The Denver Nuggets have won the NBA finals after defeating the Miami Heat.
Nuggets:
The Nuggets ended the regular season with the best record in the western conference, so they had fairly high expectations going into the playoffs, and they did not disappoint.
In round 1 of the playoffs, the Nuggets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in 5 games.
In the conference semi-finals, they defeated the Phoenix Suns in 6 games
In the conference finals, they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in just 4 games
And now they have defeated the Miami Heat in 5 games to win their first championship in franchise history.
A large part of the Nuggets' success was due to the very impressive play of Nikola Jokic.
Nikola Jokic:
Nikola Jokic played incredibly throughout all of the playoffs, including the finals, where he deservingly won finals MVP.
In the finals, Jokic averaged:
30.2 Points
14 Rebounds
7.2 Assists
58.3% of shots made
As a result of his strong performances every game, Jokic set quite a few new records.
In just this year's playoffs, Jokic:
Was the first player to ever lead the playoffs in most points, most rebounds, and most assists.
Recorded the most triple-doubles in a single post-season (10)
Was the first player to ever record 250+ rebounds and 150+ assists in a single postseason
Was the first player ever to record 30+ points, 20+ rebounds, and 10+ assists in a finals game
Recorded the most assists ever by a center in a finals game (14)
Recorded the most assists by a center in a single post-season (190)
Nikola Jokic is clearly an amazing player so it will be exciting to see just how good he can become and how many more finals he can win.
Heat:
Until losing the finals, the Miami Heat were on one of the most impressive playoff runs in a very long time.
Going into the playoffs the Heat were the 8-seed and were almost eliminated in the play-in tournament.
The team was the underdog in every round of the playoffs, yet they were still able to defeat the Bucks, Knicks, and Celtics in the first 3 rounds.
Despite the team's strong performance in most of the playoffs, The Heat were only able to win 1 game against the Nuggets and will now have to wait until next year to try again.