With bags on his back, Nikola Jokic playfully swerved his way through the crowd of family and friends gathered at the airport terminal.

The Denver Nuggets finally returned home after their longer-than-many-anticipated stay inside the NBA bubble.

Arriving with them, a new reputation — the comeback crew.

The Nuggets overcame a pair of 3-1 series deficits in advancing to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2009. Their extended stay at Disney in Florida ended when LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers sent them packing after Game 5.

“People around this country, around the world, who were watching the playoffs, this group of guys, you would be hard-pressed to find a better story coming out of this bubble,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “A bunch of young kids faced elimination, looked it in the face and just kept on surviving and advancing. ... We have something special brewing.”

The nucleus features an assortment of drafted and developed players. There’s Murray, the Kentucky product taken with the seventh pick in the 2016 draft who emerged as one of the biggest stars from the bubble.

There’s Jokic, the 7-foot center taken in the second round in 2014 who has a point guard’s vision and triple-double skills.

The 21-year-old Porter gave a glimpse of his talent in the bubble. He had a career-high 37 points and 12 rebounds in a win over Oklahoma City on Aug. 3. Two days later, he went for 30 points and a career-high 15 boards against San Antonio. No Nuggets rookie has ever scored more than 67 points in a two-game stretch, according to the team.

Porter averaged 11.4 points and 6.7 rebounds in the playoffs.

Next step: Improve on defense.

“I always go back to when the playoffs started, and asked him the question: ‘Do you want to be a great scorer or do you want to be a great player? If you want to be a great player, you have to buy into the other end,’” Malone said. “He’s shown that he wants to and he’s shown that commitment.”AP