MIAMI — The Denver Nuggets needed someone other than Nikola Jokić or Jamal Murray to carry them in Game 4, and because Aaron Gordon obliged they are now on the brink of their first NBA championship.
Gordon scored a playoff career-high 27 points and the Nuggets beat the Miami Heat 108-95 to take a 3-1 lead in the 2023 NBA Finals. Denver can win the first title in franchise history Monday at home. Game 5 is at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Jokić was no slouch in Game 4 with 23 points and 12 boards, but headed to the bench after picking up his fifth foul with 9:24 remaining in the fourth quarter and Denver up 10.
“Guys stepped up,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “We were up 13 going into the fourth quarter, they start off 8-0 and that coincides with Nikola picking up his fifth foul. So they came out aggressively. They have us on our heels, and usually in the regular season when Nikola went out, things kind of went haywire.
“But I can say not just tonight but throughout these playoffs, however many games we’ve played now, the non-Nikola minutes have gone really well. … Truly a team win. We’re not satisfied. We’re going home. We know we have a lot of work to do, and we’re going to take it one quarter at a time.”
Over the five minutes Jokic sat on the bench, the closest the Heat got was six points — the big buckets to hold them at bay were a Jeff Green 3 and then a layup and free throw from Bruce Brown with 3:59 left for a 10-point advantage.
Murray extended his record streak to four games with at least 10 assists in his first finals, finishing with 15 points and 12 assists on an otherwise tough night on 5-of-17 shooting. He trails only Magic Johnson for consecutive finals games with at least 10 assists, and did not commit a turnover in Game 4.
“We’re just ready to win a championship,” Murray said. “We have the tools to do it. It’s been on our minds for a while.”
Brown finished with 21 points off the bench — 11 of them in the fourth quarter.
Gordon asserted himself in the middle quarters, with 15 points in the second and another nine in the third, helping the Nuggets to take that 13-point lead into the final frame. He added seven rebounds and six assists for his ninth career game with at least 25, 5 and 5. Four of those games have come since Jan. 15.
“I thought Aaron Gordon was huge all night long,” Malone said. “He brought his hard hat tonight and was just a warrior on both ends for us.”
The Heat, who are the verge of failing to become the first team in league history to win a title as a No. 8 seed, were led by 25 points from Jimmy Butler. Bam Adebayo contributed 20 points and 11 boards, and bench players Kyle Lowry (13 points), Duncan Robinson (12 points), and Caleb Martin (11 points) were strong.
Starting guards Gabe Vincent and Max Strus combined for two points in 38 minutes. The Heat shot poorly again at home, this time chucking it at a 45-percent clip from the field and 8 of 25 from 3. They also committed 15 turnovers that led to 17 Nuggets points.
Jokić, who is cruising toward a finals MVP, is the first player in NBA history with 500 points, 250 rebounds and 150 assists in a single postseason. He accumulated Friday’s numbers while fighting through a sore ankle after landing on Strus’ foot in the first quarter.
The game was stopped with 2:07 left in the third quarter after Adebayo hung on the rim on a putback dunk attempt, bending the rim slightly. This was the third game this season the Nuggets have played with such a stoppage.
A quirky little stat for a franchise on the verge of fulfilling its destiny.
“We stay true to our identity, we’ll give ourselves a great chance to do that,” Malone said.
Required reading
- Why Nuggets’ Christian Braun is a perfect backcourt fit with Jamal Murray
- Thompson: Nuggets respond to Heat wave like the champions they want to be
(Photo: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images)
