Miami Heat vs Denver Nuggets 2023 NBA Finals Game 1: 3 records that were broken

The first game of the 2023 NBA Finals is in the books, as the Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat 104-93 on Thursday. The 11-point final margin doesn't tell the whole story, as the Nuggets dominated the game from start to finish, leading by as many as 21 points.

The Heat were unable to cope with Denver's size advantage throughout the game. That led to a lot of easy makes at the rim for Nuggets bigs Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon.

If the Heat are to have any chance in the series, coach Eric Spoelstra will have to quickly figure out how to fill this gaping hole in defense. On that note, here are three Finals records that fell during Game 1 between the Miami Heat and Denver Nugget:

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#3 Max Strus | Most 3-point shots attempted without a make | Tied 2nd

Steph Curry

If someone had told Max Strus that he would tie a Steph Curry record, he would have probably been ecstatic. However, this certainly isn't the record he would have hoped to tie. The Heat as a team shot a decent 33 percent from 3-point territory. Strus went an absymal 0-9 from beyond the arc.

With that, he tied Curry for second place on the list. Curry had this terrible shooting night just last year, in Game 5 against the Boston Celtics. Incredibly, the Golden State Warriors still won that game by 10 points, despite Curry struggling from the 3-point range.

The only player ahead of Strus and Curry is John Starks, who set the record with 11 attempts without a make n 1994 against the Houston Rockets. Starks' performance is undoubtedly, as it came in Game 7, a game which the New York Knicks ended up losing by only six points.

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#2 Max Strus | Most field goals attempted without a make

Strus' terrible night did not end there. He also missed a two-pointer to go with his nine missed threes. His 0-10 performance on the night broke the mark for the most field goals attempted without a make in NBA Finals history.

The previous record holder was Danny Green, who went 0-5 in Game 5 of the 2014 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat.

Green's poor game didn't receive much attention, as the San Antonio Spurs ended up winning that decisive game by 17 points to clinch the series 4-1. There wasn't such luck for Strus, though, who will have to ball out in the next few games to make people forget his abysmal shooting night.

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#1 Miami Heat | Fewest free throw attempts as a team

2023 NBA Finals - Game One

The Miami Heat received only two free throws in this game. That's right, two. The only Heat player to be sent to the line was Haywood Highsmith who knocked down both of them. While it might be easy to look at the box score and blame the referees for the free throw disparity, the Miami Heat only have themselves to blame.

They weren't playing aggressive by trying to get to the paint and settled for too many easy jumpers. That was particularly true for the Heat's star player Jimmy Butler, whose game relies heavily on driving and drawing fouls.

The previous mark for the fewest free throws attempted as a team was set in 1983 when the LA Lakers received only five free throw attempts in their Game 2 match-up against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers went on to sweep the Lakers in that series, a fate the Heat would look to avoid.

Even if we expand the criteria to all playoff games, this still remains the record. The previous record of three free throw attempts was set by the 1993 New Jersey Nets in their first round Game 4 match-up against the Cleveland Cavaliers.