After 47 years the Denver Nuggets are finally NBA Champions. When the Denver Nuggets are fully healthy with Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. they become a more dangerous team. In years past the Nuggets were known as a great regular season team but came up short in the playoffs. Last year the Nuggets were without Murray and Porter Jr. as Nuggets star center Nikola Jokić had to do it all for the Nuggets where they lost in the first round to the Golden State Warriors. Jokić was gunning for his 3rd straight MVP but lost to Sixers Center Joel Embiid where that motivated him.
The Denver Nuggets had the best record in the Western Conference where they beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in 5 games in the first round, then beat the Phoenix Suns in 6 games in the second round where it setup a matchup with the LA Lakers led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the Western Conference Finals. In the Playoffs the Nuggets had the best offense while the Lakers had the best defense and going into this series I really thought this would go 6 or 7 games but it was a Nuggets 4 game sweep where the Denver Nuggets were on their way to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.
The Denver Nuggets would take on the Miami Heat who were an 8th seed and the Miami Heat are the only second 8th seed to make the NBA Finals and the first to make it to the Finals out of the Play-In Tournament. Remember the Miami Heat lost their first Play-In game to the Atlanta Hawks but rallied and came back to the beat the Chicago Bulls in the next play-in game. The Heat beat the top seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round in 5 games and yes Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo did miss a couple of games due to injury but give the Heat credit. Then they beat the NY Knicks in 6 games and then the Boston Celtics in 7 games.
Going into this NBA Finals the Denver Nuggets were huge favorites but never count out the Miami Heat as Head Coach Erik Spoelstra is one damm good head coach who always has his team ready to go. Most people would say this series would go 4 or 5 games in favor of the Nuggets. In the Nuggets game 1 victory Nikola Jokić became the second player in an NBA Finals game to have a triple double in his NBA Finals Debut since Hall of Famer Jason Kidd in 2002. Jokic had 27 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists. The Heat won game 2 despite Nikola Jokić scoring 41 points but the Joker had only 4 assists. In the Nuggets game 3 victory in Miami history was made as Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray became the first set of teammates to have 30 point triple doubles in a single game. Jokić had 32 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists while Murray had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. In the Nuggets game 4 victory they showed how deep they are as they got big contributions from the likes of Aaron Gordon, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown.
The Nuggets after not a good first half flipped the switch in the second half as they were able to close out the Miami Heat in 5 games as the Nuggets win their first Championship in franchise history in front of the Nuggets fans. Denver allowed only 38 points in the second half and Jokić started to heat up. Nuggets win 94-89 in a low scoring kind of game that reminded me it was 90s basketball in a defensive battle. Hey I know the Miami Heat were an 8th seed and didn’t have the household names like the Denver Nuggets do but give them credit for making it all the way to the NBA Finals. Jimmy Butler had an incredible Playoffs but at times he wasn’t himself or didn’t have the help he needed.
The Denver Nuggets are the first Western Conference team outside the state of California and Texas to win an NBA Championship since the 1978-79 Seattle Supersonics. Nuggets HC Michael Malone missed the Playoffs his first 3 seasons in Denver and I bet you if he were part of another NBA team he likely would of been fired but patience paid off big time. Of course Nikola Jokić was Finals MVP and became the first player ever to lead the NBA Playoffs in points, rebounds and assists as Jokić had one of the greatest runs ever in NBA Playoff history through the Finals. When it is all said and done I think Nikola Jokić could go done as one of the not only one of the best centers in NBA History but also maybe the best passing center to ever play the game. His all around game is so much fun to watch when it comes to scoring, rebounding and passing. Nikola Jokić became the lowest draft pick ever to win Finals MVP as he was a second round pick in 2014 41st overall. Congrats to the Denver Nuggets on their first NBA Championship and this could be a dynasty in the making with this good young core they have.