By: Marselis Davis
On the Monday of June 12, the Denver Nuggets won their first championship in franchise history. Their championship run actually held a lot of similarities to the lone championship that the Dallas Mavericks won in 2011. In light of the Nugget’s incredible accomplishment, it is worth looking back at some similarities and differences in the two championship runs.
Finals MVP
Concluding the 2023 Finals, the Nugget’s two-time MVP Nikola Jokic hoisted the Finals MVP, capping off a historic playoff run for the Serbian center. This made Jokic the only white European to win Finals MVP alongside one other player: Dirk Nowitzki.
Nowitzki is widely considered to be the greatest player in the history of the Mavericks’ franchise. He was a prolific shooting power forward from Germany who played all 21 seasons of his career on the Mavericks. In 2011, he won the Finals MVP for the Mavericks with a series average of 26 points and 9.7 rebounds. This means that both the Nuggets and Mavericks were led to their lone championship by a superstar European big man.
Miami Heat
Both the Mavericks and the Nuggets won their first title by defeating the Miami Heat in the Finals. In 2011, the Mavericks took down the LeBron James-led Heat in six games in the Finals. This year, the Nuggets defeated the Jimmy Butler-led Heat in five games to win their first title. While the Heat’s roster differed in those years, it is still a notable similarity between the two teams.
Overlooked
When the Mavericks won their championship, it was highly unexpected. The Mavericks were not even expected to make it out of the Western Conference. The Lakers were the favorites to win the championship as they were coming off of back-to-back titles at the time. The one-seeded Spurs were also favored above the Mavericks to win the title. Even when the Mavericks made the Finals, the Miami Heat were heavily favored to win the series against them.
Similarly, the Nuggets were rather overlooked en route to win their championship, despite being the one seed. The Bucks, Celtics, and even the fourth-seeded Suns were generally favored to win the title ahead of the Nuggets. Both the Mavericks and Nuggets proved that they deserved more respect when they won the championship.
Sweeping the Lakers
Another interesting similarity between the Nuggets and Mavericks’ lone championship run is that both teams unexpectedly swept the Lakers. As stated earlier, the Lakers were favorites to win the title in 2011, so when they faced off against the Mavericks in the Conference Semifinals, they were expected to win. Instead, the Mavericks shockingly swept the Lakers to advance to the Conference Finals.
Conversely, while the Nuggets were slightly favored to defeat the Lakers in the Conference Finals, it was expected to be a competitive series that went at least six or seven games. The Lakers were led by a dominant duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and the team had defeated Denver before in the 2020 Western Conference Finals. On top of that, the Lakers had not lost a home game heading into the Conference Finals, so the series was expected to be highly competitive. Instead, the Nuggets surprisingly swept the Lakers and advanced to the Finals.
Finals Favorite
The primary difference between the two team’s title runs was the gap in how favored each team was in the Finals. While both teams faced off against the Heat, the Nuggets were heavily favored to defeat them as the Heat were an eighth-seeded team with a heavy reliance on undrafted players. On the other hand, the Mavericks were heavy underdogs against the Heat in 2011. The Miami Heat were led by a Big Three that consisted of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh. The Mavericks were seen as no match for the Heat’s super team, so when they ended up winning the title, it was one of the biggest upsets in NBA history.
When a franchise has to wait decades to win their first title, it is a very special moment for the city. Both Nowitzki and Jokic gifted their city with a well-earned championship that stamped them as legends within their respective franchises. Congratulations to the 2023 NBA Champion Denver Nuggets.
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