Denver Nuggets, Canadian Jamal Murray win 1st-ever NBA title
Posted June 12, 2023 11:01 pm.
Last Updated June 12, 2023 11:19 pm.
The Denver Nuggets and Canadian guard Jamal Murray are NBA champions for the first time after defeating the Miami Heat 94-89 on Monday.
The Nuggets won the best-of-seven final in five games. It’s the franchise’s first title in its 47 years.
47 years in the making. ???? pic.twitter.com/E8Gjd2jT5d
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 13, 2023
Murray, who hails from Kitchener, Ont., was dominant alongside two-time regular season MVP Nikola Jokic, who finished with 28 points and 16 rebounds on Monday night. Murray added 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Forward Michael Porter Jr. had 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Jokic was named NBA Finals MVP after averaging over 30 points and 13 rebounds per game and shooting over 46 per cent from three in the playoffs.
Murray, meanwhile, averaged over 26 points per game in the playoffs to help guide and ultimately secure the title for Denver. He was drafted seventh overall by the Nuggets in the 2016 NBA Draft.
It’s the second-straight season a Canadian has been part of a championship-winning team after Andrew Wiggins of Thornhill, Ont. won as a member of the Golden State Warriors in 2022. Forward/center Tristan Thompson of Toronto, Ont. won a title with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016.
Nuggets win spoils magical Heat run to NBA Finals
The Nuggets’ finals win ended an impressive run by fan-favourite Jimmy Butler and the Heat, who upset the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, the second-ranked Boston Celtics and the fifth-ranked New York Knicks en route to the championship series.
It would have been Butler’s first-ever title and long-time Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry’s second after his first ring in 2019.
Butler finished with a team-high 21 points on Monday night, while Lowry contributed a full stat line of 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals while hitting four from beyond the arc.
Despite qualifying for the playoffs for the fourth-straight season, the Heat last won an NBA title in 2013, when the big three of James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh defeated the San Antonio Spurs in seven games.
James and the Heat also won the title in 2012, the last and only time LeBron has won back-to-back NBA championships.
In 2020, James and his new team, the Los Angeles Lakers, would defeat Miami in six games to win the NBA title — James’ fourth ring to date.
Denver finished the regular season first in the Western Conference and second in the NBA with 53 wins. Jokic, Murray and company breezed through the first three rounds before capping off an impressive postseason with a championship, ending the playoffs with a 16-4 record.
