Denver City Wire

FYI – Colorado’s congressional delegation in the U.S. House came together today to honor the Denver Nuggets on winning their first-ever NBA championship.

Following is the text of the tribute U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) submitted into the Congressional Record Tuesday on behalf of all eight members of the House delegation to congratulate the team on its historic win:

Honoring the 2023 NBA Champion Denver Nuggets

M. Speaker: I rise today, along with my colleagues: Congressman Doug Lamborn, Congressman Ken Buck, Congressman Joe Neguse, Congressman Jason Crow, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen and Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo, to congratulate the Denver Nuggets on their first-ever NBA championship.

After an impressive 53 wins in the regular season and a historic run through this year’s NBA playoffs, the Nuggets – led by five-time NBA All Star Nikola Jokic – defeated the Miami Heat on Monday night in Denver to clinch the team’s first-ever NBA championship.

It’s a moment that Nuggets fans, including myself, have been dreaming about since the franchise started in 1967, and I couldn’t be more proud of everyone associated with this historic team on achieving what many thought was impossible.

For more than 56 seasons, Nuggets fans have been cheering our team to victory. While we’ve had no shortage of talent and victories over the years, this is the first time that Denver can now officially call itself home to the NBA champs.

After a spectacular regular season, the Nuggets were able to clinch the top seed in the NBA’s Western Conference for the first time in franchise history. The team then went on an incredible run, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs 4 games to 1; eliminating the Phoenix Suns in the second round 4 games to 2; and then sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to none to win its first-ever Western Conference championship.

It was the first time the Nuggets had ever beaten the Lakers in a playoff series, the first time they had ever swept another team in the playoffs, the first time they’d ever won the Western Conference Championship, and the first time they’d ever have a chance at hoisting the coveted Larry O’Brien trophy in the Mile High City.

Led by Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, that’s exactly what the Nuggets did this week. After a hard-fought series against the Miami Heat, the Nuggets clinched the franchise’s first-ever championship trophy on Monday.

It was a fitting finale to a historic championship run. Just days earlier, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray made history of their own in Game 3 when the pair became the first NBA teammates ever to record 30-point triple-doubles in the same game during an NBA Finals. They were also the first pair of teammates to ever record a combined 300 assists during the playoffs, and the first pair to score a combined 1,000 points in a single postseason.

Nikola Jokic, who was named MVP of the final series, recorded more triple-doubles in this year’s postseason than any other player in NBA history. He’s the first player to lead the league in all three major statistical categories during the playoffs: points, rebounds and assists; the first center, since Shaquille O’Neal, to lead his team in scoring while winning a championship; and only the second player in NBA history to average more than 30 points and 8 assists while winning an NBA title, a feat that, before now, had been accomplished by only one other player in NBA history – and that was Michael Jordan.

Like so many Denverites, I couldn’t be more proud of what our Nuggets have accomplished this year — and how, under the leadership of their visionary coach Mike Malone, they were able to put teamwork over personal gain to bring one of the nation’s most coveted prizes to the Mile High City.

As Coach Malone said right after Monday night's historic victory, “I got news for everybody out there. We’re not satisfied with one, we want more!”

We couldn't agree more – and we can't wait to see what this incredible team does next.

Original source can be found here