The Miami Heat had won Game 1 of every series thus far this postseason, which is seemingly a big reason why they made it to the NBA Finals. However, Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night was a whole different story, as the Denver Nuggets came away with the win in large part thanks to a rough performance by Heat starters Max Strus and Caleb Martin.
Struss and Martin failed to get anything going in the opening game of the series, shooting a combined 1-17 from the field and 1-11 on three-point attempts.
This along with a great game from Nuggets stars Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray led to the Nuggets cruising to a 104-93 victory to take early control of the series.
Nikola Jokic records a triple-double in his 1st ever Finals game as Denver takes Game 1!
27 PTS
14 AST
10 REB
WGame 2: Sunday, 8pm/et on ABC pic.twitter.com/ilmwGaflED
— NBA (@NBA) June 2, 2023
The struggles of Strus and Martin were a talking point following the game. Many around the NBA world took to social media to blast them for their rough performances.
Caleb Martin and Max Strus when they're not playing the Celtics.pic.twitter.com/tr9XRu0Rxi
— Thomas Carrieri (@Thomas_Carrieri) June 2, 2023
Celtics fans seeing Max Strus and Caleb Martin go 0/12 pic.twitter.com/uo8LsUezDb
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) June 2, 2023
Caleb Martin and Max Strus in the 1st half: 0 pts, 0-12 FG
Celtics fans: pic.twitter.com/O4zilESOha
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) June 2, 2023
https://twitter.com/HoodiLane/status/1664452786996625408
Martin’s struggles in particular were puzzling because he is coming off perhaps his best game of the postseason in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics. He scored 26 points in that game to go along with ten rebounds.
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra was asked about their struggles after the game. He made it clear that he is not worried, and that he believes their shots will start falling later on in this series.
“They are fine. They aren’t going to get sick at sea. If they’re shooters, they’re not always gonna be able to make all the shows that you want. Then you have to find different ways to impact the game. Our team is not just built on the three-point ball. We have proven that time and time again. We can win games, we can win series’ regardless of how the three is going.”
“They’re fine. They’re not gonna get lost at sea. If they’re shooters, they’re not always gonna be able to make all the shots that they want… We can win games, we can win series regardless of how the three is going.”
Erik Spoelstra on Max Strus and Caleb Martin’s combined… pic.twitter.com/zg2VVHS2i6
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 2, 2023
It probably would have been a far different game if some of their shots were falling. Both Strus and Martin will look to turn things around for Game 2 of the series on Sunday night.
