THE Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic have continued where they left off last week. On Thursday night, into the early hours of this morning British Summer Time, the National Basketball Association finals got under way in Denver, Colorado.

In their 47th season in the NBA — one of the US’s so-called “Big Four” sports leagues along with the NFL (American football), MLB (baseball) and NHL (ice hockey) — the Nuggets are appearing in their first-ever finals.

They face the Miami Heat, who won the Eastern Conference finals after the best-of-seven series against the Boston Celtics went all the way to the last game despite them having taken a 3-0 series lead.