It took 56 years and 38 playoff appearances for the basketball team nestled in the high plains just east of the Rocky Mountains to finally reach the peak of its sport.
It took an unheralded center from Serbia who turned into the most formidable player in the game and a Canadian point guard who found himself again after a long and arduous recovery from a career-threatening knee injury. It took patience, collaboration and a discipline born of trying, failing and learning how to keep climbing just a bit higher.
The Denver Nuggets are N.B.A. champions.
They clinched the first title in franchise history Monday night on their home court at Ball Arena, 5,280 feet above sea level — the highest altitude at which any N.B.A. championship has been won. Led by center Nikola Jokic and point guard Jamal Murray, and bolstered by the rest of an indefatigable eight-man rotation, the Nuggets beat the Miami Heat with a 94-89 victory in Game 5.
The clinching game was neither pretty nor easy. Through the first three quarters, Denver struggled to make 3-point shots and convert free throws; the Nuggets turned the ball over carelessly. The Heat had a 7-point lead at halftime, and led by a point after the third quarter.
But in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets found the resolve to take the title. With about 10 minutes 59 seconds remaining, Murray hit a 3-pointer — only the Nuggets’ third of the game — to give the Nuggets a 4-point lead. Murray pranced down the court as the Heat called a timeout. It was Denver’s largest lead since the first quarter.
Later, Murray struck again. This time, Aaron Gordon blocked Heat guard Kyle Lowry’s jumper, leading to a transition basket for Murray to give the Nuggets a 5-point lead.
And with less than 30 seconds remaining, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope stole a pass from Jimmy Butler toward Max Strus and made both free throws to give Denver a 3-point lead.
The Nuggets depart a dubious club. There are now only 10 teams in the league that have never won an N.B.A. championship. Five have made it to the finals and lost, including the Phoenix Suns, who have come up short three times, most recently in 2021.
But the Nuggets had never even gotten that far, at least not in the N.B.A. Not since 1976, when they lost to the New York Nets in the American Basketball Association finals, had they reached a championship series.
The long drought helps explain why the Nuggets were underestimated all season. Pundits and oddsmakers questioned their ability to win, even after they took hold of first place in the Western Conference in December and never let go.
People wondered if Jokic, despite his superlative play, could lead a team this far — after all, he had never taken the Nuggets past the conference finals. Those questions may have cost him a third consecutive Most Valuable Player Award — an accomplishment that many said should be reserved for champions.
Some wondered if Murray would ever return to the elite level he had been playing at in 2021, when a knee injury just before the playoffs set him and Denver on a two-year journey to fully reset.
Along the way, some role players found their stride, even if they mostly went unnoticed.
Caldwell-Pope, whom the Nuggets traded for last off-season, added defense, shooting and championship experience. For a few playoff games, he brought in the ring he had won in 2020 with the Lakers and let his teammates hold it. None of them have one.
“They gave me an opportunity here, because of my championship, to be that leader — be vocal, let them know about my experience and how hard it is to get to this point we’re at now,” Caldwell-Pope said. “I’m just trying to keep them motivated.”
Gordon, whom the Nuggets traded for in March 2021, happily became a defensive stopper after being the offensive star of the Orlando Magic.
“I’m not here for the credit,” Gordon said. “I’m here for the wins.”
Bruce Brown provided offensive sparks; Jeff Green added veteran calm; Christian Braun, a rookie, offered a youthful fearlessness that would pay off in the finals.
The Nuggets blasted through the dysfunctional Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round and then beat the Suns in six games. They swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals and then sat around for a week waiting to find out whom they would meet in the finals.
Like the Nuggets, the Heat had taken a 3-0 lead in their conference finals series. But they faltered as the Boston Celtics fought back in the East, winning the next three games and forcing a decisive Game 7.
“When Boston won Game 6, we’d been siting so long it almost felt like we wasn’t in the playoffs anymore,” Green said. “Because the only thing we was doing was watching them.”
Miami, propelled by its relentless star Butler, won Game 7 for the franchise’s seventh trip to the finals, this time as the No. 8 seed. A victory would have given Miami its first championship in a decade, one far more unexpected than the three it had won.
If people overlooked Denver this season, they ignored Miami outright. The Heat barely made the playoffs and then gave even ardent believers reason to doubt when they wavered against Boston. They had an us-against-the-world mentality heading into the finals when, for once, Denver seemed to have the world on its side.
And who could blame the Nuggets if that surge of confidence flowed to their heads?
Denver took Game 1, and Jokic notched a triple-double. Afterward, the Nuggets began to celebrate as if they could feel their championship parade rumbling already. They lost focus and allowed Miami to steal Game 2, even as Jokic scored 41 points. Coach Michael Malone scolded the Nuggets and questioned their effort. He wouldn’t have to do that again.
Jokic and Murray each had triple-doubles in Game 3 in front of a raucous crowd in Miami. In Game 4, Brown scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, stoking Miami’s desperation.
The Nuggets had some unusual visitors in their locker room after Game 4. The Nuggets owner E. Stanley Kroenke and his son, Josh Kroenke, the team president, grinned brightly, each holding a can of Coors. The Nuggets had just taken a 3-1 lead in the finals, and they could feel that the franchise was closing in on its first championship. Only one finals team — the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers — had ever been able to dig itself out of that deep a hole.
But the Nuggets players and coaches refused to acknowledge how close they were. They remembered what had happened after Game 1.
“We need to win one more,” Jokic said after Game 4. “I like that we didn’t relax. We didn’t get comfortable. We were still desperate. We still want it.”
Murray offered a bit more confidence. “We’re just ready to win a championship,” he said. “We have the tools to do it. It’s been on our minds for a while.”
Fifty-six years for some.
