Nikola Jokic is already an NBA champion. The Denver Nuggets have made history this Monday defeating the Miami Heat in five games. They have been removed from the list of teams that have never won a title, shortening it to ten. The Larry O’Brien Trophy has finally arrived in a city with a 47-year basketball tradition. The long-awaited championship has arrived thanks to the hand of a corpulent European star with sad eyes and incomparable style. The Serbian center has conquered the league after an impressive run in the playoffs: 600 points, 209 rebounds and 190 assists. He is the first in each category, which has earned him the trophy of Most Valuable Player of the final. With this he has settled a debate that was open until recently about whether he should have won the regular season as well. A championship ring has vanished the discussion.
Jokic has become MVP of a final today after being chosen in the draft in position 41 of the first round. The Serb was asleep at his parents’ house. Those who followed the national team in the United States did not hear that name because at the time he began his history in the league, a Taco Bell ad was broadcast. This final has been of claims. Perhaps the most emotional has been that of Jamal Murray, a player who has cried a lot in the midst of joy. In 2021, he tore the patellar tendon in his left knee. After surgery, he began a long recovery that kept him out of the sport until October 2022. Today he closes that process.
To make history, the Nuggets had to change the script in Game 5. Despite Denver winning three games by double-digit differences, Miami had been a closing machine. Before tonight, those from Florida had scored 114 points to Denver’s 94. Tonight, the locals had to neutralize Jimmy Butler and show that defenses also win championships.
Five games have seemed to consume the volcanic Butler. After having gained fame as a miracle worker, the Miami star had barely appeared in the game where their lives were on the line. He missed two free throws early on, which seemed the harbinger of a discreet night. Accustomed to facing and penetrating, Butler preferred on several occasions to pass his open teammates in search of triples. In three quarters, he scored just eight points, leaving his team’s offense in the hands of Bam Adebayo (20), Max Strus (12) and Kyle Lowry, who made four 3-pointers and missed one with less than a minute left that could have changed the course of the night.
Miami was up on the scoreboard for three quarters. They started like a hurricane convinced that they could extend the epic that marked a historic breakthrough, they were only the second team to start from position eight in a conference to the final. Showing the hard work they’ve had in front of them is the fact that Max Strus played his 105th game tonight. You have to go back to the Lakers-Celtics final 13 years ago to find someone who has seen that much action in one season.
Denver seemed stunned by the frantic pace set by Miami from the start. They lost three balls in the first minutes, which became fourteen in the entire game (to eight for Miami). They were warming up. And along with them, the 19,500 spectators. The great atmosphere lived inside the Ball stadium was not only the work of the players. Also a pet, a mountain lion named Rocky. In addition to Jokic, the Nuggets have the NBA’s star cheerleader. The acrobat has accompanied the team since the Dikembe Mutombo years. Last year it was revealed that his salary is $625,000, a figure that far exceeds that of other animators. To repay his salary, Rocky prevents the crowd from entering a torpor of beers and hot dogs by juggling and shooting backwards from half court.
Jamal Murray’s 3-pointer tied the game in the third quarter, forcing Butler into survival mode in the final minutes of his season. He hit a 3-pointer that put Miami within four of the Nuggets in the fourth quarter. Seconds later, he dribbled to the corner for another shot from double coverage. The referees called a foul. Mark Malone, the coach of the locals, asked to review the play because he believed that Butler had sought contact. With cold blood and almost twenty thousand souls against him, he made three free throws. Butler was defeated as he played through the entire playoffs, fighting until the last minute. In the final quarter he scored 13 points.
A new legacy in the West?
The series began on June 1 without arousing too much passion in the United States. Perhaps because NBA fans preferred a final with those who lost the conference clashes, the Celtics and Lakers, who have plenty of pedigree in basketball history. Also because Boston and Los Angeles are much more emblematic than little Denver and chaotic Miami. But the final has given clear signs that the fans may be facing a legacy that is being born.
“They want more? Want more?” coach Mark Malone yelled at the fans after lifting the trophy. The public had not left their seats and it was raining confetti. On a makeshift platform on the court, the franchise that began playing in the ABA, the rebel basketball league, is now wondering if this is the first too many. Jokic is 28 years old. Aaron Gordon is 27, Murray is 26 and Michael Porter is 24. They all have at least two more years on their contracts, which makes you wonder if a new giant is born in the West tonight.
This Monday there was a nod to those Nuggets who played nine ABA seasons, who innovated with triples, allowed a more physical style and had a tricolor ball. Four teams were absorbed into the NBA in 1976. Davis skywalker Thomspon, one of the legends of that team, was present at the stadium to take an honorary free kick. His chance missed tonight, but everyone reminds him of a 73-point game in the late 1980s. Only Kobe Bryant and Wilt Chamberlain outscore him in a single performance. But then again, Skywalker never gave the team a title. Those were the Nuggets of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
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