Cold Heat: Miami struggles with outside shooting in Game 1 of NBA Finals

DENVER (AP) —Miami could blame it on fatigue, or that much-talked-about MileHigh elevation. Or maybe this was just one of those nights.

Whatever thereason, the Heat had plenty of open looks in Game 1 of the NBAFinals on Thursday but couldn’t knock them down during a 104-93loss to the Denver Nuggets.

“When youlook at it during the game, they all look like the right shots andI’m not saying that we can’t as a team make those, but we’ve got toget more layups,” said Jimmy Butler, who had 13 points. “That’s itas a whole. We’ve got to attack the rim a lot more, myselfincluded.”

The statlines were hard to fathom: Max Strus, 0 for 10. Duncan Robinson, 1of 6. Even Caleb Martin, who had a stellar showing in the EasternConference finals, wasn’t immune. He finished 1 of 7.

Coach ErikSpoelstra won’t be saying much other than possibly this: Don’t readtoo much into it.

Just onenight.

“We also haveignitable guys. You see a couple go through and that also canbecome an avalanche,” Spoelstra said. “One way or the other, wehave to find a way to get the job done.”

This was farfrom a shooting clinic for the Heat. They did make a flurry ofshots in the fourth quarter to show what they can do and make thenumbers a little prettier (40.6% from the floor) than they mighthave been.

Then again,the Nuggets felt they had a little something to do with Miami’swayward aim.

“Our guys dida great job of defending without fouling,” Nuggets coach MichaelMalone said.

Denvercommitted just eight fouls total, resulting in only one trip to theline by Haywood Highsmith, who made both.

It tied forthe fewest free throws made in a playoff game, broke the record forfewest attempts from the line in a playoff game and set an NBAFinals records for fewest free throws made and attempted.

“I didn’teven realize it was two free throws only, and it was only my twofree throws,” Highsmith said. “So that was pretty interesting. Ithink we were aggressive, but we did shoot a lot of jump shotsbecause we were open.

“It’s weirdhaving two free throws. I’ve never seen that before.”

Added BamAdebayo: “We made history.”

“I mean, whenwe got in the locker room and (saw) the stat sheet,” Adebayo said,“I feel like we were all shocked that we only had two freethrows.”

In thismake-or-miss league, quite a few of the Heat struggled to get intoany sort of rhythm through three quarters.

Sometimes,shots just don’t fall. The Heat advanced to the Finals because ofBoston’s ineffectiveness from the outside in Game 7, when theCeltics were 9 of 42.

On Thursdayin Denver, the Heat got a small taste of what it felt like.

“I just feellike we took a lot of jump shots, and we missed a lot of them,”Adebayo said. “We’re going to watch film and get back to thedrawing board.”