They really did. All year people were somewhat counting them out due to their defense, but they ended up winning the clinching game due to some phenomenal defense.

huskersax@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 3y

What Butler was doing was kinda suspect though, tbh. Props to the Nuggets, but if the Butler just chilled out over that 6-3 minute mark I bet the Heat could've taken this one.

evev13@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 3y (2 replies)

Adam Silver bout to drop the next installment in the Ja Morant saga now that this is done.

thepurpleengineer@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 3y (1 reply)

Almost forgot all about Ja

smokinjoe@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 3y

Ja was hoping everyone else did, too

speedrun@lemmy.one · 20 pts · 3y

An interesting subplot is that since Kawhi's 2020 Raptors run, none of the finals teams have had a dominant, heliocentric wing. Maybe Boston, but even that team didn't quite rely on Tatum in the same way that other teams before had. Since the Heatles, the consensus has basically been that wings are the most important position in modern basketball, allowing teams to play 'positionless' and spread the floor.

But over the last three years the best teams have bucked that trend, instead being lead primarily by guards or bigs. Going into next season, most people would probably have a couple of centers at the top of their best players list. And in the last 6 NBA drafts, the only dominant wing player to be taken was Ant. Interesting to see the league pivot so quickly, considering it was only a few years ago that Ballmer went all out and built almost a whole team with 6'7" - 6'9" guys

LilBagOfBunnies@beehaw.org · 17 pts · 3y

Congrats Denver! Love seeing a small market team win it all, very happy for both Murray and Jokic.

humutoor@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 3y (2 replies)

Congrats to the Nuggets. They in a good spot moving forward.

tigerdactyl@sh.itjust.works · 17 pts · 3y (1 reply)

Jokic and Murray are in their primes. Gordon is a perfect third man. I hope they can keep Brown.

okfuskee@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 3y

Brown was so clutch. MPJ for all of his scoring troubles had a solid defensive series. Super proud of them all!

atp2112@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 3y (1 reply)

It wasn't that long ago that it seemed like space-and-pace would kill the center position

FermatsLastAccount@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 3y

We thought that Centers were dead, but in reality it was just unskilled centers.

drailin@beehaw.org · 16 pts · 3y

So happy that my nuggets finally won! Hoping for a few more with this core. Jokić is god.

smokinjoe@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 3y

https://twitter.com/shannonsharpeee/status/1668454405069475841 lmao

OutrageousUmpire@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 3y

Long time Nuggets fan. This run by Jokic is insane. and I think will get even better over the next few years.

el_gaucho@lemmy.ca · 13 pts · 3y

Had a blast following the game day thread, I have a good feeling about this Lemmy community!

YumChurros@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 3y

Congrats Denver!!

ironeaglebird@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 3y (2 replies)

After Miami's performances in the previous playoffs games, it is crazy this only went to 5 games.

acosmichippo@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 3y

the variance of 3pt shooting

haxasaur@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 3y

Our boys were tired...

Khavanon@lemmy.today · 11 pts · 3y

Welcome to the NBA Championship Club, Denver.

atp2112@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 3y

Ah shit, I forgot this means Stan Kroenke is a winner. Fuck that

rezz@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 3y

The real winner here is the Serbian horse racing industry.

ConditionOverload@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 3y

Man it's great to see a team win for the first time ever! Congrats to Denver! Great ending to the season!

1010011010@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 3y

Booker going nuclear twice was the biggest hurdle. They couldnt be stopped otherwise.

ipkpjersi@lemmy.one · 9 pts · 3y

I was hoping the Heat would win but I'm really happy for Joker, he really earned it. Plus of course I'm super happy for Jamal Murray too.

DRx@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 3y

Grats to the nuggs! Always been more of a college football fan, but went to college @ CU and fell in love with all three teams (broncos, nuggets, avs) and brought them home with me… been a really cool last 10 years to see so many championships out of Denver.

60winks@beehaw.org · 7 pts · 3y (1 reply)

Just hope there's any way at all we can keep Brucey around?

wassuphambone@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 3y

I hope so too. I feel like they will be able to make it work

WorldWideLem@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 3y (1 reply)

This run by Jokic has been something special, and the Heat's run was pretty awesome too, even if they took out my Knicks on the way.

automaton@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 3y

Well, at least we were vindicated!

Timbo303@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 3y (2 replies)

Finally the subreddit blackouts are working to its fullest. If the nuggets havent won reddit would had won because game 6 was on thursday.

duckwars@lemmynsfw.com · 6 pts · 3y (1 reply)

A lot of people just went to r/nbacirclejerk and r/denvernuggets because those subs weren't closed, but it's still good to see comments and discussion here.

haxasaur@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 3y

r/nba is a heavy sub and a lot of people were pissed

ether@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 3y

I’m sad Miami lost a winnable game. Congrats to the Nuggets! Onwards and upwards!!

fermionsnotbosons@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 3y (1 reply)

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spontaniusf@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 3y

Haha well the draft is next week, so not much of a reprieve there.

Kissing_Ash@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 3y

The team as a whole had horrid shooting numbers from 3 but the team played incredible defense and gave it their all. Well deserved!

smokinjoe@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 3y (1 reply)

Are we sure the Zombie Heat are actually dead?

NeilH@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 3y

Heat in 9

boredScientist@feddit.nl · 3 pts · 3y

Man what a joy this series was! This is the first time in a long while I've taken the time to watch playoff games beyond just highlights (mostly due to timezone reasons), and it was definitely worth it. Congrats to the Nuggets!

gatorpep@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 3y

i'm a nuet but i was/am a fan of this nuggz team. so happy!