The Miami Heat lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night. Nikola Jokic had a big game, and Jimmy Butler wasn’t able to match it, resulting in a convincing win for Denver.
There was a major discrepancy in one aspect, though, the Nuggets were awarded 20 free throws by the referees, while the Miami Heat just had two attempts all game. Bam Adebayo was asked about it after the game, and he gave a funny answer.
The reporter asked Adebayo, “Bam, I promise I’m not trying to get you fined… Two foul shots to 20. It doesn’t seem like you guys are complaining about the officiating?” Bam Adebayo responded saying, “If I do say something, will you take the fine?” The reporter answered, “A portion of it.”
“We can’t even get into that. We can’t let them dictate the game. We took a lot of jump shots and we missed a lot of them instead of getting to the basket.” Bam Adebayo joked in the end pointing at the reporter and asking, “See, why he don’t get fined for saying that?”
Reporter: "Bam, I promise I'm not trying to get you fined… 2 foul shots to 20. It doesn't seem like you guys are complaining about the officiating?"
Bam Adebayo: "If I do say something, will you take the fine?"
"A portion of it."
"We can't even get into that. We can't let… pic.twitter.com/YQICSpTJ8l
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 2, 2023
The Miami Heat certainly didn’t play in a way that would earn them a lot of free throws. The team settled for a lot of outside shots, they attempted 39 three-pointers despite shooting at only 33% as a team. That’s not a recipe for success, and it eventually cost them during the game.
Jimmy Butler Took The Blame For Miami’s Lack Of Free Throws
Jimmy Butler is usually the man to go aggressively to the basket and earn free throws. It’s a big part of his game and why the Heat are so tough to put away. But he had none on the night and he accepted his portion of the blame after the game.
“I’m always gonna pass the ball to my teammates. I have so much belief and faith in them that they’re going to take and make shots. That’s how we played all year long, that’s not gonna change now that we’re in the Finals… I gotta put pressure on the rim. Me with no free throws, that was all on myself.”
The Miami Heat are the underdogs in these Finals on paper, but they cannot afford to fall behind the Denver Nuggets by too much in the series. A Game 1 loss was perhaps always likely, but they have to get back to what they do best in Game 2. It’s safe to say they’ll probably get a lot more free throws in the next game.
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