AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post
Nikola Jokić had to overcome a lot of obstacles and disappointments en route to becoming an NBA champion.
From famously being drafted during a Taco Bell commercial, to coming off the bench in the first two months of his rookie season and struggling to make it over the championship hump once he became a full-fledged superstar, it’s been a challenging road for the two-time MVP.
But that’s what made Monday night so sweet, and he wouldn’t want it any other way.
The Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat for their first NBA title in franchise history, and their star found a beautiful and eloquent way to sum the team’s entire journey, from the very beginning.
“If you want to be successful, you need a couple years,” Jokić said in his postgame press conference. “You need to be bad, then you need to be good. Then when you’re good, you need to fail. And then when you fail, you’re going to figure it out. I think experience is not what happened to you, it’s what you’re going to do with what happened to you. Yes, Jamal was injured. Yes, we lose the first round or second round. … There is no shortcuts. It’s a journey. And I’m glad that I’m part of this journey.”
The moment comes at the 15:42 mark of the press conference.
The Nuggets looked like a team built for this stage since 2020 when they made the Western Conference Finals in the bubble. But an injury to Jamal Murray in 2021 delayed their schedule to arrive a bit.
It ended up working out in the end.
Jokić and Murray were unquestionably the best duo in the entire postseason, having defenses at their mercy in every series, especially in the Finals. In their pivotal Game 3 win in Miami, they became the first pair of teammates to each have a triple-double in an NBA Finals game.
Just absolutely dominant stuff.
Jokić was particularly spectacular in the series, averaging 30.2 points, 14.0 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.4 blocks, ultimately winning the Bill Russell Finals MVP Trophy.
