NBA Basketball | Spoelstra: “Jokic is a triple-double machine and he loves to involve his teammates”

The Miami Heat coach praised the Nuggets star after his brilliant performance in Game 1 of the Finals

Spoelstra continues to ask his shooters to shoot with confidence after a dismal first game from the outside shot

Erik Spoelstra, coach of the Miami Heat, praised, on the eve of the second game of the NBA Finals, the lethal duo of the Denver Nuggets that form Nikola Jokic y Jamal Murray.

“Where do you start with them? You have two guys who can each score 50 points in a playoff game. One of them (Jokic) is a triple-double making machine and he loves to involve his teammates,” he said at a press conference.

“You can go down the endless list of things you can do defensively, but you have to cross off some things you really don’t want to do because of both of your ability to score and Jokic’s ability to create something outside of the script,” added. In any case, Spoelstra, a double champion with the Heat (2012 and 2013), pointed out that this type of challenge is common in an NBA title series. “You are not going to play an easy competition. You have to find a way to overcome it, even if great players are playing great. We have shown that, that we can win and overcome it regardless of how the game goes.” Indian.

The Nuggets signed a great debut in the first Finals in their history and subdued the Heat with authority to take advantage in the fight for the NBA ring (104-93, 1-0 in the series). Jimmy Butler had a gray performance with 13 points (6 of 14 on shots), 7 rebounds and 7 assists for some Heat in which Bam Adebayo he was the most outstanding with 26 points (13 of 25 on shots), 13 rebounds and 5 assists. “Obviously we want to involve JB and Bam as much as possible,” Spoelstra noted. “They are our two best players (…). There were certain aspects of what we did the other night that were very good and there are other areas offensively where we definitely need to improve and have more intention,” he added.

On the other hand, the Heat coach asked his outside players to continue shooting with confidence despite the bad night of some of them in the first game (Caleb Martin and Max Strus, for example, racked up a dismal 1-for-17 shooting from the field and 3 points between them.) “Once they see two coming in, it could be three, it could become six in an instant. What matters is that they’re clean shots. And obviously we want to have a little more balance with our attacks and points in the paint,” he mused.

This Sunday will be played second party of the Finals in Denver before the series moves on to Miami, which will host Game 3 and Game 4 on Wednesday and Friday, respectively.