The Nuggets secured their first championship on Monday night, completing a 4-1 series victory over the Heat with a 94-89 victory. The Nuggets joined the NBA in 1976 after the league’s merger with the ABA.
Nikola Jokic, the league’s two-time Most Valuable Player in the regular season, was named the MVP of the Finals, NBA Communications tweets. He had 28 points, 16 rebounds and four assists in the clinching victory. For the series, Jokic averaged 30.2 points, 14.0 rebounds and 7.2 assists per night.
Jokic and the team’s other star, Jamal Murray, carried the Nuggets throughout the playoffs. However, the team’s role players made some of the biggest plays in Game 5.
Bruce Brown had the go-ahead put-back in the late going and hit clinching free throws. In between, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had a key steal and made two clutch free throws.
Denver is well-positioned to make a run at back-to-back titles and beyond. Jokic, Murray, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. are all signed through at least the 2024/25 season. Caldwell-Pope has two more years left on his contract, though he can opt out next summer.
There’s a good chance Brown will go elsewhere. He will almost certainly decline his $6.8MM option and the team doesn’t own his Bird rights, limiting its ability to offer much of a raise.
Jeff Green and a handful of other veteran reserves will be unrestricted free agents, though the Nuggets have some quality young players on rookie contracts poised to take on bigger roles, including Christian Braun and Peyton Watson.
The Heat have some key players entering free agency, most notably Gabe Vincent, Max Strus and Kevin Love.
With the Finals decided, the 2023 NBA offseason is officially underway. The draft will be held in 10 days with free agency beginning the following week.
Hats off boys and congrats on the real MVP Nikola Jokic! Even with Little Jimmy cheating at the end along with the refs and A Silver trying to force a game 6 they still won.
Yeah, calling a foul on the Denver player when Butler jumped up and kicked him in the ‘nads was bad, and failure to overturn it on replay was inexplicable. Maybe just incompetence, but sure looked like some people badly wanted revenue from another game.
But fortunately that will be forgotten as the Nuggets got it done in the final minutes. On behalf of David Thompson, Dan Issel, Fat Lever, Alex English, Dikembe Mutombo, Chauncey Billups, George Karl, and many more in the last half-century, job well done!
Bro you sound like one of those haters that thinks Steph won’t retire w 8 rings smh when reddits back I’m saving this in my cringe compilation
The real MVP for sure. Embiid is MVP ? LOLOLOL
And poor Jimmy Butler. He’s never won a thing.
Nuggets made me look good since I said they would be champs when the playoffs started. They had the most complete team and no injuries to start the playoffs. Under appreciated all season for having the best record in the west which was a huge achievement. They deserved to be champs! They could repeat next year right now they should have the best odds for next year to win.
Meh
Bruce Brown is going to get paid. Maybe by Houston or San Antonio. Jeff Green is likely going to the Blazers or Dallas.
Congrats to the nuggets! Jokic, Murray, and Porter showed what happens when teams allow young players to grow together. Hopefully teams like the Celtics magic and thunder allow their teams to stay together. Jokic is a pleasure to watch. Murray one of the most clutch players in the NBA. Porter makes big plays when needed.
A special congrats to Bruce Brown the Boston kid. Putting on for the state of Massachusetts and getting a ring to represent that time frame of great ballers from the area to make the league. Awesome to witness and a great model for future generations! Hats off to you young man.
Final seconds of the game. Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson are yelling about what Miami should be doing. Mike Breen makes the call as the game ends and congratulates the Nuggets. Mark Jackson and Van Gundy never congratulate the Nuggets. Low class homers. Congratulations to the Nuggets 2023 NBA Champions; most entertaining team in the league; and the artist known as Jokic.
I’d suggest both preacher Mark Jackson, who needs to lose weight and smug Jeff Van Gundy are way overexposed and should move on. For years now I haven’t been able to watch their broadcasted games with the volume on.
Jackson and both Van Gundy’s are absolutely terrible at their jobs and dont deserve them and need to be fired and never speak into a mic about hoops ever again.
This is by far your best comment…
Is it a coincidence that the Nuggets win a championship the same year that Carmelo officially retired.
It was all part of the god damn plan!
Would have been nice if he signed a vet minimum deal and joined them this year.
What a fun team to watch. Enjoy Denver! Don’t wild out.
Feels nice to be a Nuggets Fan rn
Right there with ya, the Nuggets have always been my second team. I live half-way between Denver and Salt Lake.
Good to see some of the humble greats win one. Was glad to get giannis win one glad to see jokic win one.
Want to see Lillard Paul Doncic win one before their careers end.
Also glad to see Jeff Green win one at 36. Long time contributor on many teams. Good for him.
Chris Paul is not humble
But I agree on lillard or doncic
Nuggets could have a dynasty in the making
You think Doncic is humble?
Agree, Doncic is very much not humble. He’s just so great that it kind of makes him look like he is.
Ish Smith, 13th team. Good for him also!
Congratulations to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets on bringing their first championship to the city of Denver!!!! Love to see it
Congrats to the NUGGETS and their fans. It’s always great to see lesser, smaller market teams win.
Jokic is the devil, he’s fooling crowds everywhere …… he’s putting up big numbers, makes many winning plays yet it doesn’t look that way when watching him play. Just pure efficient genius.
It will be great watching teams try to slow him down in future playoffs.
Jokic, you da real MVP.
Nuggets are certainly the best team in the league. Still a little disappointing that they played:
8 seed Weeny Wolves
4 seed depleted Suns
7 seed washed Lakers
8 seed Jimmy
When you look at the path the Heat took to get to the finals, almost looks like more of an accomplishment….
The 7th seeded washed lakers beat warriors pretty easily so warriors where clearly not worthy of being their top challenger!
Thank the kings
You can only beat who is playing in front of you.
Nuggets won fair and square. They were the best team.
The fact that an 8th seed reached the finals just shows how weak the Eastern Conference is.
8th seed only because they lost a play in game. They were a 7 seed.
I agree, for this Nugs title to be actually legit they needed to go through the DEFENDING CHAMPS – YOUR GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS!!!
The lakers went ahead and did that
Good thing the Warriors won exactly zero of the regular season head-head matchups
Uh, did you miss it when the Nuggets swept the team that handily beat the Warriors?
Handily, thanks to the Lakers’ massive ref help like the 2x fouls +23 ftas for the Lakers in gm 1
Warriors maybe win that serious if they cut poole’s. Minutes in half
Who?
Warriors are not the defending champs
They were.
Go Nugs!
I’m surprised they said anything about the ABA
Issel, Thompson, English and many more want a title too. Those Denver teams could beat this one. What a joke the NBA is today. No dribbling violations and no defense at all plus a higher salary. Smh
Go cry some more, you troll.
The NBA was a joke back then, its 1000X more real now. Go play rugby if you want to tackle people, this this a skill sport.
…Jokic the real MVP. Steven A has lost all credibility. NBA commentary is so awful. They should just play Beethoven and shut the f up. I just don’t understand why the NBA has to be so fake so often. Such a beautiful game. Why dilute the experience?
Congrats to Jokic an the Nuggets. Class act. Team Effort. Fun to watch. Well done. Bravo!
Yeah putting anyone over Jokic for MVP is like putting Andre Iguodala over Steph Curry for MVP…
Nuggets are just better bigger and well coached also. Miami looked like they were running on fumes.
Big Time congratulations and kudos. I didn’t think they could do it. And I’d stop short on Dynasty talk it’s been proven how tough it is to repeat in sports. That’s what makes Michael Jordan and his Bulls teams accomplishments so incredible. Too tough to do again what it took the first time.
The Warriors are the only dynasty that matters.
And theirs isnt over. Many more rings to come.
Should have been Steph…
Bro you’re a nut job. Steph lost 3 weeks ago. They weren’t good enough the Lakers beat them. What the hell you talking about should have been Steph. You’re out of your mind. It’s not Steph this year.
Let’s talk about next year if you want but the nuggets are the champs this year. This is one of those posts where you’re talking out of your third eye and it stinks.
I wrote 4 words, clearly joking, and you replied with 2 full paragraphs and smearing my name – whos the “nut job” again? That’s you, Gary.
Are you even a GSW fan??? Real Red Sox attitude you have there, real phony vibes from you here…maybe this team isnt for you, maybe its the Celtics??
By your past comments you don’t appear to be joking. That’s what people say when they’re caught in some way or another. “Oh I was just joking.” Lol. You ride Steph Curry hard and he’s the only horse in town for you. But think about it the Warriors lost 3 weeks ago they’re out of the discussion. Should have been steph? That’s just out of left field to me. I really don’t get where that comes from?
But yes it’s Warriors and red sox. I’ve explained time and time again the last 10 years how that came about. No Celtics, no sharks, no A’s, no Giants, no Patriots and no bruins. Just me, just Warriors, just red sox. And just you from Left Field.
Well done Nuggets!
Next up, Ja goes away for a long time.
Nuggets had an easy path to the Finals, should have had to go through the Warriors??? Ha, ha, ha. I guess haters are just going to hate, no matter what.
Miami’s season ended after game three against Boston. They were 2-7 in their last nine playoff games, and were one good 4th quarter away from being swept in the Finals.
The Nuggets were superior in every facet of this series, and the outcome showed that fact. It’s too bad that the Nuggs will lose Bruce, but the core of this team is under contract and young enough to be a legitimate threat to repeat next season.
Jokic and Nuggets played some great basketball. Like I said before, it was reminiscent of the 2011 Mavs run.
Heat need to build up some depth for next year to work around the injuries, but this won’t be the last time we see this Finals matchup. Other that GSW, no other team is at the same caliber.
So many salty losers in this comment section… People really hating on certain teams and players full-time and then whining when their team gets knocked out before the conference finals. Celebrate the damn champs, they earned it.
On the other hand, people pretending they had a run like the 95 Rockets or the 2011 Mavs are outright delusional. They have the two-time MVP and are a fully healthy, incredibly deep ONE SEED team. Are people seriously acting like they were actually underdogs in any way shape or form?
Like, yes, absolutely, overcoming the adversity prior to this year is awesome, and it should be celebrated. But this season? C’mon. They dominated the Western Conference basically since November.
Agreed Eon. You wonder who’s really a basketball fan and enjoys the game as a whole, and who has tunnel vision and can’t really pay a compliment to someone else who worked hard and succeeded. I’m embarrassed way too often here. Not that I’m any better but Jeepers some people just can’t think in a logical manner and have someone else’s good interests in mind, and provide congratulations and a tip of the cap. SMH
Thank you! I can fully understand disliking the way certain players play, the way certain organizations operate, or certain fanbases. But the nonstop nonsensical hate? Ugh. I much prefer discussion.
Ummm excuse me? How were 2011 Mavs underdogs? They had 2nd best record in the west and a Superstar MVP in Dirk who was on his 2nd trip to the Finals. Youre just making stuff up to sound cool
Yeah, and they knocked out the reigning champion Lakers with Kobe/Pau/Bynum/Metta/Fisher, the Durant/Harden/Westbrook/Ibaka Thunder, and the James/Wade/Bosh Heat in the process. Their second star was Tyson Chandler, or a 38 year old Jason Kidd. Go ahead and tell me they weren’t underdogs against most of that. I’ll laugh.
Dallas was a damn good team, but nobody at the time favored them in the finals, or against the Lakers.
Stop the nonsense, no one was picking the nuggets at the beginning of the year. In fact, they had the 9th best odds at a +2200. In 2011, Mavs had 7th best odds at +2000. It’s cool you think Nuggets were favorites this year, but unfortunately the facts prove you to be wrong.
“at the beginning of the year” is your key phrase, and also something I never specified. The end of November was a quarter of the way through the season. Preseason odds are nice, but they rarely matter by the time the playoffs roll around, and those odds considered a healthy Caron Butler for Dallas, which they didn’t have after round 1. Denver wasn’t missing a single rotation player come playoff time this year, and those odds were heavily weighted on Denver’s underperformace without Jamal Murray in prior years.
All three teams I specified as favorites over Dallas also had better championship odds, btw. OKC was at +1600, LA was at +250, and Miami was at +175. Again, they weren’t favored.
So your argument is bandwagoning? Come on. Dallas Mavs were def favs in the 4th quarter of game 6 in the Finals. Prove me wrong? Haha!
Youre argument about Butler and odds changing is nonsense, because there are so many variations. For instance, Suns were 6th to win, but that was before they got Kevin Durant, which the Nuggets had to get past.
You want to talk about the end of the season, cool how about the fact that 2011 Mavs had 57 wins. 2023 Nuggets had 53. I could be wrong but 57 is more than 53.
At this point you’re completely contradicting yourself. Like you call out Kidd for being old, but then you bring up Derek Fisher as a key piece to the Lakers team? That Lakers team was just as old as the Mavs, so when I remind you the Mavs also had Terry, Marion and Peja, you can throw away the age retort.
Also, everything you just argued to me, goes against your initial point about hating on the Nuggets. Because everything you just said about being healthy and competition, just leads to the point that the Nuggets only won because they were lucky enough to be healthy and had an easy path.
Pointing out facts that don’t put every single ounce of awesome into one team is hating now? Sure, okay. That’s not what I was doing, and you know that.
The Nuggets faced less impressive competition to win than the Mavs in the finals, had better positioning *relative to other teams* (57 is more than 53 is a terrible argument, else the Spurs, Heat, Bulls, or Lakers would have won, as they had more than 57 wins), and stayed healthy the whole time while Dallas didn’t. And yet Dallas still won with a sweep of the defending champs, a gentleman’s sweep of the young stud Thunder, and a 2-1 comeback against the favorites. The Nuggets are awesome, but they didn’t have the kind of run the Mavs did.
And me naming one person who is old means I think old = inferior which means the Mavs were way down? What? The second best player on the Lakers behind freaking Kobe was 30yo Pau, the third best was either Bynum or Odom, who were 23 and 31 respectively. Metta was 31. Compared to that, the Mavs second, third, and fourth best were Chandler (who averaged 10/9/0.5, though with excellent defense), Kidd who was 38 and averaged less than 8ppg, and Shawn Marion, who averaged like 12 ppg (though, again, with good defense). There was a clear talent gap there, and none of them were over the hill except for Fisher, and he wasn’t expected to lead the offense like Kidd was because they had Kobe. All that only makes the Mavs run more impressive, not less.
And yeah, sure, odds change. You could make the argument that the Suns having Durant makes them a better team than the Nuggets on paper, but not when you consider that the next best player on the team after him was Deandre Ayton and they had minimal depth. The Nuggs still had MPJ, Aaron Gordon, and a full complement of depth pieces behind Jokic and Murray. Health is always important, but like, duh? Of course some teams are always going to be luckier or healthier than others. The Nuggets being fully healthy while Dallas was missing an All-Star only enhances my point, not anything to do with hating, it’s just an honest fact. I’m happy for the Nuggets, I just don’t think comparing them favorably to the Mavs in terms of overcoming adversity is a fair comparison.
You’re saying a bunch of nonsense. Not that your point aren’t necessarily true, but they are minute, they are points that can be made in every season, in ever series, in ever matchup. There are so many avenues to create narratives, and you’re grasping at straws.
Here I’ll give you another argument. In 2011, there were only 3 teams that were in the top 10 in OFF and DEF Rtg. The Heat, Mavs and the Lakers. So based off that, that puts them top 3.
So let’s break down the lakers. Kobe injured his ankle in the playoffs, there goes your health argument. Bynum as well, but he’s not even an argument cause he’s a bum. Odom? 2011 was his peak in the Kardashian vortex and starting his coke binge.
Next Miami. They were just put together and led by a young inexperienced coach against Rick Carlisle, arguably the best coach in the league at the time. As the now experienced Spoelstra has proven, coaching is a big factor.
Now that I put your nonsense to rest, let’s get to the 2 biggest issues with what youre saying. 1. You brought up hating on the Nuggets. You did. I went through all the initial comments on this thread, and I don’t see any hate at all. So what are you even saying? Who’s hating? Literally, you have made the only points against the Nuggets.
2. You mentioned the 2011 Mavs, obviously in reference to my comment. If you took that as “hating,” that is 100% on you. All Im doing is talking about basketball. Both the 11 Mavs and 23 Nuggets played great basketball during their runs. High IQ Ball with consistent pace. Constant movement. Inside out, outside in. Attacking from all angles. They played and won with the team game S their number one factor as opposed to some years where talent is number one.
Jokic and Dirk were both in the same type of zone. Just flawless basketball. Playing with accuracy. In complete control. They did everything they wanted to do. Every player has that one season and one playoff where everything they do is just right. And that was 2011 Dirk and 2023 Jokic.
I rarely emphasize coaching, but my first thought after this game was Michael Malone did an incredible coaching job with this team. Not just this year, but over the period of the last 4 seasons. Obviously, this team is (and has been) very talented at the top of the roster. But their 3 max are not gifted defenders, and each was a notably poor defender in their initial years in the league. Consistent with that, the early versions of this team had the look of one that could develop into a great offensive team, but would never emphasize defense, and thus would fall short in the playoffs. Like many of DEN’s other very good teams over the years.
It took years, but Malone eventually, by force of will it seemed, made defense a part of DEN’s identity and culture. The defensive buy-in by guys like Jokic and Murray wasn’t easy or inevitable. Their playoff run was a dominant one. 16-4 overall, 10-1 over the last 11, including 5-o on the road. That doesn’t happen with championshp level defense. It’s never all about the coach, but in this case the coach was the clear top advocate for it (in tough times, the only one), and he was willing to ruffle feathers to make it happen.
2k’ers shouldn’t fret. Their pin up boy, Bones Hyland, will get a ring. I assume. Everyone goes home a winner.
Nice to get that first one …. Congrats