And via the draft, of course, they acquired those stars: Murray, Michael Porter Jr., and Jokic, drafted 41st overall, in the middle of a Taco Bell commercial, at the age of 19. Via trades, they supplemented their stars with Gordon and Caldwell-Pope. Via free agency, the Nuggets boosted their bench with Brown and Jeff Green. En route to a title, Denver nailed all three methods of roster construction. NBA history is littered with entertaining young contenders that captured the imagination but never converted that dynamism into championship success.īut after missing the 2021 playoffs and the entire 2021-22 season, Murray returned from his injury as electric a creator as ever, and all the Nuggets’ gears slotted smoothly into place. ![]() The Thunder with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook never won a title neither did Steve Nash’s Suns or the early-2000s Kings or the mid-’90s Sonics. Without Jokic’s super-sidekick, that potential lost its definition and turned hazy instead sometimes in sports, ostensible title windows close all too soon. They’d been close to that elite level as far back as 2021, when they traded for Aaron Gordon and looked like a potential juggernaut for all of eight games before Murray tore his ACL. ![]() Where will Chris Paul land? Will Portland finally give in and trade Dame Lillard? We’re keeping a close watch on all of the biggest free agents, trade targets, retirement bluffers, and more in our new offseason tracker. That the two defensively oriented role players, both acquired over the summer as Denver sought to improve the rotation around its core stars, effectively clinched the title is a perfect illustration of the teamwide contributions that earned the Nuggets the championship. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope stole a Butler pass a minute later and made two free throws, and Brown followed with two more free throws of his own. On consecutive possessions in the final five minutes, with Miami’s improbable Cinderella run about to hit midnight, Butler sank two 3-pointers and was fouled on a third (or at least the refs said he was fouled on a controversial play, and confirmed the decision on review).īut with the Nuggets trailing 89-88, Brown cleaned up a miss from Jamal Murray, giving Denver the lead. ![]() Jimmy Butler suffered from the shooting misfires that afflicted just about everyone else on the court, but he almost single-handedly weathered a Nuggets rally in the fourth quarter with a 13-point flurry of his own. On an ugly shooting night for both squads-combined 14-for-63 (22 percent) from distance-the Heat were the aggressors early in Game 5, and led after the first, second, and third quarters.īam Adebayo scored 18 first-half points before fading in the second, and Kyle Lowry turned back the clock with four 3-pointers and a seemingly infinite number of pesky plays. Undermanned and ill-equipped to handle Denver’s size, Miami made the hosts in Ball Arena work for every bit of their clinching victory. The Nuggets had never even reached the Finals before, but they dominated once they got there, and completed their mission to deliver Denver its first NBA title. It wasn’t the easiest win the Nuggets have enjoyed this postseason: In a potential home clincher, they were trapped in foul trouble, made just 18 percent of their 3-pointers and 57 percent of their free throws, and committed enough turnovers to suggest they’d slathered their fingers with hot sauce before the game.īut this final bit of drama proved a compelling capper to a chaotic season-and to an otherwise commanding postseason run, as Denver finished 16-4 in the playoffs, with a sweep in the Western Conference finals and a five-game victory in the Finals. Finals MVP Nikola Jokic tallied 28 points and 16 rebounds, four other Nuggets scored in double figures, and Bruce Brown notched the go-ahead bucket on a putback with 91 seconds left. The Denver Nuggets are champions for the first time, after a 94-89 win over the Miami Heat on Monday, with a stellar defensive performance clinching the title for the best offensive team in the NBA. It was a boxing match, perhaps, given the tremendous physicality involved. ![]() Game 5 of the 2023 NBA Finals wasn’t a basketball contest, not really.
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