The Denver Nuggets won their first NBA ring

The Denver Nuggetsled by Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray, won the first NBA ring in its history defeating Jimmy Butler’s Miami Heat 4-1 in the finals.

After almost half a century in the league, the Nuggets, who until this year they never played the title seriesthey finally touched the NBA sky in an unforgettable night in which they defeated the Heat 94-89 in front of an ecstatic crowd at the Ball Arena in Denver.

Jokic (28 points and 16 rebounds in the fifth game). MVP of the finals and capped off an impressive playoff run by breaking the record for triple-doubles with 10 and becoming the first player to lead the NBA playoffs in points, rebounds and assists.

With the champagne cooling and everything ready to party in Denver after two consecutive victories in Miami, the fifth game, however, stifled the Nuggets a lot in the first three quarters and only in the last did they manage to defeat the inexhaustible Heat and die with their boots on.

It was a furious and suffocating fight, with very rusty attacks, a difficult rhythm and no space for either team to manage to leave on the scoreboard. Murray had 14 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, and Michael Porter Jr. had 16 points and 13 rebounds as the Nuggets went an incredible 5-of-28 from three-point range (17.9%) and were also poor from free throws (13-of-23). ), but absolutely dominant in the jump (71:50).

In this very deserving Heat, one step away from the hoop despite being eighth in the East, Butler came very close to inventing his incredible feat with 13 points in the final quarter (21 total), but ended up on the dime for Florida.

Bam Adebayo had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Heat, who had the injured Tyler Herro available for weeks but ended up not playing.

At the start, Denver accused the understandable nerves of someone who is about to make history. With four turnovers in the first two and a half minutes, the Nuggets entered the game quite tense, which the Heat took advantage of with an 0-5 start. It took them a while to settle down, but as soon as they did, Mike Malone’s men went on a 12-0 run, shutting down the Heat’s offense, which had missed 10 shots in a row.

In the first moments of the evening, Adebayo appeared for Miami, fantastic in the first quarter with 14 points and 6 rebounds, who took the fight against Jokić with two fouls in the first period. The forced departure of the Serb favored the surprise entry of DeAndre Jordan, who had not played since the first round of the Western Conference against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Jordan had some good moves against Adebayo, but, despite that, the Nuggets entered the second quarter down and fell again (22-24).

Thick, tight, uncomfortable

The Nuggets could not impose their rhythm, they added non-stop fouls, and the agitation of their players spread to their fans, quite restless to see their team down -10 in the second period (29-39 at 7:17 from the break) and increasingly angry. to the judges.

Except for a few sparks from Bruce Brown, the home team was very bogged down in attack and went to the break with a frightening 1 of 15 three-pointers and 9 turnovers.

Instead, the Heat seemed more and more confident in their abilities, had good contributions from Butler and Lowry in the second period and went to the locker room with a controlled game and a zone defense that did a lot of damage to Denver (44-51).

The Nuggets’ normally short rotation started to show the cracks with three fouls for Aaron Gordon in the half and two for Jokic and Murray. It certainly wasn’t an easy conversation at halftime for the Nuggets, but Jokic returned to the court like a steamroller.

Balkan took over the helm of his team with 8 points in five minutes, and with Murray’s three-pointer, Denver tied the score with the world still (60-60 with 6.44 on the clock). That morale boost didn’t turn into fireworks for the Nuggets as the game remained muddy with trenches and traps around every corner.

With more heart than success, Porter Jr. took the points under the rocks and thanks to his three-pointer – celebrated in the stands as if it was worth 10 points – the Nuggets took the lead for the first time since the first period. . However, Kyle Lowry’s provident three-pointer gives the guests a minimal advantage in the last 12 minutes (70-71). Between Jokic and Murray, the Nuggets saw some light on offense and got a +5 that, as the night went on, seemed like a huge gap (81-76 with 6.42 left).

It seemed that Butler ran out of gas then, but then he “resurrected” by hitting the table with 13 consecutive points, including two fantastic three-pointers that put the Heat in control with two minutes left (88-89). That’s as far as Miami got to a very exciting outcome.

Brown returned the dominance to the Nuggets, Butler lost the ball from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and he was responsible for a +3 for Denver (92-89 with only 24.7 seconds left).

Erik Spoelstra’s board drew up a 3-pointer for Butler, but it didn’t go in and the Nuggets sealed a day no one will forget in Denver.