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Nikola Jokic and his Denver Nuggets are NBA champions for the first time in franchise history, after a 94-89 Game 5 victory took them into an unassailable lead over the Miami Heat.
On a night where Miami needed star man Jimmy Butler to step up, and Denver asked their leader Jokic to finish the series, it was the Serb who answered the call, pouring in 28 points while his rival struggled to make an impact until late on in the game.
The victory saw Denver seal a one-sided NBA Finals series 4-1, and ended their 47-year wait to lift the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
Incredibly, the Nuggets missed 20 of their first 22 three-point attempts and seven of their first 13 free throws but figured out how to close out the series on their home floor.
Butler scored eight straight points to help the Heat take an 87-86 lead with 2:45 left after trailing by seven. He made two more free throws with 1:58 remaining to help Miami regain a one-point lead. Then, Bruce Brown got an offensive rebound and tip-in to give the Nuggets the lead for good.
Nuggets star Nikola Jokic celebrates with his young daughter after sealing the NBA title – and the NBA Finals MVP award
Bruce Brown struggles to take in the result on the buzzer, as he celebrates winning his team’s first NBA title on Monday night
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope pumps his fists as he celebrates the huge Game 5 victory to seal the Finals series over the Heat
Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone celebrates as his team secured a 4-1 victory in the best-of-seven Finals series
Trailing by three with 15 seconds left, Butler jacked up a 3, but missed it. Brown made two free throws to put the game out of reach and bring the title to Denver for the first time in the franchise’s 47 years in the league.
Butler finished with 21 points for the Heat.
‘It was and ugly and we couldn’t make shots, but at the end we figured it out,’ Jokic said. ‘I am just happy we won the game.’
The Heat were, as coach Erik Spoelstra promised, a gritty, tenacious bunch. But their shooting wasn’t great, either. Bam Adebayo had 20 for the Heat, but Miami shot 34% from the floor and 25% from 3. Until Butler went off, he was 2 for 13 for eight points.
The Heat, who survived a loss in the play-in tournament and became only the second No. 8 seed to make it to the finals, insisted they weren’t into consolation prizes.
They played like they expected to win, and for a while during this game, which was settled more on the ground than in the air, it looked like they would.
The Nuggets, who came in shooting 37.6% from 3 for the series, shot 18% in this one. They committed 14 turnovers. They only went 13 for 23 from the line, though Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were 4 for 4 at the end while Denver was salting away the win.
With 2:51 left in the first quarter, Jokic got his second foul and joined Aaron Gordon on the bench.
The Nuggets were tentative on both sides of the court for the rest of the half. Somehow, after shooting 6.7% from 3 – the worst first half in the history of the finals (10-shot minimum) they only trailed by seven.
Caldwell-Pope celebrates during the game, as the crowd behind him goes wild late in the fourth quarter of the game
Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope play in front of a sell-out crowd at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado
Gordon (right) celebrates in the Nuggets’ nervy Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat on Monday night
The crowd at Ball Arena go wild as Bruce Brown dunks against the Heat during the first half of the contest in Denver
Jokic went into the game as arguably the best NBA player of the season, and he was once again hard to control
Peyton Manning watches on from courtside (left), while Jamal Murray shoots a three-point effort for the Nuggets
Two of the stars of the NBA Finals series – Adebayo (left) and Jokic (right) battle it out during the fourth quarter of the game
Fans had shelled out thousands to be in the arena to watch their Denver Nuggets take a shot at history on Monday night
One fan went all out with his hairstyle for the biggest game in franchise history, while Rocky implored the team to ‘bring it in’
