Nikola Jokic was named NBA Finals MVP after the Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat 94-89 in Game Five at the Ball Arena. Asked how he felt to finally be a champion, Jokic said: "It's good. It's good. The job is done. We can go home now."
Tuesday 13 June 2023 06:53, UK
Nikola Jokic was named NBA Finals MVP after the Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat 94-89 in Game Five at the Ball Arena.
Denver's do-it-all center commandeered these playoffs, smashing a 56-year-old playoff record with 10 triple-doubles on Monday night in a hard-fought Game Five to secure the old ABA franchise's first basketball championship.
The Serbian international had 28 points, 16 rebounds and four assists in the clincher that came 55 years, seven months and 28 days after the Nuggets won the first game in franchise history.
It wasn't an easy contest. Denver struggled shooting the ball against the pesky Heat, missing 23 of 28 shots from three-point range and 10 of 23 free throws.
"It was ugly and we couldn't make shots. But at the end, we figured it out," Jokic said after hugging all of his jubilant teammates and coaches and almost all of his dejected opponents. "I am just happy we won the game."
The stoic Jokic finally let loose when he greeted his two older brothers, Nemanja and Strahinja, and his wife and toddler daughter in the stands.
Although he acquiesced the Michael Jordan Trophy to Joel Embiid as the league's MVP this season, Jokic instead walked away with the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player trophy after becoming the first player in league history to lead the playoffs in total points, rebounds and assists.
Throughout the playoffs, the Nuggets' talisman has dominated opponents with his array of finger-roll finishes, pull-up jump shots, long-range buzzer-beaters, amazing assists and rebounding prowess at both baskets.
When he wasn't on the court, he was his teammates' biggest supporter, jumping in jubilation as they kept the Heat at bay when he was in foul trouble in Game Four. On Monday night, he let his emotions show during a third-quarter timeout when he got on his teammates for lapses that led to a 64-60 deficit.
Jokic teamed with Jamal Murray to set the new pick-and-roll standard this season, Murray's first since tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in 2021. They produced the first dual triple-double in NBA history in Game Three and accomplished something Karl Malone and John Stockton never did in hoisting the gold ball in the finals.
Denver's big man has been recognized in basketball circles as the game's most versatile center for several years, but it took the championship run to cement his standing as basketball royalty - and introduce himself to much of the nation.
Coach Michael Malone played the disrespect card earlier in the playoffs, while understanding his team needed to do more than dominate the regular season. His team were was on a mission, led by Jokic.
The 28-year-old always shrugged his broad shoulders, even less bothered by criticism than the lack of laurels. So doggedly determined to win a title and with the No 1 seed in the West secured, Jokic sat out several games toward the end of the regular season to get his body right for the playoffs.
That all but sealed his exclusion to the club of players who've won three consecutive NBA MVP awards, one that includes just Russell, Larry Bird and Wilt Chamberlain - who set the standard with seven triple-doubles in 1967, a record that stood until this year.
Asked how he felt to finally be a champion, Jokic said, "It's good. It's good. The job is done. We can go home now."
