Last week Wednesday (June 7) the Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat, in Miami, to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals, and head back to Denver where they lost Game 2 (their only home loss in these play-offs) to these opponents. Miami would be facing their second eliminations game of this post-season, having previously defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and could either force a sixth game or the task could prove unsurmountable.

The possibility of returning to Miami for Game 6 seemed ever more realistic after the Heat established a seven-point half-time lead during Game 5 on Monday (June 12). Miami’s Bam Adebayo was the standout performer in the first half with 18 points, but this fell drastically off in the second half, and he finished with 20 points along with 12 rebounds. Jimmy Butler struggled on the offensive end for most of the game, but turned on the heat near the end, and almost pulled it off. He ended with a team-high 21 points but scored 13 straight points for Miami in about two and a half minutes, pushing the Heat ahead by one point with less than two minutes to play.

The Nuggets turned in a second-half performance that’s deserving of their 16-4 post-season record, by mitigating the offensive threat of their opponents with the area that had been subject to the loudest criticism: their defence. They held Miami to just 38 points in the second half after allowing 51 in the first. However, Denver had an off night offensively, scoring only 94 points (the fewest by a winning team in a Finals game since the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7 against the Golden State Warriors in 2016, a 93–89 win for Cleveland), but held Miami to a meagre 89 points, the fourth time in the series that Denver held Miami to 95 points or less, all wins.

Nikola Jokic led the scoring with 28 points and 16 rebounds. Jamal Murray contributed 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, while Michael Porter Jr had 16 points and 13 rebounds, as the Nuggets, energised by the home crowd, rallied to clinch a 4–1 series win and the franchise’s first-ever NBA trophy, in their 47th season — the longest for any team before their first championship. The Nuggets flew under the radar for most of the play-offs but never faced an elimination game this post-season and finished the year with a 10-1 run, the only loss in this stretch being to Miami.

Jokic, who was the NBA’s regular season Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the previous two years and finished second in the voting this year, was named Finals MVP, and became the lowest drafter player ever to bear that crown, having been drafted at No 41 in 2014. He became the first-ever player to lead all players in total points, total assists and total rebounds during the play-offs, and his 10 triple-doubles is the most-ever in a single post-season by any player, bettering Wilt Chamberlain (7). Additionally, he joined Wilt as the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double in back-to-back play-off series.

There wasn’t one single reason why Denver won the series — their depth and Miami’s lack thereof played significant roles — but Jokic was able to significantly impact the games in a variety of ways, on both ends of the floor. No team figured a way to contain him all season, and the story was the same in the play-offs. Maybe there is really no way to stop this slow-moving, horse-racing enthusiast.

Some critics will say that upsets by the lower-seeded Lakers (7) and Heat (8) provided an easier path to the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, but the Nuggets were (quietly) the most impressive team in these play-offs. They proved better than the other teams in many aspects and they can only face what’s in front of them. The Nuggets are at full strength and the team’s core are expected to be there long term, the rest of the league had better wake up and take notice.

Coincidentally, the NBA’s newly crowned Serbian Finals MVP sealed his team’s first-ever championship one day after his countryman, Novak Djokovic, won Grand Slam number 23 at the French Open. Djokovic is now king of the hill, having gone one better than rival Rafael Nadal and has long eclipsed Roger Federer (now retired) with 20 and the legendary Pete Sampras with 14.

The clay surface has never been Djokovic’s favourite, but the Serbian lost just two sets at Roland Garros during the tournament, signalling that his reign may be far from over. It was perhaps fitting that Djokovic had legendary National Football League (NFL) quarterback Tom Brady in his box for his historic final against Casper Ruud last Sunday.

And on the subject of coincidences, only six years after entering the National Hockey League (NHL), the Vegas Golden Knights are Stanley Cup champions, having completed a 4-1 series win over the Florida Panthers just one night after the Heat were doused by the same margin. The Knights famously made the Stanley Cup Final in their first season, falling to the Washington Capitals in five games, and have missed the play-offs only once in their history (last season). However, unlike the narrow margin that closed the curtains on the NBA season, the NHL finale was a 9-3 rout, the first team since the 1942 Maple Leafs to score nine goals in a Cup Final.

These games are over (until next season) but there is European football — EURO and Nations League — being played, and the qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations are underway. Additionally, the World Championships are set to start in Budapest, Hungary, on August 19, so there should be just enough sports offered by JustBet to whet the appetite until the ‘big leagues’ return.

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