![]() Ugly as it was, the aftermath was something the Nuggets and their fans could all agree was beautiful. Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope made two free throws each to put the game out of reach and clinch the title for Denver. Trailing by three with 15 seconds left, Butler jacked up a 3, but missed it. ![]() Then, Bruce Brown got an offensive rebound and tip-in to give the Nuggets the lead for good. They led by seven late, before Miami’s Jimmy Butler went off, scoring eight straight points to give the Heat a one-point lead with 2:45 left.īutler made two more free throws with 1:58 remaining to help Miami regain a one-point lead. They missed seven of their first 13 free throws. Unable to shake the tenacious Heat or the closing-night jitters, the Nuggets missed 20 of their first 22 3-pointers. “We are not in it for ourselves, we are in it for the guy next to us,” Jokic said. Jokic won the Bill Russell trophy as the NBA Finals MVP, an award that certainly has more meaning to him than the two overall MVPs he won in 2021 and ’22. The Nuggets outlasted the Miami Heat 94-89 in an ugly, frantic Game 5 that did nothing to derail Nikola Jokic, who bailed out his teammates with 28 points and 16 rebounds on a night when nothing else seemed to work. Those scenes that, for decades, seemed impossible, then more recently started feeling inevitable, finally turned into reality on Monday night. The Nuggets passing around the NBA championship trophy. 8 seed to make it to the finals, insisted they weren't into consolation prizes.Confetti flying in Denver. The Heat, who survived a loss in the play-in tournament and became only the second No. Jimmy Butler (22) of the Miami Heat works against Nikola Jokic (15) of the Denver Nuggets in the first quarter during Game 5 of the NBA Finals at Ball Arena in Denver on Monday, June 12, 2023.ĪAron Ontiveroz/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images ![]() Until Butler went off, he was 2 for 13 for eight points. Bam Adebayo had 20 for the Heat, but Miami shot 34% from the floor and 25% from 3. The Heat were, as coach Erik Spoelstra promised, a gritty, tenacious bunch. "It was ugly and we couldn't make shots, but at the end we figured it out," Jokic said. Denver is the home of the Larry O'Brien Trophy for the first time in the franchise's 47 years in the league. This was an ugly, frenetic affair, but the aftermath was something the Nuggets and their fans could all agree was beautiful. He made two more free throws with 1:58 remaining to help Miami regain a one-point lead. Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets drives the lane against Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat during the fourth quarter in Game Five of the 2023 NBA Finals at Ball Arena on Jin Denver, Colorado.īutler scored eight straight points to help the Heat take an 87-86 lead with 2:45 left after trailing by seven. Denver missed 20 of its first 22 3-point attempts and seven of its first 13 free throws, yet somehow figured out how to close out the series on its home floor. He bailed out the Nuggets, going 12 for 16 from the floor on a night when none of his teammates could find the basket. Jokic had 28 points and 16 rebounds for the Nuggets and earned NBA Finals MVP honors - a trophy certainly more meaningful to him than the two overall MVPs he won in 2021 and '22. Nikola Jokic guided Denver to its first NBA title in team history Monday night, as the Nuggets overcame dreadful shooting and a late flurry from Miami's Jimmy Butler to squeeze past the Heat for a frantic 94-89 victory in Game 5.
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