, couldn't shore up any momentum.
Adebayo admitted that he was surprised by the amount of space he was given in the paint and he was “definitely comfortable with the shots we took.”
"I felt like we had a lot of open shots tonight," he said. "Ball just didn't go in. That's part of the game."
Head coach Erik Spoelstra said that Adebayo was a bright spot in how his team performed, but saw lots of room for improvement.
“I thought he had some good opportunities right in his sweet spot and then also some opportunities at the rim," he said. "Then I thought some of the detail with our spacing and the pace and intention of our offense kind of got us jammed up. It always kind of could look different, a few of these threes go down at the right time, a few of the layups right at the rim or the short ones go down at the right time, that also could change your perspective or tenor of how you think things are going."
According to ESPN Stats & Info, this was Adebayo’s 17th career playoff game with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds, second in franchise history only to LeBron James. He also became the fifth player in the team’s record books to score 1,000 points in the postseason.
Adebayo was averaging 16.8 points in the playoffs prior to the Finals and had 23 points twice, in Game 4 and Game 6 of the Eastern conference semifinals against the New York Knicks.
His teammates appreciated Adebayo's production and said that his leadership isn't just a one-game anomaly.
“I think we are always trying to find Bam," said Gabe Vincent, who finished with 19 points, "and the way they guard, he tended to be open with some of our sets a bit, and he made some good reads tonight. He made some shots. He's aggressive. We're going to need him to continue to be aggressive and continue to attack and continue to make the right reads for us.”
Butler agreed.
“When Bam is making shots, I think he makes everybody's job a lot easier," Butler said. "We want him to continue to be aggressive, and he was making the right passes when he couldn't get a bucket.”
Adebayo said that Spoelstra’s game plan is for the team to take initiative.
“He wants us to be aggressive. He wants us to be assertive. He wants us to make things happen. He wants us to create,” he said. “And you know with that responsibility, we gotta be smart with it. And I feel like all the shots that me and Jimmy took were good shots."
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone applauded Adebayo’s defensive performance. Adebayo held two-time MVP Nikola Jokic scoreless — and shotless — until 3 seconds left in the first quarter. Jokic finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists.
“We're a team and give Bam Adebayo credit,” Malone said. “He did a really good job of making Nikola's catches hard. He fronted him a lot in that first quarter throughout the game. So, we needed other guys to step up.”
Four of the Nuggets' five starters finished with double digits. Bruce Brown contributed 10 off the bench.
The Heat seek to bounce back in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday in the Mile High City.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bam Adebayo was Miami Heat's only bright spot in Game 1 of NBA Finals
