Denver Nuggets Win Their 1st NBA Championship, Jokic NBA Finals MVP

Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets won the NBA title, defeating the Miami Heat 94-89 in Game 5 of the 2023 NBA Finals. This is the first Larry O’Brien trophy for the Nuggets since their introduction to the NBA in 1976.

Head coach Mike Malone and his boys became the generation that broke the ice for NBA trophies in Colorado, and they had to dig hard last night because the Heat simply didn’t want to surrender, pushing them to the brink.

Confetti showers Nikola Jokic and his daughter as the Nuggets win the NBA Championship! pic.twitter.com/Bl4nQZZdy8

— NBA (@NBA) June 13, 2023

Miami was up through most of the game before Denver took over the lead in the final period, pulling away to seven points but losing that and entering a very tight and narrow finish. Jimmy Butler was giving everything to bring back the series to Miami, but on the other side, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown emerged as the closers for the Nuggets’ team.

“Those last three or four minutes felt like a scene out of a movie,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Two teams in the center of the ring are throwing haymaker after haymaker, and it’s not necessarily shot-making. It’s the efforts.”

Nikola Jokic won the NBA Finals MVP award. From this point of view, the league made a massive mistake in giving the NBA MVP trophy to Joel Embiid instead of to the Joker, who was fantastic throughout the year. He became the first player ever to lead the playoffs in points, 600, rebounds, 269, and assists 190.

The Joker had 28 points last night, 12-for-16 from the field, 16 boards and four assists. Michael Porter Jr. finally appeared with 16 points and added 13 boards as well. Jamal Murray scored 14 with eight rebounds and assisted, while KCP added 11 buckets. Bruce Brown had ten off the bench.

On the other side, Butler and Bam Adebayo were the best. Butler ended the night with 21 points, but shooting 5-for-18 from the field, with five boards and three steals. Adebayo had a point fewer, with 12 boards. In general, the Heat team had a low shooting percentage, 33-for-96.

Miami’s season was a roller coaster, with the team experiencing a very poor regular part of the year. They would even lose the first round of the play-in tournament, only to eliminate the Bulls in the second round and secure the postseason and a clash with the Bucks in the opening stage of the same. Butler and the boys stopped the top seed in the league before beating the Knicks and the Celtics to win the Eastern Conference.

NIKOLA JOKIC…THIS IS UNREAL. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/wKzql8dLc0

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) June 13, 2023

However, they couldn’t do anything against the Joker, who conquered the league this year. Right from the series’ opening game, we’ve seen Jokic dominating the court, with his sidekicks jumping in from time to time. Nikola proved to be the best player in the game at the moment, becoming Denver’s legend for life.

The fans in Serbia have a lot to celebrate because, besides this Joker, the other one, Novak Djokovic, won his record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title on Sunday. The two stars were always in contact, supporting one another on the path to their greatness.

With Monday’s game, the NBA season is over. A turbulent and very rocky free agency awaits us, with plenty of teams having plans for a rebuild. It means that we just might see some big-time trades and moves, so stay tuned with WagerBop.com, as we cover all the latest NBA news.