“What are they going to say about him now?” they shouted from Colorado. Meanwhile, Nikola Jokic raised his fist. Under his appearance as a giant interior and clueless look, the man from Sombor radically changes the recent history of the NBA. He is champion. The best league in the world is its Denver Nuggets. No more tears, defeats and unfinished promises. Now they are reality. The 4-1 victory against the Miami Heat exalts a new basketball. While the wild ‘run and gun’ of the Golden State Warriors dies, from Colorado they cry out for their space: the new era has begun. “The last step after being a champion is to form a dynasty,” specified his coach, Michael Malone.
It has not been an easy matter in Denver. They arrived in the NBA with the 1976 merger with the San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers and New York -now in Brooklyn- Nets from the ABA. They are the second of those franchises to win, coming from a small market and with a different gaming culture. Throughout its history they did not stop losing. But they found talent in the unknown Jokic (number 41 in the 2014 Draft), they gave him the keys and surrounded them with talent. It took time, but it arrived.
A perfect Playoffs
With the ring on the finger, there are all the conditions to affirm that the Nuggets are number 1 candidates to form a dynasty. They break the glass ceiling of the Playoffs. Gone was that elimination against the Warriors with a Jokic spike. Now and after a marvelous regular season (53-29), the Playoffs are bursting. Only one defeat at home and knocking down all kinds of rivals: the Wolves (4-1) of the ‘twin towers’ (Towns and Gobert), the Suns (4-2) of Booker, Durant and the scoring fever, the Lakers (4-0) of the defense and the penultimate song of LeBron James, and to ‘Cinderella’, Miami Heat (4-1).
The Miami Heat miss their last shot and give the ring to the Nuggets
In the Playoffs, all the style books fell to Mike Malone’s Nuggets. Especially, the chess game that Erik Spoelstra proposed and that they solved. In large part, due to the strength of the group that begins with Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic, a couple on a par with the best ever. “Others play with each other… the two of them play for each other and the other for one,” confessed Michael Malone. They build from 2 for 2, connect in the blocks and be able to continue or shoot. His ‘Game 3’ in which Jokic went at 32+21+10 and Murray at 34+10+10 is the masterpiece. By age (Jokic is from 1995 and Murray from 1997) they have rope left for a while.
Others play among themselves…they both play for each other and the other for one
In Jokic’s case, more. He has changed basketball. An interior that becomes the base. Start the plays, read the field, find teammates and define. Mental agility and intelligence to knock down any defender, with the finals as the final recital. I nullified Anthony Davis, nullified the Miami Heat from Spoelstra’s thousand tricks. Jokic is indefensible and indefinable. From Malone’s “give him his fucking credit” to MVP. He is worth eternity.
A spectacular template
The Nuggets also hold their own under the cloak of a spectacular roster. Jokic and Murray were surrounded by great secondaries taking non-primary roles (Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon) and an intense, high-energy second unit and strength in transition and defense (Christian Braun and Bruce Brown). Gordon and Porter understood that their offensive ability would serve the team more than oneself. “It’s not a title for me. It’s for the Joker,” said ‘AG’. He went from brutal finisher to committed defenseman. And taking advantage of his options.
For its part, the second unit knew how to burst the series. Braun, in the third. Brown, in the fourth. “Hats off to them because they put on such performances in such a game in the finals,” Draymond Green explained. He knows something about it. They gave the most point to a short, but strong rotation to take down some legless Heat at the end.
Fantasy pass from Jokic to Gordon in game 4
A history of knowing how to compete and feed its basic pieces. The basketball handbook. Spectacular attack, being able to resist in all contexts, taking Miami and building on stars with a lot of progression. Jokic’s ceiling is unknown. The one from the Nuggets… too.
