The Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat, 94-89, in a hard-fought Game 5 on Monday night to win their first NBA championship in franchise history.
Leading the way once again was Nikola Jokić, who finished with 28 points and 16 rebounds and was named the NBA Finals MVP during the postgame celebration.
Jokić, who might be the most humble player in the NBA, did something pretty classy right after the final whistle blew—he went over to the Heat and shook just about every player’s hand while his teammates and fans celebrated their championship.
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The two-time NBA MVP had a historic run through the playoffs and this was quite the way to cap it off:
Immediately after the #Nuggets won the championship and everybody else was celebrating, Nikola Jokic sought out EVERY #Heat player to give hugs and shake their hands. pic.twitter.com/KqNWWh4Edb
— Cork Gaines, Ph.D. (@CorkGaines) June 13, 2023
NBA fans loved it:
The way Nikola Jokic is going around making sure he shakes the hands of players on the Heat is truly a great example of what type of person dude is. #Respect to the MVP
— Skubie Mageza (@SkubieMageza) June 13, 2023
This. ❤️ https://t.co/wqbeF21Zxs
— Karla Szaflarski (@SkookieLin) June 13, 2023
Before celebrating, Nikola Jokić took the time to shake hands with the Miami Heat players.
— Per Sources (@PerSources) June 13, 2023
World Class player. World class human. pic.twitter.com/GATxOtSKML
It speaks volumes about the character of Nikola Jokic that the first thing he did at the horn was seek out the Heat players, shake hands and exchange words with each of them. The game, and society as a whole for that matter need so much more of that.
— Heath Morin (@hbmorin) June 13, 2023
Nikola Jokic going to shake every single Heat player's hands after winning the NBA championship -- one of the coolest & craziest demonstrations of sportsmanship ever?
— Stephen Lurie (@luriethereal) June 13, 2023
Nikola Jokic is pure class. He took the time to shake hands with every player on the Miami Heat bench before celebrating his first NBA Championship with his team. An inspiring moment full of beautiful sportsmanship. #NBAFinals
— Giovanni Heater (@gioheater) June 13, 2023
Instead of going absolutely crazy in celebration after the final buzzer, Nikola Jokic first went and shook hands with every Miami Heat player he could find. Class. Respect. Congratulations to the 2023 NBA Champion Denver Nuggets!
— The Sports Page Blog (@sportspageblg) June 13, 2023
Nikola Jokić didn’t even celebrate right away - went straight to the Heat bench to shake their hands.
— Eliav Gabay (@eliavgabay) June 13, 2023
So much damn respect for that guy.#NBAFinals
ALL TIME GREAT HUMAN BEING 💓 https://t.co/Rd7XVeSoZT
— KakIns (@jebingisjebing) June 13, 2023
