The longest drought in NBA history is at last over. The Denver Nuggets have finally won the NBA championship as they beat the Miami Heat 94-89 in Game 5 to win the series 4-1 and secure the franchise’s first ever title.
50 years of misery, sadness, anticipation, hope, disappointment on repeat has finally been broken.
The Denver Nuggets have won the NBA championship over the Miami Heat after a grueling, difficult five games series that saw the Nuggets break a 49-year title drought and Nikola Jokic cap off a brilliant season with the Finals MVP. And, the results show this was a deserved title win.
This was a 90’s throwback game if I’ve ever seen one. Both teams relied heavily on their centers, guards, and defensive prowess to not only hold each other to under 46% FG shooting and 30% 3-point shooting, but both sides also managed to keep the other 100 total points scored for just the sixth time all postseason.
Yes, that’s right, in 90 postseason games played in these playoffs (including the Play-In Round), only 7% of the games that saw both teams score under 100 points on the night.
Just 7% (6/90)!
The Heat and Nuggets showed such a high level of determination and passion to stop their, respective, opponent as both teams scored postseason-low point tallies (Nuggets: 94; Heat: 89), the Nuggets shot just 45.2% from the field (38/84), 17.9% from the 3-point line (5/28), a Shaq bad 56.5% (13/23) from the free throw line, the Heat were an even worse 34.4% (33/96) from the field, 25.7% (9/35) from the 3-point line, 87.5% (14/16) from the free throw line, and both sides forced at least 8 turnovers from the other (Denver: 8; Miami: 15).
Guys like Jamal Murray (14 PTS, 8 REB, 8 AST, 1 STL, 6/15 FG shooting), Michael Porter Jr. (16 PTS, 13 REB, 3 AST, 7/17 FG shooting), Bruce Brown (10 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 4/14 FG shooting), Kyle Lowry (12 PTS, 9 REB, 4 AST, 2 STLs, 1 BLK, 4/13 FG shooting), Max Strus (12 PTS, 8 REB, 1 AST, 1 BLK, 5/12 FG shooting), and Gabe Vincent (6 PTS, 0 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 3/13 FG shooting) all shot under 42% from the field and had under 17 points.
Obviously, shooting isn’t everything and the nerves of playing in an NBA Finals close-out game must have been intense, but these stats show how fantastic both sides played defensively against the other’s best players.
Moreover, what is just as impressive is how tight this game was from the first minute to the last.
The Heat were the more engaged, clinical team starting out the game with them going up 51-44 at halftime, while the Nuggets had a rocket fired under their butts in the 2nd half to close out the game 50-38.
With neither team having a lead of more than 10 at a time (Heat: 10, Nuggets: 8), the game was just a dogfight with both teams going up by 4-6…to only see their opponents storm back to take a 4-6 point lead of their own.
And, even though its going to ring hollow for Heat fans right now, the level of effort, defensive prowess, and just sheer determination to hold a team with Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, etc. to under 100 points in a championship close-out game with their backs on the ropes, being down 3-1, and playing in front of a raucous Denver crowd is really admirable in my eyes.
Nonetheless, as it always does when it comes to the most important NBA games, the team who had their stars shine the brightest in the most tense moments always wins. And, unsurprisingly, the star that shined the brightest was Nikola Jokic.
After the Heat went up 7 at halftime, Nikola Jokic took over the game in the second half with punishing post moves, unstoppable tips, vital rebounds, and just a master vision of the court that no player in the NBA, let alone this Heat team, could stop.
Oh, and he also lead all players with a game-high 28 PTS, a game-high 16 REB, 4 AST, 1 BLK, and a game-high 12/16 FG shooting (75%). Meanwhile, Jamal Murray may have been quieter than normal, but he hit some clutch midrange jumpers and 3-pointers that ballooned the Nuggets lead to 7 points with just 4 minutes left on the clock.
And, even though Bam Adebayo had a very good game with 20 PTS, 12 REB, 1 AST, 1 BLK, and 9/20 FG shooting, he’s not Miami’s star player. That would be Jimmy Butler…who just sadly didn’t show up on time.
Butler had something like 8 points on 3/12 (don’t quote me on these stats, but they’re a close estimate) for the ENTIRE GAME up until the final 4 minutes, which just shows how painfully bad he was.
Prior to the final four minutes that saw him hit two 3’s and make 3 clutch free throws (which was not a foul) to give Miami an 89-88 lead with 1:30 left, Butler was kicking the ball out to the wings when he’d drive to the rim, do 1,000 head fakes before missing easy (by his standard) layups, get bullied to the perimeter by Aaron Gordon (4 PTS, 7 REB, 1 AST, 2 STLs, 1 BLK) and Jokic, and just look timid whenever he had the ball in his hands.
He might have been able to get away with his awful 38 minutes (he played 41 MIN) with the clutch 3’s and free throws, yet what he did on the Heat’s last two meaningful possessions was telling of his level compared to Jokic’s.
With the chance to take a 90-89 lead, Butler nearly travelled under Jokic’s defensive pressure before turning the ball over to Caldwell-Pope. And, after Caldwell-Pope pushed the lead up to 92-89, Butler took a horrific 3-point shot attempt that was closer to hitting the top of the backboard than scoring on the VERY NEXT POSSESSION.
So, with Jokic adding another point through a free throw and Kyle Lowry missing the ensuring 3-point attempt, the Heat choose not to foul and allowed the Nuggets to run out the clock and clinch the first title in their franchise’s history in front of an emotional, frantic Denver crowd.
It really was a great sight to watch 25k+ Denver fans, the coaching staff, executives, owners, and the players celebrate lifting the Larry O’Brien trophy after 50 years (well, 49 but you get the idea) of misery, pain, and despair at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers (beat them in the Conference Finals), Utah Jazz (finished 16 wins above them), and the rest of the Western Conference.
Similarly to how the Toronto Raptors fans nearly rioted in the streets of Toronto with joy after the Raptors title win in 2019, the Nuggets fans were just as emotional and grateful to watch the glories and honors of the NBA finally pass to their city.
And, in classic Joker fashion, he humbly accepted the Bill Russell Finals MVP award to the delight of everyone in Denver as he’s officialy cemented his place as one of the NBA Top-10 greatest centers to have ever lived.
Perhaps next year will be Miami’s year or one of the other teams in the NBA, but the year of 2022/23 will forever be known as the Year of the Nuggets. Congratulations, Denver Nuggets, you are the rightful and deserved NBA champions!!!
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