NBA Finals: Nuggets Win First Championship
Nikola Jokic holds his MVP trophy with the rest of the Denver Nuggets | Photo Credit: Daniel Brenner/The New York Times
After a 47-year championship drought, the Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat in five games to capture the Larry O’Brien finals trophy. The finals series came to an end on June 12 in Denver, with finals MVP Nikola Jokic leading the game in scoring with 28 points and 16 rebounds. The other half of the Nuggets’ dynamic duo, Jamal Murray, closed out Game Five with 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists.
Denver entered their finals bracket as the first ranked seed in the Western Conference, and toppled the Minnesota Timberwolves and fan-favourite Phoenix Suns to reach the Conference finals, where they faced LeBron James and Anthony Davis’ formidable Los Angeles Lakers, fresh off of a series win against the Golden State Warriors. What looked like a matchup between two serious NBA finals contenders quickly morphed into a very definitive end of the season for the Lakers. The Nuggets swept LeBron and LA in four straight games, and cruised into the finals with enough momentum to pull out a game one win against Miami, setting the tone for the rest of the series.
Photo Credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images via CNN
The Heat’s path to the finals was far more eventful, as they were ranked seventh in the East pre-playoffs, qualifying them for a tough matchup against Atlanta Hawks in the Play-In tournament. Miami lost to the Hawks, and fought for survival against the embattled Chicago Bulls, where they pulled off a clutch win. After barely making it into the playoffs, the Heat were immediately faced with the number one seed in the East, NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks. After a miraculous five-game defeat of the Bucks, Jimmy Butler and the Heat went on to take down the New York Knicks, bringing them head-to-head with the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals. After a nail-biting game six, the Celtics pulled off a win, tying the series and forcing the Heat into another do-or-die game. The Heat prevailed in the end, fighting tooth-and-nail to face the Nuggets in the finals.
The Heat’s finals run, which began with a shocking five game defeat of the Eastern Conference first seed, was shut down by Jokic and the Nuggets. Denver dropped only one game to Miami, and pulled off two road wins to close them out. Miami put up significant offense to counter Jokic and Murray, but not even Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler’s double-digit games could stop the Nuggets’ star players.
When the finals MVP, Nikola Jokic, was asked by ESPN reporter Lisa Salters what it felt like to be an NBA Champion, the newly crowned King of the West had a simple answer. “It’s good,” he said. “The job is done and we can go home now.”