Too Jokic for everyone. The Denver Nuggets conquer the NBA

The Joker’s big face at the top of the NBA. It’s not just record-breaking stats and rock-solid performances anymore: the Ring arrived in Denver, for the first time in the history of the franchise. And given how these Nuggets ruled Miami in the final – an authoritative, clear, even easy 4-1 – one wonders if they’ll take a liking to it. Why Coach Michael Malone’s team looks like they’ve done nothing but win, when they’re only just starting to do so. Gorgeous Jamal Murray, precious Micheal Porter Jr. Oh well, Nikola is out of adjectives. So let’s extrapolate one, as is done only for the greats of sport: jokicciano.

Sounds like the name of a remote extraterrestrial. Which also cannot be excluded, playoff numbers in hand. 30 points, 13.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists on average (the 28-16-4 in game-5, with a clear 12/16 shooting, almost taste of formality). Jokic is the only player in Finals history to score a 30-20-10 triple-double (in Game 3), plus two more in previous series. That’s three of the five ever recorded in the NBA postseason – the rest come from none other than Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar. And in these 20 games, from the first round against the Timberwolves onwards, the triple doubles signed by him are 10: another absolute record. We don’t even ask who was unanimously elected MVP.

But to reduce Denver’s triumph to the dominance of the Serbian center would be misleading. If I’m not mistaken: in the only game that saw Jokic carry the offense on his shoulders – like all the times he’s surpassed 40 points in these playoffs – the Nuggets lost. And that could have been the watershed of the season, because the Heat, it was game-2, recovered the home court factor thanks to a collective performance worthy of a basketball textbook. Instead, an equally choral reaction will follow, with the champions in the West overflowing into Florida twice. The fifth challenge, tonight, again in Colorado, was perhaps the most difficult to see: tired teams, low percentages, pure points. But in the end Miami had dead batteries, winning Boston in seven is not like liquidating the Lakers in four. Spoelstra’s solid supporters were missing right at the climax. And the usual Jimmy Butler woke up late, albeit as an indomitable champion: the last 12 team points belonged to him (9 in the rest of the game), up to the triple of desperation that crashed on the iron with the hopes of Miami .

Denver rejoices because it was the strongest team, and by no means a little, knowing how to handle even the most congenial situations for its opponent such as the point-to-point finals. Precisely for this reason, perhaps, the Finals have not been the most spectacular and contestable in recent years. It’s the Heat’s credit, not their fault. Who arrived there against all odds, despite injuries and a roster far inferior to the battleships listed for the title. Conquering the NBA from eighths in the draw therefore remains a taboo – ironic courses and appeals: 24 years ago the other team to try was New York, which collided with the Duncan-Robinson pairing; today instead, Duncan Robinson (name and surname) was the extreme joker caught by coach Spoelstra in the last success of the season. “We have no regrets”, comments the coach. “I am grateful to these guys for having reached the end: our path will remain in the annals”.

The epic of the loser, the practice of the winner. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” declares Jokic in his own way, fresh from the trophy. “The job is done. Now we can go home.” Where his horses, his family, his peace await him. Want to put, with the ring waited a lifetime?