The clock has struck midnight on the Miami Heat’s Cinderella run.
The Heat lost to the Denver Nuggets 94-89 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday, falling 4-1 in the series as the home crowd at Ball Arena celebrated the team’s first championship in their 47-year history.
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The Heat fell three victories shy of becoming the first No. 8 seed to win an NBA championship.
"There's no regrets from our side," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the loss. "Everybody, staff, player alike in the locker room put themselves out there and put themselves into the team, whatever was best for the team. And the tough pill to swallow is it just wasn't good enough. We ran up against a team that was just better than us in this series, and you have to tip your hat to them."
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Neither team was in championship form to start the game, with the Heat struggling from the field and the Nuggets failing to protect the ball. The Heat, after making two of their first four shots, missed their next 10 as the Nuggets went on a 12-0 run. Adebayo then powered a 14-2 Heat run, converting consecutive three-point plays to give Miami a 22-18 lead. Adebayo finished the quarter with 14 points and six rebounds, including a late putback that sent the Heat into the second with a 24-22 advantage.
Butler, after going 0-for-3 in first as Heat shot 35.7 percent, scored the first six points of the second for Miami. The Heat’s lead reached double figures when Duncan Robinson hit a three and then converted a driving layup off a feed from Adebayo to make it 39-29 with 7:17 left in the half.
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After a pair of threes by Kyle Lowry thwarted a Denver run, Butler intercepted a Jokic cross-court pass and went coast-to-coast for the dunk to push the lead back to eight at 47-39.
Adebayo continued to attack Jokic in the paint, converting a floater off a hesitation dribble in the closing minutes to help give Miami a 51-44 lead at the half.
Adebayo had 18 points and nine rebounds as the Heat built their first-half lead despite shooting just 38.8 percent overall and 4 of 15 from deep. The Nuggets shot 45.5 percent overall in the half but went just 1-for-15 from three, with Jokic converting the lone make, and had 10 turnovers.
A corner three by Jamal Murray, just the Nuggets’ second three on 18 attempts, evened the score at 60-60 with 6:44 left in the third.
Michael Porter Jr., after using a reverse between-the-legs dribble in transition for a game-tying layup, hit a three to put the Nuggets up 69-66, their first lead since it was 18-16 in the first.
A three by Lowry with 33 seconds left in the third put Miami ahead 71-70 heading into the final quarter.
The Nuggets opened the fourth on a 7-2 run to take a 77-73 advantage before Lowry hit another three to pull Miami within one. After a bucket by Jokic, Aaron Gordon blocked a Lowry jumper, leading to a pull-up by Murray to put the Nuggets up 81-76 with 6:42 left.
With the Heat down seven, Butler hit a three and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope responded with a three of his own. Butler followed with another three to cut the deficit to four, and on the next possession was fouled on an attempt from deep. The call was upheld after review and Butler hit all three free throws to make it 86-85 with 3:21 left.
Butler then hit a pull-up to cap an 8-0 run and put the Heat in front at 87-86. Jokic answered with a layup to give the Nuggets a one-point advantage. Butler, after a Miami offensive rebound, was fouled on the drive and hit both free throws, scoring 13 straight Miami points for an 89-88 Heat lead.
Bruce Brown then put the Nuggets in front for good with a putback off a Murray missed jumper that made it 90-89 with 1:31 to go.
Max Strus missed a three on the ensuing possession and, after Jokic missed a layup, Butler’s pass was intercepted by Caldwell-Pope, who then hit two free throws for a 92-89 lead with 24.1 seconds left.
Following a Miami timeout, Butler’s contested turnaround three was off the mark. Brown grabbed the rebound and hit both free throws with 14.1 seconds left to seal it.
Butler finished with a team-high 21 points on 5-for-18 shooting. Adebayo had 20 points and 12 rebounds. Lowry added 12 points off the bench, going 4-for-9 from three. The Heat overall shot just 34.3 percent, making 9 of 35 three-point attempts, as they were held under 100 points for the fourth time in the series.
After the game, Butler praised his teammates who helped give the Heat an opportunity to win a championship.
"Which I still believe with everything in me that we will do as a team here, as an organization, as a city of Miami," Butler said.
The loss ends an unexpected championship run by a team that lost its play-in tournament opener before rallying to defeat the Chicago Bulls and claim the eighth seed in the East. The Heat then upset a Milwaukee Bucks team that posted the league’s best record, becoming the sixth No. 8 seed to eliminate a No. 1 seed.
They renewed an old rivalry with the New York Knicks, eliminating the No. 5 seed in six games.
They opened a 3-0 lead over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals and managed to avoid being on the wrong side of a historic collapse - even after a devastating buzzer beater - by winning Game 7 on the road.
But they had no answers in the Finals for Jokic, the 41st pick in the 2014 draft and he went on to become a back-to-back MVP in 2021 and 2022. Jokic finished with 28 points, 16 rebounds and four assists in Game 5, becoming the lowest drafted player to ever win NBA Finals MVP.
"The job is done," Jokic told ESPN after the win. "We can go home now."
While leading the Nuggets to the title, he set a single-season playoff record with 10 triple-doubles, topping Wilt Chamberlain's previous record of seven, en route to becoming the first player in NBA history to be the postseason leader in points, rebounds and assists.
"It's a great journey, like you said, 41st pick," Jokic said after the game when asked about going from the second round of the draft to Finals MVP. "But to be honest, that doesn't matter. You're here, you are a player. [The Heat] have a couple of guys not even drafted and they're still playing and contributing to them to win."
With Jokic and the core of the team all in their twenties and under contract, the Nuggets are hoping this is the first of many titles.
"We're not satisfied," Nuggets coach Michael Malone told reporters after the game. "We accomplished something this franchise has never done before. But we have a lot of young, talented players in that locker room and I think we just showed through 16 playoff wins what we're capable of on the biggest stage in the world."
