The Denver Nuggets are demonstrating why they were the clear favourites to win this NBA Finals.
With their 108-95 victory over the Miami Heat on Friday night, the Denver Nuggets now lead the series 3-1.
One more victory would give Denver its first NBA championship in team history.
The Nuggets had a four-point lead at the half, but they went on a 19-10 run to start the third quarter, building that lead to 13, their biggest of the night. Miami was able to reduce their deficit to six points once more, but Denver finished the third quarter on another 12-5 surge to retake the lead by 13 points. They were ahead 86-73 at the third-quarter break.
On June 9, 2023, in Miami, Florida, Aaron Gordon #50 of the Denver Nuggets reacts after the third quarter against the Miami Heat in Game Four of the 2023 NBA Finals at Kaseya Centre. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
However, the Heat entered the fourth quarter in a desperate state and launched an 8-0 run to reduce their deficit to five points. Denver, though, made another run to freeze it because it was the closest they could get.
Miami was down by six points with 6:34 left, but Denver responded with a 17-6 run over the following five minutes to increase their advantage to 17, which is now the biggest margin of the game.
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Aaron Gordon of Denver led all scorers with 27 points on 11 of 15 shooting and 3-for-4 from three-point range. Bruce Brown scored 21 points, 11 of which came in the final 5:07 seconds, while Nikola Jokic scored 23 points and collected 12 rebounds.
Denver made 14 of its 28 three-point attempts, or 50% of its total; Miami made only eight of its 25 attempts, or 32.0%.
On June 9, 2023, in Miami, Florida, Aaron Gordon #50 of the Denver Nuggets dunks against the Miami Heat in the third quarter of Game Four of the NBA Finals. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Of Miami’s 95 points, Jimmy Butler (25) and Bam Adebayo (20) accounted for 45.
The Nuggets would become the first champion since the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2015–16 and just the fifth first-time winner of the twenty-first century.
Ironically, if the Heat come back to win the series, they will become the first team to accomplish that in any postseason series since the team they are trying to come back against did it twice in 2020, joining the Cavaliers.
On June 9, 2023, in Miami, Florida, Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets dribbles against the Miami Heat in the second quarter of Game Four of the 2023 NBA Finals at Kaseya Centre. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
On Monday night, when Game 5 is back in Denver, Nuggets supporters will get to see their team raise the Larry O’Brien Trophy on their own court.
