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Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat 94-89 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday to secure their first-ever championship. Shortly after, Jokic was awarded the NBA Finals MVP award for his dominant all-around play throughout the series.
The superstar big man averaged 30.2 points, 14.0 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 0.8 steals, 1.4 blocks and 1.6 3-pointers per game on 58.3% shooting over five games.
Following his dominant Finals performance, fans took to Twitter to rave about Jokic. Many asserted that the best center in the league debate between Jokic and Philadelphia 76ers superstar big man Joel Embiid, who won the league MVP award, should now be over:
“People think Embiid is better LMAOOO,” one fan said.
“Way better than Embiid and is not even close,” another said.
Meanwhile, others crowned Jokic the best player in the league as well as one of the greatest centers in NBA history:
“Best player in the world,” one fan said.
“Nikola Jokic is a DIFFERENT type of player that the NBA hasn’t seen before he’s already a Top 5 center of all time the sky is the limit,” another said.
Here are a few more of the top fan reactions to Nikola Jokic winning his first title and Finals MVP:
Nikola Jokic on winning his first NBA title
After being announced as this year’s NBA Finals MVP, Nikola Jokic was asked what it means to him to be a champion. As usual, the big man shifted the focus toward his teammates, particularly his co-star Jamal Murray.
Jokic said that he was just happy because everyone on the Nuggets was playing for each other all series:
“We are not winning for ourselves, we are winning for the guy next to us, and that’s why this (matters) even more.
“I was winning for Jamal, Jamal was winning for me, that’s how it goes. This is a great group of people, a great group of teammates … This year was amazing.”
As for the Nuggets’ title-clinching Game 5 win, Jokic said that it may not have been pretty, but his team got the job done:
“It was ugly and we couldn’t make shots, but at the end, we figured it out.
"I am just happy we won the game. … That’s why basketball is a fun sport. It’s a live thing. You cannot say, ‘This is going to happen.’ There are so many factors. I’m just happy that we won the game.”
Guess the Lakers players!
