Nikola Jokic and Denver Nuggets are 2023 NBA champions

A fantastic season came to an end with the most… European flair. The Nuggets defeated the Heat 94-89 to be crowned champions of 2023 with a score of 4-1 in the NBA Finals, with Nikola Jokic taking the lead 23 years after the photo of him wearing a t-shirt from entered the basketball world The team with is now growing.

The tall Serb finished the game with 28 points, 16 rebounds and 4 assists in 42 minutes. He was the best player of the season and alongside him Porter (16 points, 13 rebounds) and Murray (14 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists) helped him to success. To put Denver on the map of the greats and give it a chance to celebrate something it may never see again.

Bruce Brown (10 points, 6 rebounds) didn’t shoot, but he was there on the crucial shots and scored as many points as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who stole the most important ball and made the shots 92-89. The Nuggets took the title, they deserved it 101%, and the Heat had a bittersweet taste of their own year, the year of excess.

The great Jimmy Butler didn’t play well, but he caught fire in the fourth period and almost ended the series. His own points kept the heat up while first-half wonder player Bam Adebayo (18 points, 9 rebounds) was held at two points and three rebounds in the second half.

Series results and schedule

• game 1: nuggets – heat 104-93
• game 2: nuggets – heat 108-111
• game 3: heat – nuggets 94-109
• game 4: heat – nuggets 95-108
• game 5: nuggets – heat 94-89

The race

Though the Heat got off to a good start, the Nuggets responded with a 12-0 run and made it 12-5 in the sixth minute as Miami threw up 12 straight shots. And yet the visitors responded at -8 with an amazing 2-14 and took a four-point lead thanks to two peat fouls from the great Antebayo. 22-24 of the period had Jokic with one shot and Adebayo with 11 shots while the two teams combined for 2/14 threes.

The Heat opened up a double-digit lead early in the second half, before the Nuggets responded with a small push of their own to go 35-39 midway through the quarter. They couldn’t do more, however, and at half time it was 44:51, which was probably flattering for them, because with 1/15 threes they couldn’t be satisfied with their performance. Even if most of these recordings took place in good conditions.

No matter how hard Jokic pushed, no matter how the crowd tried to do their part, the Heat persevered. And they persevered in the third 12 minutes, especially when they held the lead by a narrow 4-0 (64-60) when everything seemed to be going against them. Porter was the one to give the hosts even more, writing 69-66 in an unlikely apotheosis, but Miami had the answers here too, this time with Kyle Lowry for 70-71 at halftime.

Murray’s second three (75-71) wasn’t enough to bring the Heat down either. The Canadian also fired from middle range to level the 81-76 at 6:42, with Miami looking for a big shot but not finding it but also seeing the home side struggle to keep the game on three possessions bring to. Jokic made it 83-76 at 4:42, Caldwell-Pope responded with a 3-point shot at Butler, who made a second run to make it 86-82 before being fouled with three throws to bringing it to 86-85.

What followed? Porter’s miss, Butler’s two-pointer for 86-87 and Jokic’s basket for 88-87. Butler made shots to make it 88-89 after a heat offensive rebound alone missed a three-point shot, and Bruce Brown’s two-point shot made it 90-89 after his own offensive rebound. Strus missed a three from the left corner, two missed shots by the Nuggets, a Butler error and a Caldwell-Pope steal. He made it 92-89 at 24.7 inches, with Spoelstra taking an immediate timeout.

The ball went to Butler, he hit a three, Bruce Brown won the foul, made the layup and the Nuggets took the championship to incredible cheers from their home crowd.

THE DODECALEPTA: 22-24, 44-51, 70-71, 94-89

DENVER NUGGETS (Mike Malone): Porter 16 (6/11 2-points, 1/6 3-points, 1/2 shots, 13 rebounds, 3 assists), Gordon 4 (1/6 shots, 7 rebounds), Jokic 28 (11 /13 2-pointers, 1/3 3-pointers, 3/5 shots, 16 rebounds, 4 assists), Caldwell-Pope 11 (1 3-pointer, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks), Murray 14 (2 trebles, 8 rebounds, 8 assists), Green 4, Bruce Brown 10 (0/5 trebles, 6 rebounds), Christian Brown 7, Jordan

STRONG HEAT (Erik Spoelstra): Butler 21 (3/13 2-points, 2/5 3-points, 9/11 shots, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals), Love 3 (1), Antebayo 20 (9/20 2 -Pointers, 2/2 shots, 12 rebounds), Struss 12 (1/6 3 points, 8 rebounds), Vincent 6 (3/13 shots), Lowry 12 (4/9 3 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists ). , 2 steals), Martin 10 (5 rebounds), Robinson 5 (1), Highsmith, Zeller