The Nuggets and the title in the NBA. The secret of Denver, the city of the Triplete – Corriere.it

Nobody believed it. THE Denver Nuggets they always ended up next to the word underdogswhich stands for underdogs, the ones that would eventually melt like the snow from the Rocky Mountains, which surround the city, when the sun gets warmer. Everyone, from the American media to those across the border, ready to bet on others: Bucks, Celtics, Lakers, Golden State. Even Miami was credited with the possible miracle after the adventurous conquest of the playoffs
. The Nuggets don’t.

The Nuggets have been treated sufficiently for months, painted like a fragile toy, whose results were too tied to the understanding between the non-American axis of the team, formed by the Canadian Jamal Murray and the Serbian Nikola Jokic. An axis that could be broken, as in the past, transforming the promises of
regular season
in the usual underdogs. Instead, the playoffs concluded last night told another story: the Nuggets played 20 games and won 16, losing at home only once in game 2 of the final.

In the decisive match, while Miami tried to overturn an already written destiny, Denver, the team of fast attack and cheerful defenses was able to win a real match, played on the edge of fatigue and fear. When Bruce Brown hit the two free throws that denied Miami any possible recovery, Denver came of age, slipping on her finger the ring that marries her with the great teams of the sport.

The city exploded and so did the cursed gunshots, nine injured, three seriously, but for most of the three million residents of the metropolitan area it was a night of unforgettable joy, with all of downtown painted yellow and blue, the colors of the Nuggets, even the bell tower on 16th streetthe pedestrian shopping street, a small copy of that of San Marco in Venice.

It would be unfair now to forget about Coach Erik’s great Heat season Spoelstra, who has been coaching in Miami since 1997 and head coach since 2008. Especially since this was one final where the coaches played a key role. Michael Malone from New York, the winning coach, has led the Nuggets since 2015 and has built a
team
around Jokic and Murray who were in Denver already eight years ago. Like an alchemist he has added and taken away pieces every season: from Danilo Gallinari to Paul Millsap, up to the current team, where Gordon, Porter, Braun, Green and Caldwell-Pope are anything but supporting actors. Malone raised Jokic in preference to Nurkic and waited for Murray during the long injury. Furthermore, but this is a credit to be divided between the two benches, Denver and Miami have brought basketball back to being a team gamenot a
One man show by LeBron James or Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The success of the Nuggets goes for framed in a larger realitythat of a state, the Coloradocapable of transforming itself from the last outpost of modernity, at the end of the Great Plains, ad attraction for the younger generation: register here one of the lowest middle ages among the capitals of the union and many companies continue to move their headquarters here and perhaps now even a Disney park will arrive. Not a coincidence if, Over the past eight years, Denver has won basketball with the Nuggets, hockey with the Avalanche and football with the Broncos.

No other city has succeeded in this

treble
and that’s why today
The Mile High City, the city is 1,600 meters above sea level
can look down on everyone, for once.