With Jokic, there was no stopping Denver
It was never a matter of would the Denver Nuggets win their first NBA title, but how many games would it take.
Before the championship series with Miami, most of the talking heads — or expert analysts as they call themselves — picked the Nuggets in five games. But after the Heat won the second game in Denver, there was a lot of double-talk.
The Nuggets just shrugged and won the next three, and even though Monday’s championship game was ugly, it just emphasized why Denver was going to win.
The Nuggets’ offense was like a multiple choice test and the Heat’s a true-false test.
Denver had several options on every possession. Miami was playing beat your man and try to get an open three pointer, which they had nine but missed 26 and that’s why the Heat lost 94-89 on Monday night despite the Nuggets suffering 14 turnovers.
That was the only game in the championship series in which Denver scored less than 100 points. The only game Miami won, it was the one time it scored more than 100.
The Heat, a No. 8 seed, started the playoffs 62 days earlier with a loss to Atlanta in a play-in game, then won against Chicago to advance to the main bracket.
They got by No. 1 seed Milwaukee in five games, eased by the New York Knicks in six and the Boston Celtics in seven and lost to Denver in five, giving them a playoff record of 12-10.
The Nuggets, the No. 1 seed in the West, were 4-1 against Minnesota, 4-2 against Phoenix and swept the Los Angeles Lakers 4-0, giving them a final playoff record of 16-4.
They were not losing this championship.
Denver was too wellcoached, too disciplined and too talented.
Nikola Jokic, the two-time NBA Player of the Year, was the Finals MVP and the former second-round pick by the Nuggets had one thing on his mind after Monday’s win: When could he go home to Serbia?
The 6-11 guy who is setting a new standard for triple-doubles is homesick for his home country.
He groaned in the postseason news conference when he was told the victory parade wasn’t until Thursday.
“I want to go home,’ he said.
Denver is a great city, but when you are homesick you are home sick and there’s only one cure, go home.
Jokic is not a great athlete, but no one works harder and it appeared that for the championship series he had a cold or sinus issues.
His nose was red and he continuously wiped it with his jersey.
He never mentioned his health and in the five-game championship series averaged more than 30 points per game, with 14 rebounds and 7.2 assists.
Jokic’s game is helped tremendously by the multiple looks Denver Coach Michael Malone practices all day every day.
Malone won’t get the credit he deserves, but he should. This is his eighth season with the Nuggets and the past five have been a mile-high carpet ride as Denver has been 248143, won the Northwest three times and now a NBA championship.
The Heat, who pretty much shocked the NBA world with their run to the championship series, has a lot to be proud of, but in the end they were too one dimensional against a team that ran a varied offense almost to perfection.
Denver was a force all season and when it swept the Lakers, notice was paid it was not going to be stopped.
Now they get a second day off before the parade and maybe Jokic can catch a red-eye flight home Thursday night. Two things seem certain: He’ll be flying first class (or in a chartered jet, which he can afford with a $264 million contract) and it will be one way.
He’ll be back, like the Nuggets, but only after a lot of home cooking.