NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokić celebrated in Serbia, where fans lost sleep watching playoffs
The Denver Nuggets' championship win is being celebrated halfway across the world in Serbia.
That's, of course, the homeland of NBA Finals MVP, Nikola Jokić. In the northern town of Sombor, where Jokić grew up, near the border with Hungary, fans gathered Monday night at a sports hall.
The fans jumped up at the end of Game 5 and shouted, "MVP, MVP!"
Many have been losing sleep watching the playoffs live in the middle of the night in Serbia.
CBS News Colorado spoke to U.S. Ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill. He's the former Dean of the Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.
Hill says Serbians began playing basketball in the 1920s.
"Basketball is a big deal. Every small town has a team. They're very proud of local basketball and of course the European cups but they're really really to the moon with Nikola Jokić," he said.
Hill expresses that Jokić's remarkable run all season has enthralled many inhabitants of the small country of 6 million people, including its leaders.
"No matter who I'm talking to the next morning, it might be the minister of defense or even the prime minister, especially the president he's a big basketball fan. They all look a little tired and you say, what happened last night? 'Oh I was watching Denver,'" he said after Nuggets games this season.