NBA champions: Denver Nuggets celebrate first title
DENVER –
Nikola Jokic rode on top of a fire truck with people who mean everything to him — his teammate Jamal Murray, his family — and the NBA trophy.
Drenched in the moment, Jokic and the Denver Nuggets also got drenched in champagne spray Thursday as they paraded through downtown Denver to celebrate their first NBA title.
His young daughter, Ognjena, stole the show as she sat in front of him on the fire truck, sometimes wearing Jokic’s championship hat. Jokic also turned in some big assists, protecting her from champagne showers.
This party has been a long time in the making and swarms of fans showed up. It took 47 seasons in the NBA for the franchise to finally make Denver home to the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Near the end of the parade route, an officer was hit by a fire truck, the Denver Police Department announced on social media. The officer was seriously injured and taken to hospital. The crash remains under investigation.
The Nuggets capped off an impressive postseason by defeating the Miami Heat in the Finals on Monday-evening in Game 5. The Nuggets finished 16-4 in the playoffs, tied for a tie by an NBA champion since the first round. were in place. expanded to best-of-seven in 2003. San Antonio was also 16-4 in 2007 and Golden State went 16-1 in 2017.
“It’s hitting me now,” said coach Michael Malone, who choked when interviewed shortly after climbing off his fire truck for the parade. “This is a great experience.
“I have a crazy idea,” added Malone, who wore a shirt that read “Put this in your pipe and smoke it” with a picture of the NBA trophy underneath. “Let’s do this again. I want to be on another float. I want to be on another parade and do this thing again.”
Confetti falls on the crowd at a rally to mark Denver Nuggets’ first NBA basketball championship, June 15, 2023, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
So many scenes to take in. There was greenhorn Christian Braun throwing his shirt into the crowd. Veteran DeAndre Jordan mingled with the fans and gave them high-fives. Murray signs a painting of himself. And Kentavious Caldwell-Pope played the TV broadcaster role as he interviewed teammate Aaron Gordon.
“KCP, live coverage,” he said, turning to Gordon on the Denver 7 broadcast. “How does it feel to be champion?”
“You would know, champion,” Gordon replied to Caldwell-Pope.
Caldwell-Pope was the only Nuggets player to earn a championship, thanks to his title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020.
That is, until now.
Twenty miles from the downtown party, the Broncos concluded their offseason schedule in relative isolation Thursday. Safety veteran Kareem Jackson said the Nuggets championship inspires them.
“Yeah, definitely to see another team in the same city win it all, and those guys had a great year. It’s certainly encouraging for us. We definitely want to do the same thing,” Jackson said.
Jokic is coming off a historic playoff appearance, where he became the first player to lead the league in total points (600), rebounds (269) and assists (190) in a single postseason. The two-time NBA MVP also added more hardware to his resume and captured the Finals MVP.
He also had that trophy next to him. Jokic briefly missed it Monday night in the chaos of winning a title.
Jokic was called to the microphone to speak and serenaded thunderous chants of “MVP”, “MVP” from the audience.
“Okay, okay, okay, okay,” he said, calming them down. “Thank you. But thank you anyway. … This is great. We will all remember this all our lives.”
With the season officially concluded, Jokic will soon be heading home to Sombor, Serbia, to spend time with his family and return to his other passion: horse racing. He hopes to be back in time to attend a trot race on Sunday.
This is the second consecutive June that the city has held a parade. The Colorado Avalanche was the guest of honor last year after hoisting the Stanley Cup.
——
AP Sports writer Arnie Stapleton contributed.
