NBA FINALS: HEAT VS. NUGGETS

June 1, 2023

Nikola Jokic

Denver Nuggets

Game 1: Postgame

Nuggets 104, Heat 93

Q. First Finals game in Nuggets history. Obviously your first Finals game. What were your emotions out there and everything like that?

NIKOLA JOKIC: I mean, to be honest, I couldn't wait to start just because when the game started it felt abnormal. Everything else didn't feel -- felt abnormal, and the whole media day yesterday or the day before, it was -- I think people are making something bigger than it is.

When the game started, I felt really comfortable.

Q. You obviously ended up finishing with plenty of shots and points, but in the first half it took a while to take a shot, I think you had three at halftime. I know that's not unusual for you, but is that just reading and reacting to what the defense is giving you?

NIKOLA JOKIC: Yes, exactly. I don't force it. I never force it, I think. It was a couple guys had it going, AG was playing really good, and we had advantage there.

I just take whatever the game gives me.

Q. Did they do anything defensively that -- I don't want to say surprised you but with the way they mixed things up?

NIKOLA JOKIC: I mean, that's what they're doing. That's why they're great. They're really intelligent. Everybody knows what they are doing. That's a hard team to beat because they keep playing the same way the whole game, and they're really, really smart about how they're doing it.

Q. Michael Malone said before the game that he quizzed you guys this morning. Do you like these quizzes, and how do you think you did as far as passing the test?

NIKOLA JOKIC: He didn't ask me nothing, so I don't know. I think we did a good job, but guys were focused on how it was supposed to be. We were really, really focused and locked into the game.

Q. How much does Aaron Gordon complement your game?

NIKOLA JOKIC: Oh, I love to play with him. I love to play with some -- I want to say dominant big men, if that makes any sense. But he's really -- the best thing he did is accepting his role, and he's really doing a great job of that. Like today he got it going. We were just getting him the ball, and he was really good in the paint today.

He's our best defender probably, him and KCP, and just to play defense the whole game on the best player, I think that's really hard to do.

Q. How do you think your teammates enhance your passing ability with whether it was Gordon cutting or the two-man game with Jamal, just them playing off of you?

NIKOLA JOKIC: I mean, we are playing that way -- I am playing with Jamal that way a long time ago. I think everybody kind of -- I think they like it just because they are touching the ball. It's not like you just catch and shoot. I think to have the opportunity to touch the ball, to do something with it, to take advantage, create an advantage. I think we are playing a really nice brand of basketball.

Q. You had mentioned sort of taking what the defense gives you, playing off those reads. Jamal in the first half much more looking for his shot, second half more facilitating. Wondering what you saw from him in terms of the way he read the game?

NIKOLA JOKIC: He had a couple of mid-range shots. I think he was supposed to make that. He's shooting the ball really well, and we all want him to shoot those kind of shots. He's really good at mid-range. He's really good at threes, too.

But as long as he's -- I think the whole Playoffs, he's playing really well, and creating for himself and for his teammates really nice looks.

Q. You just said you guys were playing a beautiful brand of basketball, a great brand of basketball. How much pride do you take in the fact that everybody has kind of followed your lead in playing selfless basketball and moving the ball and finding the open guy, that they have all followed the tone that you've set?

NIKOLA JOKIC: I didn't say that. I said we're playing good brand of basketball, not beautiful and not great.

That's how I learned to play basketball, and I think it's really nice to play -- it's really hard to guard when you don't know who's going to attack and how to defend when everybody is moving, everybody is doing something. I think it's a really nice brand of basketball that we have, and everybody buys in.

I'm not sure that I did that for us or whatever, but I think everybody contributed and everybody accepted it.

Q. Today or during the playoffs, do you ever speak to the team, like a locker room speech?

NIKOLA JOKIC: Uh-uh. I mean, no. We have veterans doing a really good job and they are really pointing the main things. If you listen to them, it's really smart what they are saying.

Q. Jamal said earlier that the team doesn't look at Christian Braun as a first-year player. Why doesn't the team look at him as a rookie?

NIKOLA JOKIC: I mean, that's a really good sentence about him. Really good, actually. I agree with that. Just because he's everything, what he's doing, it's aggressive, defensively, offensively. He's a champion. He won a couple things before coming here, so he knows what to do.

That's a really good sentence. We don't look at him as a rookie.

Q. I might be wrong, but when you walked in here and sat down and looked at the box score, it looked like you were surprised at something you saw in the box score, and I was wondering what that was.

NIKOLA JOKIC: Mike was 2-for-11, and I thought he made like seven threes. Crazy.

Q. Speaking of Mike, he finished with 12 rebounds tonight. I'm curious how you've seen him implement rebounding a little bit more into his game and how that's impacted you guys?

NIKOLA JOKIC: I mean, that's going to help us, especially the way, how they're attacking the glass, Bam, Jimmy, and to be on everybody, even Caleb Martin. Even Lowry he's always hanging out trying to steal some rebounds. But he's a big body, and he can help us on the glass, both sides.