Denver Nuggets Win First-Ever NBA Championship

On their home court, the Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat 94-89 Monday to win the 2022-23 National Basketball Association championship.

The Nuggets entered the game holding a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, but found themselves down 51-44 against a Miami franchise that reached the NBA Finals despite entering the playoffs as one of the lowest-seeded teams in the Eastern Conference.

Denver relied on solid defense and clutch play from role players such as Michael Porter Jr., and Bruce Brown to help the Nuggets overcome the Heat’s desperate effort to keep their season alive.

Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, a two-time regular season Most Valuable Player, was named the Finals MVP. Jokic, who shares the nickname “The Joker” with tennis star and fellow Serb Novak Djokovic, finished the game with 28 points and 16 rebounds. Teammate Jamal Murray, who returned to the Nuggets this season after suffering a devastating knee injury in 2021, had 14 points.

The title is the first for the Denver Nuggets in the team’s 56-year history, which includes 10 seasons in the old American Basketball Association before the ABA merged with the NBA after the 1975-76 season.

Jimmy Butler scored 21 points and teammate Bam Adebayo finished with 20 points for Miami. The two had led the Heat to its second trip to the NBA Finals in three seasons. Miami lost to the Los Angeles Lakers at the end of the 2019-20 season during which the league played in isolation at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Miami has won three NBA championship titles since their debut in the 1988-89 season.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
…