NBA Game Notes (June 4, 2023)
Here are the NBA game notes for games that were played on June 4, 2023.
Heat Rally, Tie Series
The Miami Heat rallied from an eight-point deficit through three quarters, defeating the Denver Nuggets 111-108 to tie the NBA Finals at one game apiece. The teams will travel to Miami for Games 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Friday.
The Heat picked up their 13th win of the 2023 NBA Playoffs, breaking a tie with the 1999 New York Knicks for the most wins in a postseason by a No. 8 seed. Meanwhile, the Nuggets were handed their first home loss of these playoffs after starting the postseason 9-0 at Ball Arena.
After setting an NBA playoff record by attempting just two free throws in Game 1, the Heat took 20 shots from the charity stripe in Game 2, making 18 of them (90.0%). They also made 17 of their 35 attempts from 3-point range (48.6%).
The Heat became just the fourth team in NBA Finals history to shoot at least 45% from 3-point range and 90% from the free throw line in a game:
Los Angeles Lakers (June 8, 2008)
Golden State Warriors (June 7, 2017)
Phoenix Suns (July 17, 2021)
Miami Heat (June 4, 2023)
The Heat’s Gabe Vincent scored a team-high 24 points, shooting 8-12 from the field with four 3-pointers made. Vincent had a plus-minus of +22 in 32 minutes of action, the highest such figure on either team.
Teammates Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo chipped in with 21 points apiece. Butler also dished out a team-high nine assists, while Adebayo grabbed nine rebounds and blocked two shots.
The Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic scored a game-high 41 points in the loss, shooting 16-28 from the field and 7-8 from the free throw line. Jokic also hauled in a game-high 11 rebounds.
Jokic is just the third player in NBA history to record a 40-point, 10-rebound game within the first two games of his Finals career, joining Charles Barkley (June 11, 1993) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (July 8, 2021).
The Nuggets dropped to 0-3 when Jokic records a 40-point game in these playoffs, tying the NBA record for most such losses in a single postseason:
Jerry West (1965)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1977)
LeBron James (2009)
Luka Doncic (2022)
Nikola Jokic (2023)
The second member of Denver’s dynamic duo, Jamal Murray, scored 18 points and handed out a game-high 10 assists. Murray is just the third player in NBA history to record at least 10 assists in each of the first two games of his Finals career, joining Magic Johnson (1980) and Michael Jordan (1991).