The Denver Nuggets are one win away from the franchise's first NBA championship after a 108-95 win against the Miami Heat in Game 4 of the NBA Finals Friday night. It was a balanced effort from the Western Conference champions, with three Nuggets players scoring at least 20 points, led by Aaron Gordon's 27 points. Nikola Jokic added on 23 points to go along with 12 rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Bruce Brown poured in 21 points off the bench.
Jimmy Butler led the way for Miami with 25 points and seven assists, while Bam Adebayo added 20 points and 11 rebounds, but it wasn't enough to displace a deep Denver team. Every time the Heat went on a run it was answered soundly by the Nuggets, and now Denver holds a 3-1 series lead heading back to the Mile High City for Game 5 on Monday night.
Denver's endless depth on display
In Denver's Game 3 win it was Jokic and Murray who did a bulk of the damage to cruise to a win. On Friday night, with Miami blitzing Murray for most of the game, the Nuggets had to rely on other guys putting points on the board. While Miami's gameplan of stifling Murray and forcing role players to beat them worked in the first quarter, once the Nuggets got settled it wasn't too difficult for guys to find their shot. That was especially true for Gordon, who had a playoff-career high in the win. He finished the night with 27 points on an efficient 11 of 15 from the floor, to go along with six assists and two steals. It was reminiscent of his Game 1 performance in this series where he found easy buckets at the rim due to a lack of defensive attention on him, but he also knocked in a couple shots from beyond the arc, going 3 of 4 from deep.
Gordon's performance wasn't just impressive by tonight's standards, looking back through NBA Finals history only four players have had a higher field goal percentage while posting a statline of at least 25-5-5, per CBS Sports' senior researcher Doug Clawson. Those four players are Michael Jordan, Pascal Siakam, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Clyde Drexler, pretty impressive company to be in for Gordon.
But it wasn't just Gordon who stepped up, Brown was the latest bench player for Denver to have a standout game. He finished with 21 points, nine of which came in the fourth quarter including a couple run-stopping shots to silence the raucous crowd inside Kaseya Center.
Miami's backcourt woes continue
Despite best efforts from Butler, Adebayo and Kyle Lowry who added 13 points off the bench, the Heat just didn't have enough firepower to contend with Denver Friday night. It doesn't help when the starting backcourt combines for just two points on 1 of 10 from the floor, an issue that extends beyond just this game.
In Game 3, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent combined for just 10 points on 3 of 17 from the floor, which was a contributing factor to Miami's loss. If you go back to Miami's only win in this series, a 111-108 victory in Game 2, Strus put up 14 points while Vincent had 23 of his own. It's not difficult to connect the dots here. The Heat don't have the depth that the Nuggets possess, so when guys like Strus and Vincent aren't knocking down shots, it's going to have a significant impact on this team. Now staring at a 3-1 deficit, the best Miami can hope for is that Strus and Vincent can find their shot on the road to extend this series. But there's been too much evidence to suggest that even if they do manage that, Miami is still facing an uphill battle.
Denver one win away from first title
There hasn't been a more consistent team than the Nuggets throughout this postseason. Sure, they've had one or two dud performances, but they've been dominant for most of this playoff run. After Friday night's win, the Nuggets are now one victory away from capturing the franchise's first championship. Even better, they have an opportunity to close this out on their home floor in front of their fans who have longed for such a moment for decades. History is also on Denver's side, as teams holding a 3-1 series lead in the NBA Finals have a 35-1 record. The Nuggets have also only lost one game at home through this postseason run, which was Miami's Game 2 win earlier in this series.
While it would be silly to count Miami out given how tenacious this team can be, everything is lined up perfectly for Denver to close this series out on Monday.