It was not a perfect night for Jamal Murray or an elegant one for the Denver Nuggets. But it ended pretty as a picture.
But first they were in a fight, the referees were content to observe rather than intervene and the Miami Heat were landing body shots from the minute the ball went up in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Murray had six turnovers and scored just 14 points, barely half of his playoff scoring average. The Nuggets shot just 5-of-28 from deep and 13-of-23 from the free throw line and failed to score 100 points for just the second time in 20 playoff games. They had to survive a 13-point explosion from Jimmy Butler late in the fourth quarter. It was not pretty basketball and in theory not the kind of basketball at which the Nuggets should excel, but Denver and Murray — along with Finals MVP Nikola Jokic — made history anyway with a 94-89 win that sealed a 4-1 series win.
For the Nuggets, it was their first championship in franchise history, dating back to their inception as part of the old American Basketball Association 56 years ago.
For Murray, it’s proof that he’s one of the best basketball players alive today. The gifted guard from Kitchener, Ont., consistently delivered championship-level performances and a playoff run for the ages as he joined LeBron James as the only players in NBA history to average at least 26 points, seven assists, five rebounds, 1.5 steals while connecting on at least 40 per cent of their three-point attempts in a playoff run of at least 10 games or more.
For Canadian basketball, it’s another moment where one of the headlining players of the great wave of talent from Canada that has flooded the NBA in the past 15 years has been a critical figure in June. Last summer it was Andrew Wiggins playing the best basketball of his life for the Golden State Warriors. This past two months it was Murray’s turn.
Under the brightest lights, they both delivered. It makes you dream of what could happen at the Olympics in Paris in 2024, if Canada is able to get there.
For Murry, this is a full-circle moment. The Nuggets’ championship aspirations were put on hold when he tore his ACL late in the 2020-21 season just as it looked like the Nuggets were ready to compete for titles. He had to rehabilitate his knee for 18 months and missed all of the 2021-22 season. His goal was always to come back better than ever and prove that his run to the Western Conference Finals in the bubble in 2020 was not a one-time thing. His goal was to win a championship.
On all counts, mission accomplished. The kid who was put through any and all tests his Dad could devise to prepare him for this path stood tall. He shone.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Murray said in the aftermath of a 14-point, eight-assist game in which he still managed to hit critical shots at critical moments. “It’s been a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get back to this point. Everyone on my team believed in me, believed I could get back to myself and we proved a lot of doubters wrong.”
Was it worth the wait, he was asked?
“Oh yeah.”
Some takeaways:
Oh, no … the Nuggets defend now?
The Nuggets got off to a terrible start. They looked anxious, as if the significance of the moment had finally hit them. By the time game was five minutes old, Denver had committed four turnovers, mostly of the sloppy, tentative variety. They had missed all three of their three-point attempts and neither Jokic nor Murray had scored.
But things were looking up. They were leading, as a matter of fact, because they had held the Heat to 2-of-12 shooting. It wasn’t supposed to happen that way. All season and even into the playoffs, the Nuggets — the No.1 seed in the Western Conference — were considered defensively suspect and soft. Neither of their stars — Jokic or Murray — are viewed as high-level defenders. But this series and their whole playoff run has dispelled most of that.
No, Jokic will never be Jaren Jackson Jr. or Draymond Green, but he’s positionally sound, has good hands (and feet: soccer-style deflections are his specialty) and can hold his own to the point that what he does defensively doesn’t off-set his offensive brilliance. Similarly, Murray gets targeted at times, mainly because he is a little vulnerable in matchups against bigger, stronger wings, but he was resourceful and resilient against the Heat.
Coming into Game 5 the Nuggets had held Miami to 40.6 per cent shooting and 32.3 per cent from deep as they went out of their way to take away the deep threat that the likes of Max Strus, Duncan Robinson, Caleb Martin, and Gabe Vincent provided the Heat on their way through the Eastern Conference Finals.
Tellingly, even though the normally efficient Nuggets went into the half shooting just 1-of-15 from three and 3-of-8 from the foul line — while having made 10 turnovers — they were trailing just 51-44. The Nuggets held the Heat to 38 per cent from the floor to keep themselves in it.
The Nuggets never let up, and it was Murray and Jokic who combined for the defensive play of the season as they collapsed on a driving Butler and locked up the Heat star, resulting in a steal by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope that earned him a pair of free throws to put Denver up three with 25 seconds to play.
The Nuggets held the Heat to under 95 points in each of the four wins and under 90 in the clincher. Even if you pegged Denver to win the championship this season, no one saw that coming.
Death, taxes, and the Finals MVP
The problem with Jokic is that he’s inevitable. Some way, somehow, he’s going to ruin your defence.
For much of Game 5 the Heat sat in a zone, willing to risk the Nuggets shredding them from three more than having to figure out how to defend the Jokic-Murray pick-and-roll. That the Nuggets started 1-of-17 from distance only made the Heat’s defensive choice more effective.
But in the second half, Denver started feeding Jokic at the free throw line where he was typically defended by one of the Heat guards. With a championship on the line they went to the simplest option possible: Letting Jokic grind his way to the rim and score.
Jokic scored eight of his 28 points in the first half of the third quarter and there was not a highlight play to be seen. His 10 fourth-quarter points weren’t any different. But they helped hold the fort for the cold-shooting Nuggets and when Murray hit his first three — and just the second for the Nuggets on 18 attempts — the game was tied 60-60.
They really had no business to be, but their defence was stout and Jokic was providing just enough workmanlike, boring, scoring to keep the scoreboard moving. It’s part of his multi-faceted genius. Yes, he can make passes that would make Steve Nash jealous and sure he can shoot from deep like Dirk Nowitzki, but it all is made the more effective because he can and does grime his way in the paint and at the rim like old-school Moses Malone.
He’s unstoppable like any other of the game’s true superstars not because he overwhelms, but more because he’s like weather or gravity or any other natural phenomena: One way or another he’s coming and you’re powerless in his path.
Jokic became the first player in NBA history to average 30 points, 13 rebounds and 10 (well, 9.8) assists for the post-season and he did it while shooting 46 per cent from three and 54 per cent from the floor. Chances are no one — except Jokic — will ever do that again. He’s one-of-one and ambling his way into the NBA pantheon.
Forever Kyle
The number of Kyle Lowry plays Kyle Lowry made after he came onto the floor early in the first quarter was endless. There were pinpoint — and quick — passes to Caleb Martin and Max Struss for much-needed scores as the Heat offence was trying to lift itself out of a deep drought. He locked up Christian Braun on a post-up and at the other end engineered the Heat attack so that Bam Adebayo could take advantage of a match-up in the post against Denver’s Jeff Green.
Lowry was plus-17 in the first half before he even scored. He then hit his first two triples. He argued with referee Marc Davis, agitated the normally unflappable Jokic, and forced Caldwell-Pope into an airball lay-up.
It was a masterful 17 first-half minutes from the former Toronto Raptors star and 2019 NBA champion, and a familiar one.
He kept it up. He even scored on a 28-foot triple in a two-for-one situation at the end of the third quarter. Down the stretch he was sneaking in for offensive rebounds to keep giving the Heat second chances on their way to a potential comeback. His 12-point, nine-rebound, four-assist effort off the bench was a tour down memory lane, basically. It would have been an incredible bookend to his 17-year career to earn another championship ring. It could still happen as he has one more year on his contract, but chances are this was his last, best chance.
But after some tough times in Miami due personal issues and injuries, Lowry at least reminded everyone why he is great.
Michael Porter Jr. figures it out
You wondered what would happen if Michael Porter Jr. ever got going for the Nuggets. In their system he’s like Klay Thompson is to the Golden State Warriors or even Ray Allen with those Boston Celtics and Miami Heat championship teams: A third option who offers so much gravity because of his shooting threat that the price for defences over-committing to the primary options becomes prohibitive.
On paper it can’t fail. But Porter Jr. came into Game 5 shooting just 3-of-22 from deep. He finished the series 4-of-28. But in Game 5 he made himself useful with back cuts and ball cuts and activity on the offensive glass. He had 13 points and 13 rebounds before he finally hit a three — his first in five attempts. But when he finally stepped into one with 1:31 left in the third it gave Denver their first lead of the second half. It hasn’t been a pretty playoff for Porter Jr., but finding a way to be a factor when his primary weapon is misfiring will make him a better player and — over time — the Nuggets a better team. Scary thought.
And the Nuggets may not be done yet
With the Golden State Warriors dynasty fading, the Milwaukee Bucks never quite becoming one, and the possibility of LeBron James ageing out in Los Angeles before they can ever back up their title in 2020, the notion of the NBA super team seems to be fading. Not helping is the way efforts to make them undertaken by the Brooklyn Nets, the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers have all largely fallen flat. In theory, the league seems to be entering a rare period of parity, where any humble eighth seed like the Miami Heat can dream big and work hard and make it to the NBA Finals. Maybe.
Or maybe the Nuggets have been laying the foundation for the NBA’s next dynasty in plain sight. Jokic is the best basketball player in the world and he’s just 27, with a style of play that should age perfectly. Murray is 26, Aaron Gordon is 27 and Porter Jr. is 24. Caldwell-Pope still has plenty of gas left at 29 and all remain under contract for the next two seasons. Christian Braun showed promise as a contributor and the Nuggets’ draft pick situation is in decent shape.
As head coach Michael Malone said, “We’re not going anywhere.”
