I am late to the game writing this because I had to make the decision of writing this last night when the final buzzer sounded, or get some sleep so I can wake up and commute 2 hours to my hell job, so here we are. The Denver Nuggets won their first NBA championship Monday night, downing the Miami Heat 94-89 at Ball Arena in Denver to take Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Winning the NBA title is hard enough to do as it is, and what the Nuggets did this post season was nothing less than incredible. They played 19 total games, won the NBA Finals in 5 games, swept the Lakers, won in 6 against the Suns (their toughest series), and beat the Timberwolves in 5. Four total loses throughout the entire post season is absurd. This happened on the shoulders of two-time MVP, Nikola Jokic, and Jamal Murray.
The Serbian big man was voted Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals, and is the first center to win the award named after the late Bill Russell since Shaquille O’Neal of the Lakers in 2002. In addition to Jokic, and Murray, it was everyone. Aaron Gordon coming up huge. Bruce Brown making an impact. MPJ not being able to hit a shot to save his life, but playing hard as shit in Game 5 with a title on the line and then finally being rewarded with a late 3PM. The Nuggets won this title as a collective unit, where every player who saw the floor fulfilled their role and executed when it mattered most.
Early on in Game 5 Denver was playing like absolute garbage. “It was an amazing effort by the team,” Jokic told ABC after the game. “It was an ugly game. We couldn’t make shots but at the end, we figured out how to defend.” This was a game where Miami should've been able to put their foot on the gas and put this game out of reach early, however that wasn't the case. The cinderella story that was the Miami Heat this post season, were clearly over matched.
Outside of Jokic consistently putting up historic numbers, I would say this Finals was a 3/10. Denver played smart and didn't make many mistakes, but it was like having a grilled chicken salad with no dressing. The Heat were punching above their weight class. This Nuggets team could be this generations San Antonio Spurs. Now let Jokic go home and see his fucking horses already, he almost had a meltdown when he found out the championship parade is on Thursday.
Jimmy Butler is temporaily suspended from being called "Himmy" after his performance this Finals. Started game 5 shooting 2-12, up until the last 6 minutes of the game.
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