Nuggets win first NBA championship: Nikola Jokic dominates as Denver beats Heat, plus more title takeaways

The Nuggets are NBA champions for the first time ever after closing out Miami in Game 5

The Denver Nuggets have clinched the first NBA championship in franchise history after beating the Miami Heat 94-89 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. It was a closely-contested game that Miami led for much of the first three quarters, but Denver pulled away in the final minutes. Bruce Brown gave the Nuggets the lead with around 90 seconds to go after rebounding a miss by Jamal Murray and putting it back in, and Denver never surrendered it from there.

The long wait for Denver is over. The team was founded in 1967 and played originally in the ABA as the Rockets, but after nearly six decades, two names and two different leagues, the Nuggets are finally at the top of the basketball world. The Heat, meanwhile, can hold their heads high as just the second No. 8 seed ever to reach the NBA Finals. They gave the Nuggets all they could handle, but in the end, Denver won out and took home the Larry O'Brien Trophy and Nikola Jokic took home the Bill Russell Finals MVP award. Here are the biggest takeaways from Denver's title-clincher.

It all came back to Joker

Nothing went right for the Nuggets offensively in Game 5. They shot 5-of-28 from 3-point range. They missed 10 free throws. Only one of their starters made half of his shot attempts. Fortunately for Denver, that starter was Nikola Jokic. He scored 28 points on 12-of-16 shooting to win it all on Monday when none of his teammates could even top 16 points. When Miami went to its notorious zone defense, Denver simply found Jokic near the nail and allowed him to kill the Heat with floater after floater.

Jokic's gift is his ability to empower his teammates, yet for the third time this series, the Heat held Jokic to a playoff-low four assists. Miami wanted Jokic to play like a traditional superstar, to beat them by himself instead of with his teammates. And when the chips were down, he delivered. It wasn't pretty, but the best player in the NBA delivered Denver its first championship by putting the ball through the basket instead of setting teammates up to do so.

Miami needed a Herro

One of the biggest stories of the series for the Heat was whether or not we would see the injured Tyler Herro, who broke his hand in the first round against the Milwaukee Bucks. He missed the first four games of the series, but was initially ruled active for Game 5. However, the Heat never actually used him. Herro ultimately did not play a single minute in the Finals.

It was, on paper, a defensible choice. Inserting a cold player into the Finals is an enormous risk. The Heat led this game most of the way. Messing with their established rhythm just posed far more danger than reward. Yet the Nuggets held the Heat below 100 points in four of the five games in this series. The Heat scored only 38 points in the second half. Herro was their third-leading scorer in the regular season and their secondary shot-creator on offense.

There's no telling what would have happened if the Heat had played him. In all likelihood, it would have been a higher scoring game as Denver would have attacked him defensively. But with offense at such a premium and even Haywood Highsmith seeing a few minutes, it's surprising that the Heat didn't at least give Herro a minute or two to see if he could inject some life into the series. They'll look back on that decision and wonder all offseason.

An uneven game and an uneven series from Jimmy Butler

Jimmy Butler was all but silent for the first 43-and-a-half minutes of this game. He had just eight points before the 4:29 mark of the fourth quarter... when he quickly scored 11 consecutive points for Miami to put the Heat back on top. That has more or less been the Butler experience in the 2023 Finals. Spurts of brilliance around otherwise unspectacular play. For the series, he wound up averaging 21.6 points on around 41% shooting.

Those numbers hardly reflect the player who carried a No. 8 seed to the NBA Finals, but it's unclear just how healthy Butler was for the Finals. He hurt his ankle in the second round against the New York Knicks and seemingly tweaked it late in the Eastern Conference Finals against Boston. Butler never managed to impose his will on the Nuggets as he did the Celtics and Bucks. Aaron Gordon's defense deserves some credit for that, but ultimately, part of what lost Miami this series was the Butler supernova flaming out. He was as good as Jokic in the first round. He wasn't close in the Finals. 

[Jun 12, 2023 at 11:00 pm ET · Sam Quinn]

Timeout Heat, but it's too little, too late

The Nuggets lead by five with 14.3 seconds and the crowd in Denver is going absolutely wild. The Nuggets are inches away from their first championship.

[Jun 12, 2023 at 10:58 pm ET · Sam Quinn]

Butler misses! Get the champagne ready!

Bruce Brown is headed to the line with 14.3 seconds to play! Jimmy Butler's missed 3 now has the Nuggets one point short of a two-possession lead, and likely, the title.

[Jun 12, 2023 at 10:56 pm ET · Sam Quinn]

Timeout Heat

Denver leads by three. Miami calls timeout with 24.7 to play. It's strategy time for the Heat: do they go for a quick two and then try to force a turnover, or do they rely on the 3-point shooting that has buoyed them all postseason?

[Jun 12, 2023 at 10:55 pm ET · Sam Quinn]

KCP steals the trophy!

Jimmy Butler just passed the ball right into the hands of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope! That sends Denver to the line up one with 24.7 left on the clock. What a play!

[Jun 12, 2023 at 10:53 pm ET · Sam Quinn]

Brown for the lead!

Bruce Brown puts back Jamal Murray's miss to give the Nuggets a one-point lead with 90 seconds remaining!

[Jun 12, 2023 at 10:51 pm ET · Sam Quinn]

Miami back in front

The Heat trailed by five, but Jimmy Butler, who has 11 straight points for the Heat, has led an 8-0 run that has Miami back in front by one point.

[Jun 12, 2023 at 10:49 pm ET · Sam Quinn]

Challenge unsuccessful

Denver's challenge has been deemed unsuccessful. There is a foul against Aaron Gordon on Jimmy Butler's shot, and he will get three free throws. That's going to be a very controversial call as Butler visibly kicked his legs out.