Nikola Jokic - who became the first player in history to lead the league in points (600), rebounds (269) and assists (190) in a single postseason - bailed out his teammates with 28 points and 16 rebounds on a night when nothing else seemed to work.

The Serbian international won the Bill Russell trophy as the NBA Finals MVP - an award that certainly has more meaning to him than the two overall MVPs he won in 2021 and '22.

"We are not in it for ourselves, we are in it for the guy next to us," Jokic said. "And that's why this (means) even more."

Denver's clincher was a gruesome grind.

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Unable to shake the tenacious Heat or the closing-night jitters, the Nuggets missed 20 of their first 22 three-pointers and seven of their first 13 free throws.

They led by seven late, before Miami's Jimmy Butler went off, scoring eight straight points to give the Heat a one-point lead with 2:45 left.

Butler, who finished with 21, made two more free throws with 1:58 remaining to help Miami regain a one-point lead. Then, Bruce Brown got an offensive rebound and tip-in to give the Nuggets the lead for good.

Trailing by three with 15 seconds left, Butler jacked up a three, but missed it. Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope made two free throws each to put the game out of reach and clinch the title for Denver.

Ugly as it was, the aftermath was something the Nuggets and their fans could all agree was beautiful. There were fireworks exploding outside Ball Arena at the final buzzer. Denver is the home of the Larry O'Brien Trophy for the first time in the franchise's 47 years in the league.

"It was ugly and we couldn't make shots, but at the end, we figured it out," Jokic said. "I am just happy we won the game"

"That's why basketball is a fun sport," he added. "It's a live thing. You cannot say, 'This is going to happen'. There are so many factors. I'm just happy that we won the game."

The Heat were, as coach Erik Spoelstra promised, a gritty, tenacious bunch. But their shooting wasn't great, either. Bam Adebayo had 20 for the Heat, but Miami shot 34 per cent from the floor and 25 per cent from threes. Until Butler went off, he was 2-for-13 on eight points.

The Heat, who survived a loss in the play-in tournament and became only the second No 8 seed to make it to the finals, insisted they weren't into consolation prizes. They played like they expected to win, and for a while during this game, which was settled more on the ground than in the air, it looked like they would.

The Nuggets, who came in shooting 37.6 per cent from 3 for the series, shot 18 per cent in this one. They committed 14 turnovers. Even with the clutch shots from Brown and Caldwell-Pope, they only went 13 for 23 from the line.

The tone of the game was set with 2:51 left in the first quarter, when Jokic got his second foul and joined Aaron Gordon on the bench. Jeff Green and Jamal Murray, who finished with 14 points and eight assists on an off night, joined them there, too.

It made the Nuggets tentative on both sides of the court for the rest of the half. Somehow, after shooting 6.7 per cent from threes - the worst first half in the history of the finals (10-shot minimum) they only trailed by seven.

True to the Nuggets' personality, they kept pressing, came at their opponent in waves. Their beautiful game turned into a slugfest, but they figured out how to win anyway.