Bam Adebayo does not want to get fined.

But he does appear to have a problem with officiating after the Miami Heat attempted just two free throws in Thursday's 104-93 loss to the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. He's just not saying so out loud.

The Athletic's Joe Vardon asked Adebayo his thoughts on the free-throw discrepancy in Adebayo's postgame news conference alongside Haywood Highsmith. The Nuggets attempted 20 free throws and connected on 16. The Heat's two free-throw attempts were the fewest in a playoff game in NBA history. Highsmith attempted and hit both.

"If I do say something, will you take the fine?" Adebayo responded.

He then declined to discuss officiating.

"I just feel like, we can't even get into that," he continued. "We can't let them dictate the game. I just feel like we took a lot of jump shots. We missed a lot of them instead of getting to the basket. We're gonna watch film and get back to the drawing board.

Adebayo then had a joke as he left the podium.

"Why he don't get fined for saying that?" Adebayo pondered.

The question was the third that the pair faced about the free-throw discrepancy. They declined each time to directly criticize officials.

Can Heat solve Game 1 shooting woes?

Adebayo is wise to decline to take the bait that could cause a distraction for the Heat and almost certainly dent his paycheck. He's also right about the Heat taking and missing a lot of jump shots. Adebayo was Miami's most reliable scorer Thursday while connecting on 13-of-25 field goals en route to 26 points and 13 rebounds. He was the only Heat player doing regular damage in the paint.

As a team, the Heat shot 40.6% from the field and 13-of-39 (33.3%) from 3-point distance. Neither of those numbers is good enough to compete with a Nuggets team that's cruising through the postseason and has yet to lose a playoff game at home.

Miami stunned the Eastern Conference to win its Finals berth as an No. 8 seed thanks in large part to its ability create and hit quality shots from all over the court, including long distance. After finishing 27th in the regular season while shooting 34.4% from 3-point range, Miami entered the NBA Finals leading all playoff teams with a 38.5% success rate from distance in the postseason. That efficiency was nowhere to be found Thursday night.

While the free-throw disparity is a problem, it wasn't why the Heat lost Thursday night. In order to compete in Game 2 and beyond, they'll need to find the form that led to their hot shooting through the first three rounds. Attacking the basket and getting to the free-throw line would help on that front.