You cannot say, ‘This is going to happen.’ There are so many factors. “That’s why basketball is a fun sport,” Jokic said. Their beautiful game turned into a slugfest, but they figured it out nonetheless. True to the Nuggets’ personality, they kept pressing, came at their opponent in waves and figured out how to win a game that went against their type. Somehow, after shooting 6.7% from three - the worst first half in the history of the finals (10-shot minimum) they only trailed by seven. It made the Nuggets tentative on both sides of the court for the rest of the half. Jeff Green and Jamal Murray, who finished with 14 points and eight assists on an off night, joined them there too. The tone of the game was set with 2:51 left in the first quarter, when Jokic got his second foul and joined Aaron Gordon on the bench. Even with the clutch shots from Brown and Caldwell-Pope, they only went 13 for 23 from the line. The Nuggets, who came in shooting 37.6% from three for the series, shot 18% in this one. They played like they expected to win, and for a while during this game, which was settled as much by players diving onto the floor as sweet-looking jump shots, it looked like they would. 8 seed to make it to the Finals, insisted they weren’t into consolation prizes. The Heat, who survived a loss in the play-in tournament and became only the second No. Until Butler went off, he was two for 13 for eight points. Bam Adebayo had 20 for the Heat, but Miami shot 34% from the floor and 25% from three. The Heat were, as coach Erik Spoelstra promised, a gritty, tenacious bunch. “It was ugly and we couldn’t make shots, but at the end we figured it out,” Jokic said. Denver is the home of the Larry O’Brien Trophy for the first time in the franchise’s 47 years in the league. There were fireworks exploding outside Ball Arena at the final buzzer. Ugly as it was, the aftermath was something the Nuggets and their fans could all agree was beautiful. Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope made two free throws each to put the game out of reach and clinch the title for Denver. Trailing by three with 15 seconds left, Butler jacked up a three, but missed it. Then, Bruce Brown got an offensive rebound and tip-in to give the Nuggets the lead for good. Butler made two more free throws with 1:58 remaining to help Miami regain a one-point lead.
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