Denver Nuggets Capture First NBA Title Behind Unbreakable Chemistry

DENVER – It took 47 years of existence in the NBA, but the Denver Nuggets have finally accomplished their dream. For the first time in franchise history, they are NBA champions, standing atop the basketball world by proving every legendary moment is worth the wait.

The Nuggets captured the title by defeating the Miami Heat in Game 5 in front of a raucous home crowd that fully appreciated the beautiful brand of basketball Denver has to offer.

After 438 games together, the Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray partnership prevailed. Dealing with injuries is always going to be part of the NBA reality, but what made the last two playoff runs agonizing for Denver is how sorely they missed Murray’s pull-up shooting and halfcourt brilliance to give Jokic a true co-star when the competition got intense.

This championship is a collective team victory, with every member of the roster having their fingerprints on the Nuggets’ style of play. Still, it was the two-headed monster of Jokic and Murray that generated this environment — one where everyone could thrive, feel empowered, and play freely.

“It’s a good feeling when you know that you did something that nobody believes,” Jokic said after winning the title. “And it’s just us, it’s just the organization, the Denver Nuggets believing in us, every player believing in each other. And I think that’s the most important thing.”

Although Jokic and Murray became the first pair of teammates to ever average 25-5-5 through four playoff series, cementing themselves as one of the sport’s most impressive duos, the Nuggets’ top-tier camaraderie simply won’t allow individuals to absorb all the credit.

The togetherness inside that locker room is unlike anything I’ve seen in a decade covering the NBA. Jokic stepped to the podium after being sprayed with champagne and leaping into a pool with Murray as the two celebrated all of the ups and downs.

When asked who he’s happiest for after all of the hard work to reach the mountain top, he couldn’t just name one.

“All of them,” Jokic said. “I think it’s all of them. I’m happy for [DeAndre]. I’m happy for Jeff. I’m happy for Ish. Literally for everybody. [Porter Jr], he had three surgeries and still came here and helped us win a championship. Jamal, who had surgery and didn’t play well at the beginning of the season, like I told you guys, but we all know what he’s capable of. KCP, he brought us the championship, Bruce, Christian Braun. Literally every single player. Every player on this team.”

Behind his 30.2 points, 14 rebounds, and 7.2 assists, Jokic was unanimously named the 2023 Finals MVP. His modern shooting splits in this series (62.3% from two, 42.1% on threes, and 83.8% at the line) are also historic for any center. Forget seven-footers, nobody is supposed to be this efficient on the floor.

Jokic became the 11th player in NBA history to accumulate a Finals MVP and two regular season MVPs. He joined Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and LeBron James.

He also became the first player ever to score at least 600 points, grab 250 rebounds, and dish 150 assists in any postseason run. Oh, and it only took him 20 games because of how dominant and superior the Nuggets were in relation to their peers.

While this playoff run has mistakenly been labeled ‘easy’ just by looking at the seeding of Denver’s opponents, playing a No. 7 seed in the conference finals and disposing of a No. 8 seed on the biggest stage, it’s that line of thinking that ignores the real story: Jokic and the Nuggets decided to breeze through the competition by staying dialed in for two months. For eight straight weeks, they maintained a level of defensive focus and discipline that’s required of championship teams.

They don’t reach the pinnacle with the lackadaisical defensive effort we saw in March. Or even settling for a league-average mark, trusting their expert ball movement and offensive execution to carry them over the top.

No. Not for a team led by Michael Malone, whose blood starts to boil every time there’s a defensive breakdown or miscommunication.

The Nuggets held Miami to a 105.5 offensive rating in the Finals, allowing the Heat to shoot just 46.2% in the paint across five games. That would be astounding for any team in this pace-and-space era. Factoring in Denver’s reputation as a mediocre defensive unit heading into the playoffs, it’s actually among the greatest examples of how championship teams can reshape itself for whatever a matchup calls for.

Denver had to be malleable to reach this status. Many doubted they could prove it. I doubted them in the second round, claiming the Phoenix Suns were too powerful of an offense to overcome.

“It’s a good feeling when you know that you did something that nobody believes,” Jokic said. “And it’s just us, it’s just the organization, the Denver Nuggets believing in us, every player believing in each other. And I think that’s the most important thing.”

In many ways, this Nuggets championship is a sequel to the Milwaukee Bucks finally breaking through and capturing the Larry O’Brien trophy in 2021. It’s a teaching moment for the rest of the league, with one valuable lesson that should stick with everyone.

Success doesn’t come overnight. And it may not even come until you’re nearly a decade into the process of doing what you love. But with the right dedication and a culture centered on trust and continuity, the journey will create powerful relationships and a special on-court product that others envy.

Having superstar talent doesn’t guarantee you anything. It’s all about the pieces around the future Hall-of-Famers that will determine how far a team can advance. Without the proper roster construction and balance, more roadblocks will arise

Plus, as the Nuggets just showed us, progress is not always linear. They made the West Finals in the 2020 bubble before having two straight setbacks. And it would’ve been a mistake to get comfortable with the roster they had, using Murray’s injury as an excuse to stand pat and run it back with the same rotation.

Denver knew it had to make adjustments to its defensive personnel and bring more high-IQ players into the mix.

For the Bucks to ultimately win in 2021, it required changing the defensive strategy after switching coaches five years into Giannis Antetokounmpo’s career. Roster tweaks were also necessary, as the front office addressed the spacing and depth concerns in a pivotal 2020 offseason following a playoff disappointment.

The more time you spend around the league, the more you learn winning championships is about trial and error. A team must identify its foundation, whether it’s a star duo or trio, and build around that core until it’s a perfect blend of talent and egos willing to sacrifice for the greater good. Sometimes, you will be one piece short of completing the puzzle. That’s when you see the organizations that exhibit patience, opting for slight changes on the margins rather than smashing the panic button with culture-shattering trades.

Denver went through a massive offseason last summer, acquiring two versatile defenders in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown. Whether it was the regular season reps or just their off-ball instincts, they both appeared to be ideal fits around the two-man game of Jokic and Murray. Throughout this playoff run, their switchability on defense and timely weakside cutting created too many problems for the opponent to handle.

Those two guards were also valuable insurance for Murray, who needed time working his way back into the grind. If Denver had stayed the course with smaller guards that weren’t capable of taking some of the defensive pressure off Murray, they aren’t sitting here as champions.

“Sometimes a dream is deferred, and our dream was deferred for a few years, but we stuck with it and we added the right pieces,” Malone said. “Huge shoutout to [General Manager] Calvin Booth and the job he’s done. This is just an unbelievable feeling.”

The blockbuster trade for Aaron Gordon in March 2021 launched the Nuggets from borderline championship contention to arguably the West favorites before Murray tore his ACL.

Through Gordon’s defensive improvements over the summer and evolving into an elite cutter when all of the attention is focused on the Murray-Jokic action at the top, he had just as much to do with this achievement as the stars. In the closeout Game 5, Gordon had the most impactful two-point, seven-rebound performance you will ever see. To accept a role taking care of all the dirty work — while defending All-NBA talents in every round — Gordon exemplified the culture Denver has worked to create.

Nobody complains. Nobody is a ‘specialist’ that only focuses on one thing. Everybody has each other’s back and picks up the slack when necessary.

Those examples are set at the top. They start with the coaching staff holding players accountable, which Malone has done from the moment he walked through the door in 2015.

But to win at the highest level, it’s also a requirement to have unselfish superstars lead the way.

Jokic, who operated as if they won a regular season game on a random January night, is an international treasure. There are going to be coaches who show their teams film of Jokic on the court and from his press conferences, highlighting what it means to be a leader.

“I think eight years with Nikola, in our culture of being a ‘work’ team, a selfless team and a ‘trust’ team, that was day one when I got here,” Malone said. “And culture is not a thing that you achieve and you cross it off your list. Culture is a thing that you have to work on each and every day, or if not, that culture is going to go away. It just so happens that the two-time MVP and a great player in Nikola kind of embodies everything.”

Above all else, he is the reason for the unbreakable bond within the Nuggets’ locker room.

“When you have a guy that’s had the success that Nikola has had, being your hardest worker and being as selfless as he is and trusting as much as he does, well, that allows everybody else to kind of fall in line,” Malone added. “So, it’s a real luxury as a head coach to have a player that kind of embodies everything that we are trying to do on a daily basis.”

Much like any NBA team that finishes a nine-month adventure by hoisting the trophy, the Nuggets will celebrate all summer. The season, from the start of training camp to the final buzzer in June, is far too long. Franchise history needs to be relished for more than just a few days.

For nearly all of the individuals on this team, this is their first time experiencing this moment. KCP was the only former champion. The Nuggets should let the party roll into late July if they choose.

We know that’s not the nature of this business, however. After the parade Thursday in downtown Denver, the question will start to circulate. Can they keep this going?

“A few weeks to be celebrated,” Gordon said. “But I believe that it can be replicated. The guys on this team are very humble. The humility is there, the IQ is there and these guys are workers. Championship or not, we don’t let it change our character.”

Coaches are wired a bit differently. Malone is already thinking about how to mold this core into a dynastic team that competes for titles all decade long.

“You know, Pat Riley said something many years ago,” Malone said. “I used to have it up on my board when I was a head coach in Sacramento, and it talked about the evolution in this game and how you go from a nobody to an upstart, and you go from an upstart to a winner and a winner to a contender and a contender to a champion, and the last step is after a champion is to be a dynasty.”

Once you taste victory and prove you have the winning formula, the next part is staying greedy.

“So we’re not satisfied,” Malone added. “We accomplished something this franchise has never done before, but we have a lot of young talented players in that locker room, and I think we just showed through 16 playoff wins what we’re capable of on the biggest stage in the world.”

With Jokic (28) and Murray (26) entering their prime years, there’s no reason the Nuggets should be doubted ever again. Other teams around the league are going through coaching changes, or have older cores that simply won’t have the shelf life of this team.

Murray has two years and nearly $70 million left on his current deal, but after this magical playoff run in his first year back from ACL surgery, he’ll have the keys to the city.

Everyone in the NBA universe, regardless of who you root for, should want to see Murray and Jokic spend their entire careers together. They were made for one another on the basketball court, and this championship was the culmination of seven years spent learning each other’s tendencies and becoming a well-oiled machine.

As long as those two are in uniform, The Denver Nuggets aren’t going anywhere.