Before the champagne popped and Serbian dance music pumped through the Nuggets’ locker room late Monday night, the most indelible moment from the NBA Finals came with Nikola Jokic on the bench.
Time was fading fast on Miami’s season. The Nuggets had already survived their most vulnerable stretch of Game 4, with Jokic in foul trouble, and now the franchise cornerstone was relegated to the sidelines as a defensive strategy. Up 14 with less than 1:30 left in the game, Bruce Brown had Duncan Robinson on an island. He dribbled through his legs three times, crossed over and hopped to left.