Finals MVP Nikola Jokic carries Nuggets to first championship in franchise history after eliminating Heat
Just four months ago, Nikola Jokic wasn’t picked in the All-Star draft. The playground insult. LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the captains of the All-Star teams, instead chose players like Kyrie Irving, Ja Morant and Donovan Mitchell.
Jokic, the two-time reigning MVP at the time, essentially picked himself that night — he just walked off the stage before LeBron made a choice — because he didn’t want to insult the other final starter on the draft board, Lauri Markkanen.
Fast forward several weeks and a former NBA player, Kendrick Perkins, implied on ESPN that Jokic was only voted MVP because he’s white. Ridiculous. Perkins also labeled Jokic a stat padder. Doubly ridiculous.
Other NBA stars would’ve taken these things personally. LeBron would’ve logged the slights in his memory bank. Kevin Durant would’ve pretended to not care while tweeting about it.
But Jokic, the most overlooked and disrespected two-time MVP in history, ignored the noise. And now he’s an NBA champion.
“The job is done,” said Jokic. “We can go home now.”
A new king of the court was crowned with Denver’s championship-clinching 94-89 victory over the Heat in Monday’s Game 5. It was the first Nuggets title in franchise history, a history that includes a list of great talents — Carmelo Anthony, Dikembe Mutombo, Alex English and David Thompson — but zero Finals appearances until this year (they lost the ABA Finals in 1976).
Jokic was the star and named the Finals MVP after an intense finish, securing 28 points with 16 boards in 42 dominating minutes. He needed some help down the stretch as Miami made a late push. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope made the big play by anticipating and intercepting a pass from Jimmy Butler with about 30 seconds remaining.
Caldwell-Pope then knocked down two free throws, and Butler bricked a potential game-tying trey with 16 seconds left to secure the Nuggets’ win.
And while Jokic was a hero, Butler struggled. He was disappointing throughout the Finals and capped it with a dud in Game 5. He shot just 5-for-18 in an elimination game, losing his dominance from the earlier rounds. Butler was key in launching Miami’s fourth-quarter comeback, but it couldn’t make up for his awful start.
Despite the win, the performance was mostly sloppy from the Nuggets, who shot just 5-for-28 from beyond the arc. Jokic picked up two quick fouls. Aaron Gordon had three personals in his first seven minutes. Turnovers were a big issue. The three-pointers were way off. Denver trailed by double-digits in the second quarter.
But the home team never let the score get out of hand. Even with the inept shooting from long distance, the Nuggets remained within striking distance until they tied the score midway through the third quarter. Then they controlled the tempo and flexed their talent advantage over the Heat, which ran out of miracles in the Finals.
The Nuggets were a force until the very end. They went 16-4 in the postseason. They swept LeBron and the Lakers in the conference semis. Their ease of success — and their young core with Jokic (28 years old) and Jamal Murray (26) — had their New York-bred coach Mike Malone proclaiming that this was just the beginning.
“We’re not satisfied with just one,” Malone said.
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