![]() ![]() Miami dominated the beginning of the final quarter, only missing one shot in the first 7 minutes. In the opening minute of the fourth quarter, Duncan Robinson scored 8 points, turning the tide for Miami's bench units and changing the course of the game. Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo pour in 21 PTS each as Miami wins Game 2 to even the series!ĭEN/MIA Game 3: Wednesday, 8:30pm/et on ABC /IMmCFLizkq - NBA 5, 2023 Gabe Vincent, the impressive point guard for the Heat, successfully made 4 out of 6 shots from beyond the three-point line, contributing to his team-leading 23 points. Max Strus, who had previously missed all 10 of his field goal attempts in Game 1, made his first three three-pointers early in the game. “And to see that there, ‘2023 NBA Champions’ here in Denver, that’s so cool, and I’m honored to be a part of it.The Heat's defense was the key to their victory, as they focused on defending every other player other tha Nikola Jokic who scored 41 points with 11 rebounds to his name, also chipping in 4 assists. “You live vicariously through these guys,” said Denver great LaPhonso Ellis, as he pointed to the big scoreboard announcing the Nuggets as champions. It’s for every Dan (Issel), David (Thompson), Doug (Moe) or Dikembe (Mutombo) who ever came up short or got passed over for a newer, shinier model with more glitter and more stars.įor the first time in 47 seasons, nobody in the NBA shines brighter than the Nuggets. No single Denver victory will outshine the day in 1998 when John Elway broke through and that team’s owner, Pat Bowlen, held the Lombardi Trophy high and declared: “This one’s for John!”īut this one? It won’t take a back seat to much. There’s little doubt that this has always been a Broncos-first sort of town. A shift to winning couldn’t change Denver’s location on the map – in a weird time zone in flyover territory – and it didn’t shift everyone’s view of the Nuggets. It was the Joker’s blossoming into a do-everything force that made the Nuggets a team to watch. ![]() The other two ABAers, the Pacers and Nets, have been to the finals but lost. The Nuggets took their name off that list, then joined San Antonio as the second original ABA team to capture the NBA’s biggest prize. But never quite good enough to break through against the biggest stars and better teams to the east, west and south of them.īefore this season, there were only two teams founded before 1980 – the Nuggets and Clippers – that had never been to an NBA Finals. Over their near five-decade stay in the league, the Nuggets have been the epitome of a lovable NBA backbencher – at times entertaining, adorned by rainbows on their uniforms and headlined by colorful characters on the floor and bench. It felt almost perfect that an unheralded and once-chubby second-round draft pick from Serbia would be the one to lift Denver to the top of a league that, for decades, has been dominated by superstars, first-round draft picks and players who lead the world in sneaker and jersey sales. “What I was most proud about is, throughout the game, if your offense is not working and your shots are not falling, you have to dig in on the defensive end,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. Their beautiful game turned into a slugfest, but they figured it out nonetheless. True to the Nuggets’ personality, they kept pressing, came at their opponent in waves and figured out how to win a game that went against their type. 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. ![]() It made the Nuggets tentative on both sides of the court for the rest of the half. ![]()
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