Denver Nuggets: NBA Champions 2023 with Nikola Jokic as MVP

The NBA got a new team champion, Denver Nuggets. After 47 years in the league and 56 since its creation, the Colorado team has finally lifted a title. And they have done it in a big way, with Nikola Jokic as the axis and a cast of memorable secondaries. The moment the playing time expired, the joy spread through all the members of the squad, the staff and, in general, the entire organization, sharing that joy with the rest of the local public.

After celebrating with champagne, hugging with colleagues, friends and family, the protagonists attended the media at the start of a night to remember in the Nuggets.

These were the most prominent statements.

Nikola Jokic, MVP of the NBA Finals 2023

About being his way

“It’s been good. We did the job. I think we played at the best level, I’m not going to say in the postseason, but I think we played our best game. We didn’t make a lot of shots today, but we still defended.

I think it’s a great trip. I was #41 in the Draft, but that doesn’t matter. When you’re here, you’re a player. The Miami Heat have a couple of players that didn’t even get drafted and they contribute to winning.”

On the recent success of the Europeans

“Yes, we have an impact on things, but of course the Americans are the majority in the league, and they’re supposed to be because they’re from here. The United States won I don’t know how many gold medals in a row and then Spain won the last World Cup. But I think there are some European players, and there will be others in the future, who will help win and give good teams an advantage to win the championship.”

More | Jokic’s daughter stole the show with a unique moment in the Finals

Jamal Murray, the other star of the Nuggets

On his path after injuries

“It was very difficult to put into words. It still is. Yeah, I couldn’t even contain myself,” explained about his reaction to the cameras after being champion. “It was a surreal moment. It all came to me at once, from the trip to celebrating with colleagues, enjoying the moment, looking back on rehab, looking back at myself as a child, as a bystander and now being here. “.

“I couldn’t contain myself. It’s something I’ve been working on all my life. Every real player wants to be on this stage, play the game and be in this moment. To see the full circle, to come out of my rehab, not being able to walk, climb the stairs for a month or two. It was for a long time. A lot of different things went through my head. A lot of tears. A lot of blood, sweat and tears, and really.”.

More | Jamal Murray: from a serious knee injury to being an NBA champion in 2 years

About team union

“The best word I can use [para definir al equipo] It is selfless and that we trust each other. The most important thing is when we give ourselves room to work, we allow the defense to make mistakes or our reads to work.

I guess at key moments everyone had a part to play in our success. I am so happy for our people. We did this together”.

On how he lived the process to return

“I have to say that I also had my doubts [sobre cómo volvería]. Someone asked me about butterflies [en el estómago]. That is what makes you live. That’s what makes you care. When you doubt yourself, that’s what makes you try to find a way to turn it around. In any sport, in any injury, in any race you’re in, when you go through adversity, it’s how you imagine and visualize yourself in the end.

Zach LaVine was a great help. We talked during rehab and we were still rehabbing at the time. So I asked him, are you still doing this, are you still doing this, what should I feel, what should I expect? Rooster [Gallinari]Oladipo, Klay, they all have shown that you can do it.

I just wanted to be another figure that would serve as an inspiration to those little kids that even at that age have been through adversity. It’s just the mindset you have to have.

There is much more to prove on my part. I know if I can do this fresh off an injury like that, where I still have days of pain, we can get it done again.”

Michael Malone, the architect of the Nuggets’ success

On how this is just the beginning

“Pat Riley said something many years ago. I used to have it on my whiteboard when I was a coach in Sacramento, and he would talk about the evolution in this game and how you go from being a nobody to someone known, you go from being an upstart to a winner, from a winner to a contender, from a contender to a champion, and the last step, is to be a dynasty.

So we are not satisfied. We accomplished something this franchise has never achieved before, but we have a lot of talented young players in that locker room, and I think we just showed through 16 playoff wins what we’re capable of on the biggest stage in the world.”

More | How was the Nuggets team built? The origin of your project

About Nikola Jokic

“It’s been amazing, because you can look at it in two ways. You can look at it from the perspective of the game, two MVPs, Finals MVP, championship and everything he’s done on the field. And then, more importantly to me, you can look at it off the field. from the court, the relationship, the love I have for Nikola, his mother and father in Sombor, Serbia, his brothers Nemanja and Strahinja, his wife Natalija and their daughter Ognjena, they are a wonderful family that I have grown very close to. And I’ve said this many times before, but Nikola, even tonight, is acting like this is just another match.

It has never changed with all the success, and it never will. It’s just not in their nature.

I love Nikola. It’s eight years. And to Jamal, with whom I have been seven. I’ve been through a lot. Just for all of us to stay the course, to challenge ourselves, for all of us to improve collectively, individually. It’s great to be a part of the story of a great player like him being an even better person, and I mean that sincerely. This is not a coach talk. Nikola is just a great, great man.”

Aaron Gordon, the third pillar of the Nuggets

About his story, from the transfer to the ring

“When I got traded we saw the potential of the team. We felt like we had all the pieces in order, together. So, yeah, of course, injuries happened. But then we got Bruce Brown and we got KCP, and with them coming, it’s all over.”

About Nikola Jokic

“He’s always ready. He’s a guy who sees the whole court no matter where he is, so you can be open anytime. You just have to be ready to score and shoot anytime because he’ll pass the ball to you. Essentially, It’s a point-center, which is ridiculous. We haven’t seen that before. We’ve seen a point power-forward. I’ve never seen a point-center.”