If the average NBA fan didn’t know who Miami Heat guard Caleb Martin was before Monday’s Eastern Conference final Game 7 against the Boston Celtics, they certainly know now. Especially Celtics fans.
Martin started for the first time in the series, played 45 minutes and scored 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting, while also grabbing 10 rebounds as the Heat avoided a monumental collapse and beat the Celtics 103-84 to advance to the NBA Finals where they will take on the Denver Nuggets starting Thursday night.
Twelve NBA teams have never won a championship. A few who haven’t − such as the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder − have been close, reaching the NBA Finals at least once.
The Denver Nuggets, who have never won an NBA championship, are in the Finals for the first time with a great chance of capturing their first title. The Nuggets have been the best team in the postseason with a 12-3 record, and they have the best playoff performer in two-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
Here’s our rankings of the teams closest to winning their first NBA championship.
The Nuggets are one of six teams who have never won an NBA title. This is their first championship series appearance since losing to Julius Erving and the New York Nets in 1976, after which the wonderful and wacky ABA was disbanded.
Two-time MVP Nikola Jokic averaged a triple-double against both the Suns and the Lakers, and enters these finals averaging 29.9 points, 13.3 rebounds and 10.3 assists per game. One of his signature moves of late has been pointing to his ring finger while looking at his family; he’s now four wins away from the piece of jewelry he wants most.
No. Before the 6-foot-11 two-time MVP was drafted in 2014, he played three seasons for Mega Basket in the Adriatic League in Serbia.
The six-time All-Star has not won an NBA championship, but he’s led his team to the Finals once previously, in the 2020 bubble season, where the Heat lost to the Lakers.
In 17 games this postseason, Butler averaged 28.5 points on 48.3% shooting, including 35.6% from 3. He’s also grabbing 7 rebounds, dishing out 5.7 assists and snagging 2.1 steals per game.
Over 64 regular-season games, Butler averaged 22.9 points on 53.9% shooting (35% from 3), 5.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game.
Austin Pawelka turned heads when, at nine years old, he announced LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony at the 2004 NBA Rising Stars game during All-Star weekend. He wasn’t new to announcing as he had been introducing Denver Nuggets players for a year at the then-Pepsi Center.
Now, he’s the official DJ of the Nuggets and will orchestrate Ball Arena in his first NBA Finals. “It doesn’t really feel like it’s real,” Pawelka, who goes by the DJ name “Paws the Music” told USA TODAY Sports.
He found a calling toward music at a young age as his father, Shawn “Tribal Touch” Martinez, has been a DJ for 33 years. Martinez is now the Senior Director of Live Presentation for the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury.
“It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s The Larry O’Brien Trophy skydiving.”
Yes, you read that correctly. The Larry O’Brien Trophy took a page out of Tom Cruise’s book and skydived its way into downtown Denver for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. ESPN host Malika Andrews greeted the trophy after its flight and safely transported it to Ball Arena, complete with a police escort.
“Welcome to Denver, Larry,” Andrews said.