This week, an NBA MVP big man who stayed loyal to the mid-market team who drafted him took a carefully constructed cast of characters, including a star point guard, and lights-out wing shooter, and carried his team to an NBA Championship with a dominating and decisive performance.
The only thing that could have made it better would have been the word “Nuggets” across the front of their jerseys.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and a wildly solid cast of Milwaukee Bucks brought a ring to Wisconsin, their first in 50 years. To celebrate the occasion, Antetokounmpo hung 50 points on a shell-shocked Phoenix Suns team who thought they were on track for a title of their own. Milwaukee built their champion the only way a team of their budget and television market can. Brick by brick. Piece by piece.
Watching a compelling pair of teams play exceptional basketball seems to be a formula for success in Finals TV ratings, as Giannis and the Bucks and Chris Paul, Devin Booker, DeAndre Ayton and the Phoenix Suns gave six compelling and entertaining games, almost all of them decided in the closing minutes of the contest. Two franchises that have had their fair share of heartache showed the world how beautiful a game basketball can be when pitting the class of the league against one another.
Your Denver Nuggets had a similar set of chess pieces on the board before the injury bug decided biting them was delicious, and had their sights set on that championship trophy. With none of the usual suspects making it past the postseason injury gauntlet, 2021 was a rare opportunity for an uncommon team to find their way to the Finals. Denver’s path could be a very similar one to the Bucks recent success. Their MVP did not win his award and their championship in the same season. Every time the Bucks path to a championship seemed clear over the last few seasons, they fell to an unexpected challenger along the way. This season, when Antetokounmpo wasn’t the MVP favorite, the Bucks also finally weren’t the choice to come out of the East. As an underdog for the first time in a while, Milwaukee had the freedom to exceed expectations and come from out of nowhere.
And out of nowhere they did. The Bucks were decided favorites in the first round, but were still stacked up against last season’s Eastern Conference champs, the Miami Heat. After the Bucks swept Miami in the first round, things got a little stickier. It took seven games to beat the extra-stacked Brooklyn Nets, with the Bucks dropping the first two games. They took six games to take out the Atlanta Hawks after the Hawks had taken out the one seed and won the first game of the series. Once they were down 2-0 in the Finals to the Suns, they wouldn’t lose another game. A dramatic and thrilling run for a team and fanbase that had been waiting a very long time for satisfaction.
Very few fanbases or franchises have waited as long as the Denver Nuggets to realize their championship hopes. But it has to give the city a fair bit of hope to see a franchise of similar size and build that has realized those same hopes. The Nuggets know they have the major pieces in place to finally capture that ring. Just like the Bucks this year, and just like every champion that’s made it all the way, there will be a lot of fortune and lucky bounces to make it happen. But watching Giannis and Co finally realize those hopes had to light a tiny spark of hope in Nuggets fans everywhere. Seeing a team so similar have it all work out lets you think that maybe… just maybe… This is the way.
