2022-23 NBA Finals
June 1, 2023 – June 12, 2023
2022-23 NBA Finals result: DNDenver Nuggets def. MHMiami Heat, 4-1, June 1, 2023 – June 12, 2023.
Result
| Team | Series | |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | DNDenver Nuggets | 4-1 |
| Runner-up | MHMiami Heat |
Games
| Game | Date | Result | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game 1 | June 1, 2023 | DNDenver Nuggets 104–93 Miami Heat | Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado |
| Game 2 | June 4, 2023 | MHMiami Heat 111–108 Denver Nuggets | Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado |
| Game 3 | June 7, 2023 | DNDenver Nuggets 109–94 Miami Heat | Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida |
| Game 4 | June 9, 2023 | DNDenver Nuggets 108–95 Miami Heat | Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida |
| Game 5 | June 12, 2023 | DNDenver Nuggets 94–89 Miami Heat | Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado |
Finals MVP
Nikola Jokic. Jokic won Finals MVP unanimously, capping a dominant run through the playoffs.
Series context
The 2022-23 NBA Finals brought together the Denver Nuggets, making their first-ever Finals appearance in the franchise's history, and the Miami Heat, an eighth seed that had staged one of the most improbable playoff runs in NBA history to get there. Denver finished the regular season with the league's best record at 53-29, while Miami barely made the play-in at 44-38 before upsetting the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics (after trailing 3-0) in earlier rounds. Denver opened strong in Game 1, with Nikola Jokic recording a triple-double and Jamal Murray adding a big game in a 104-93 win. Miami stunned the Nuggets in Game 2, rallying from a large deficit to win 111-108 behind Gabe Vincent, becoming one of the few eighth seeds ever to win a Finals road game. Denver responded emphatically in Game 3, with Jokic and Murray both recording 30-point triple-doubles, a historic first for teammates in Finals history, powering a 109-94 win. Aaron Gordon led the way in Game 4 as Denver took a commanding 3-1 series lead with a 108-95 victory. Denver closed out the championship in Game 5 back in Denver, grinding out a 94-89 win despite poor three-point shooting, with Jokic contributing to secure his unanimous Finals MVP selection. The title was the first championship in the history of the Denver Nuggets franchise, capping a build spanning nearly a decade around Jokic, a two-time regular-season MVP who had been drafted 41st overall in 2014 and developed into the focal point of one of basketball's most creative offenses. Jamal Murray's return from a torn ACL, missing the entire prior season, was a key storyline, as his chemistry with Jokic proved central to Denver's title-clinching run. For Miami, the run was defined by Jimmy Butler's leadership and the emergence of undrafted guard Vincent and role players like Duncan Robinson and Max Strus, embodying the Heat's reputation for developing overlooked talent within their culture-driven system. The Finals occurred amid a broader era of NBA parity, in which non-traditional powers and international stars, Jokic is Serbian, were reshaping who could win a championship. Miami's presence carried its own historical weight: the Heat became just the second No. 8 seed ever to reach the NBA Finals, joining the 1999 New York Knicks, and the first eighth seed to do so in a full 82-game regular season, having first needed to survive the play-in tournament just to enter the playoff bracket. Denver's title, its first in 47 seasons of franchise history, also made the Nuggets just the second former American Basketball Association franchise to win an NBA championship, joining the San Antonio Spurs. Jokic's postseason was historically dominant beyond his unanimous Finals MVP honor: he became the first player in NBA history to lead all playoff performers in points, rebounds, and assists in the same postseason, while also setting a new record for triple-doubles in a single playoff run.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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