Some might complain it took over a half century to claim the NBA crown, but Monday night’s cliff-hanger victory by the Denver Nuggets over the Miami Heat was worth the wait.

No doubt about it, Colorado’s 56-year-old professional basketball franchise was reborn after the fifth and final game of its series with Miami. Even if Gazette sports sage Woody Paige turned out to be wrong in his jubilant prediction Monday night that the sun would rise in the west over the Rocky Mountains on Tuesday morning – he was right to presume no one would have noticed anyway. Not after the Nuggets became the world’s best basketball team.

Congratulations are in order not only because the Nuggets have proven themselves singularly talented, diligent and relentless. It’s also because this squad seems to have a special chemistry going for it. Some call it a team-first culture in which the team rightly can take credit for the crown. They work together in a way that embodies team spirit.

Stay up to speed: Sign-up for daily opinion in your inbox Monday-Friday

That, at first, might seem a given – basketball is a team sport, after all – but it is in reality refreshing in a sport increasingly hooked on the glitz and glamor of individual superstardom. The Nuggets have reconnected five players on a court in a way unseen in a while, arguably breathing new life into the fundamentals of teamwork. Of that, too, all Colorado can be proud.

Ironically enough, that newfound team spirit has been inspired largely by the Nuggets’ superstar, Nikola Jokic. He’s a superstar of a very different order, however. The professional basketball world is, in some ways, still trying to figure out what makes him tick and how he is able to bring out the best in those around him.

The 28-year-old, 6-foot-11 center – drafted by the Nuggets out of relative obscurity in 2014; born and raised in a provincial town in northern Serbia – defies NBA stereotypes. Now a record-shattering, two-time NBA MVP, he still seems almost pained to talk about himself much less his on-court prowess and the magic he makes with his teammates. In every public utterance, he redirects the media’s questions to showcase the efforts of his team.

Which means the soft-spoken, low-key champ is setting a new kind of example for Colorado’s up-and-coming hoop dreamers. His dazzling and unconventional moves aren’t just about points scored. They’re also about his assists – a key stat in his record triple doubles – executed at times by almost surreal passes to Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. For Jokic, and thus for the whole team, it’s all about working together.

And speaking of teamwork, none of it would have been possible without the smart and strategic leadership of Nuggets’ owner Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. Its father-and-son duo, Stan and Josh Kroenke, have shown extraordinary vision and dedication in navigating the franchise to this week’s ultimate victory.

The Nuggets will be feted with a parade and rally Thursday, when fans, longtime and newfound, will throng the streets of Denver in cheering the team’s first NBA title. The parade is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at lower downtown Denver’s Union Station, at 17th and Wynkoop, and will proceed east down 17th Street to Broadway, then to Civic Center Park for a rally.

Let’s join them in a world-class celebration worthy of Denver and all Colorado.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board