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LOS ANGELES \u2014 As the Denver Nuggets\u2019 historic celebration began, LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 star forward, walked off his home court, his face expressionless.<\/p>\n
On Monday night, the Nuggets stamped out the final gasps from the Lakers, who had kept their season alive for weeks after it was presumed finished. Even after the final buzzer, some of Denver\u2019s players couldn\u2019t believe the series was over and that they had actually done it.<\/p>\n
The Nuggets are going to the N.B.A. finals for the first time in franchise history after completing a four-game sweep of the Lakers in the Western Conference finals with a 113-111 win on Monday.<\/p>\n
Denver will face the winner of the Eastern Conference finals, in which the Miami Heat have a 3-0 series lead over the Boston Celtics. Game 4 in the East is Tuesday in Miami.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic was named the most valuable player of the Western Conference finals. He smiled warmly as he held his trophy and his teammates surrounded him on the court and patted his head. He had 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cEven when you guard him for one of the best possessions that you think you can guard him, he puts the ball behind his head Larry Bird style and shoots it 50 feet in the air and it goes in,\u201d James said, then he smiled wryly. \u201cLike he did four or five times this series.\u201d He added, as he took off his hat and tipped it: \u201cSo you do like this to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Denver had not been to the N.B.A. finals in its 47 seasons in the league. Now the longest drought belongs to the Sacramento Kings, who have not been since 1951, when they were known as the Rochester Royals. The Pelicans, Timberwolves, Clippers, Grizzlies and Hornets have never been.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really happy for the guys and for the organization and just how we fight through,\u201d Jokic said. \u201cI remember the days when nobody was in our \u2014 you could hear the ball bounce on the floor and there was no fans.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For the Nuggets, the win on Monday culminated a yearslong process in which their core players grew together, weathered challenging injuries and faced questions about their ability to even compete in the West. Jokic won the league\u2019s M.V.P. Award twice, but could get to the conference finals only once.<\/p>\n Denver lost the star guard Jamal Murray in April 2021, when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Nuggets Coach Michael Malone said the day after the injury Murray tearfully asked if the Nuggets would trade him, calling himself \u201cdamaged goods.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI hugged him,\u201d Malone said. \u201cI said: \u2018Hell no, you\u2019re ours. We love you. We\u2019re going to help you get back, and you\u2019re going to be a better player for it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Murray missed the rest of that season and all of 2021-22. In this year\u2019s playoffs, Denver\u2019s patience paid off.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Murray began looking like the player he was before the injury and Jokic continued playing at an elite level, perfectly complemented by Denver\u2019s cast of talented role players.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Nuggets rose to first in the West in December and never fell out of the top spot. In the playoffs, they beat the Timberwolves, 4-1, in the first round and the Phoenix Suns, 4-2, in the second round. Despite Denver\u2019s dominance all season, oddsmakers did not favor it to win the championship. The Nuggets embraced that.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re the underdogs,\u201d guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said. \u201cWe don\u2019t get enough credit for what we do.\u201d He continued: \u201cNot being talked about a lot, we take that personal. We just use that energy, continue to prove everybody wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Even after the first two rounds, some thought the Lakers were dangerous enough to be the team that finally upended the Nuggets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n That confidence in the Lakers had developed only during the playoffs.<\/p>\n