Winning an NBA Championship is not easy, and some of the best players in the league’s rich history have come up short multiple times. The Denver Nuggets were one of 11 teams that had never won a title until June 12, 2023, when Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and the rest of that Uber-talented Nuggets team rewrote the franchise’s script.
The Denver Nuggets are NBA Champions for the 1st time in the franchise’s history 👏
🏆 GAME 5 FINAL SCORE 🏆
DEN: 94
MIA: 89 pic.twitter.com/TDGO42ctwt
— NBA (@NBA) June 13, 2023
The Nuggets took down the Miami Heat in an absolute rock fight in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on that day. Denver was down seven points at halftime after scoring just 44 points, and trailed by as many as 10 midway through the second quarter. There were enough bricks to rebuild the entire city of Denver, as the two teams combined to shoot 71-for-180 from the field (39%) and 14-for-63 from distance (22%). Denver also made just 13 free throws in 23 attempts.
After sleepwalking through the first two-and-a-half quarters, Michael Porter Jr. provided a massive spark to the team with two transition buckets to even the game up at 66. The first was layup in transition off a smooth dribble move that no one in Denver knew he had in his bag.
The second play was a pull-up wing 3-pointer that finished with the cleanest ‘swish’ noise the net made all game and the loudest crowd pop Ball Arena has ever had.
The 6-foot-10 sharpshooter only made one of his six 3-point attempts that night, but it was arguably the most important bucket of the game.
A Kyle Lowry 3-pointer silenced the Nuggets crowd at the end of the quarter, however, and gave Miami the lead heading into the final frame. After a back-and-forth battle all throughout the fourth, highlighted by 15 points from the Nuggets pairing of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, it was Bruce Brown who scored what ended up being the game-winning basket, a put-back layup with 1:31 left in the game to give the Nuggets a one-point lead, which ended up being all they needed en route to a 94-89 victory.
Jokic led the way for Denver in that game, finishing with 28 points and 16 rebounds in just another day at the office, despite only recording four assists. Five Nuggets scored in double figures while the Miami duo of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo both scored at least 20 points.
Two years later, the franchise is in a much different spot, looking for answers to find the way back to the top. With Michael Malone and Calvin booth no longer in the building, another run to a championship will look different than last time, but with the best player in the world leading the way, the team will always have a better chance to win than most.
