The Miami Heat held the Denver Nuggets to 1 for 15 shooting from the three-point line. Nikola Jokic was limited to three points in the first quarter and was called for two early fouls. But in the end, the Nuggets still emerged as champions for the first time.
A Hard-Fought Victory
Denver came back from a ten-point first-half deficit and survived a back-and-forth battle in the final two minutes to escape with a 94-89 victory in Game Five of the 2023 NBA Finals to clinch the franchises first NBA championship.
Bruce Brown scored off an offensive rebound to give the Nuggets the lead for good before he and Kentavious Cardwell-Pope sealed the deal with four free throws.
Nikola Jokic, the Finals MVP, led the Nuggets with 26 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, on 12 for 16 field goal shooting. Michael Porter Jr. woke up from his slump to finish with 16 points and 13 rebounds, while Jamal Murray added 14 points, eight assists, eight rebounds, and a steal.
KCP chipped in with 11 points, four rebounds, and two steals- including a clutch theft on an errant Jimmy Butler pass with 27 seconds to go. Brown added ten points and six rebounds off the bench.
Overall Denver shot 45.2% from the field, including 17.9% from the three-point line. The Nuggets outrebounded the Heat 57-44, and were a +13 on defensive rebounds. In the end it was a 60 big points in the paint and 19 points off fast break opportunities which ultimately propelled them to victory in what was largely a sloppy slugfest of a game.
Across five games, Nikola Jokic averaged 30.2 points. 14 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 58.3% field goal shooting in his first Finals appearance. His multidimensional game made life difficult for Miami’s big men, especially on the defensive end as the Joker’s squad completed the gentleman’s sweep of their South Beach foes.
In typical Jokic fashion, the 2x MVP downplayed the magnitude of the moment after the game telling reporters “It was ugly and we couldn’t make shots. But at the end we figured it out…I am just happy we won the game.”
The Heat Cooled Down
After scoring 24 and 27 points in the first and second quarters respectively, Jimmy Butler and company cooled down in the second half-, particularly in the fourth quarter where the Heat only managed 18 points.
Butler finished his second NBA Finals with 21 points but shot 5 for 18 from the field in 41 minutes. Bam Adebayo added 20 points on 9 for 20 field goal shooting. Max Strus and Kyle Lowry each scored 12 points, with Caleb Martin’s ten-point performance rounding out the Heat’s double-digit scorers.
At one point Butler scored 13 straight points during the game’s final five minutes, keeping Miami afloat. But after a pair of freebies by Cardwell-Pope, Butler missed on a highly-contested three-pointer that would have tied the game.
A late foul call on Aaron Gordon briefly set the internet ablaze after the Denver forward was called for a foul on a play where Butler kicked his legs out to draw contact. Making matters worse was the fact that the referees reviewed the play and upheld the clearly incorrect call on the floor, creating the potential for a game changing moment, which ultimately didn’t play out.
When asked what he took away from this season after the game, Butler responded “How grateful I am to be able to compete with these guys. You never know what the team’s going to look like the next year, or the year after that… I wish I could have gotten it done for these guys because they deserve it.”
As a team Miami shot 34.4% from the field, 25.7% on three, and went 14 for 16 from the free-throw line.
Tyler Herro was reportedly available to suit up after missing most of the 2023 playoffs following an injury in the first-round against the Milwaukee Bucks. Fatigue may have also played a part in the series’ outcome as the Heat entered the NBA Finals coming off a full seven-game battle against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Butler’s averages dropped from 24.6 points in the Boston series to 21.6 points in the finals. He also shot 36.8% from the three-point line against the Nuggets in the finals.
Still, few would have predicted the run Miami went on, as Spoelstra & co. more than maximized the potential out of the Heat roster.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: Fanatics.com