MIAMI — Aaron Gordon scored 27 points, Nikola Jokic added 23 and the Denver Nuggets moved one win away from their first NBA championship by beating the Miami Heat 108-95 on Friday night to take a 3-1 lead within the title series.
Bruce Brown scored 21 off the bench for the Nuggets, who took each games in Miami to grab complete command.
They’ll have three possibilities to win one game for a title, two of those in Denver, the primary of them in what’s sure to be a raucous atmosphere for Game 5 on Monday night.
Jamal Murray had 15 points and 12 assists — his fourth consecutive double-digit assist game — for Denver.
Jimmy Butler scored 25 points for Miami, which has now fallen into 3-1 holes in each of its last three finals appearances — this one joining 2014 and 2020. Bam Adebayo had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat, while Kyle Lowry had 13 points.
The Heat walked off the ground in silence, fully aware of how much trouble they’re in now.
The Nuggets were overwhelming favorites to start out the series, for obvious reasons. Denver was the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed; Miami was the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed.
The Nuggets had won nine of the last 10 regular-season meetings between the teams, and their run of success over the Heat has continued through 4 games of the finals.
Denver led by 13 going into the fourth, and Miami got here out for the ultimate quarter with appropriate desperation.
The Heat scored the primary eight points, Jokic committed his fifth foul and needed to go to the bench with 9:24 left — and it was right down to 86-81 when Butler converted a three-point play with 8:42 remaining.
However the Nuggets – who fell apart within the fourth quarter of Game 2 for his or her lone lack of the series – didn’t fold, even with their two-time MVP still out.
Murray made a 3-pointer to stop Miami’s 8-0 spurt, and Jeff Green made an enormous corner 3 from near the Heat bench for a 94-85 edge with 6:21 left.
Jokic checked out with Denver up 10. He got here back with the Nuggets up nine.
Miami didn’t reap the benefits of that probability, and now finds itself on the unsuitable end of history.
Teams that take a 3-1 lead within the NBA Finals have won 35 out of 36 previous times, and the Heat could have to buck that trend to maintain Denver from winning its title.
The Nuggets even survived a scare.
Jokic tweaked his right ankle when he landed on the back of Max Strus’ foot midway through the opening quarter.
He remained in the sport after it happened, briefly retreated to the Denver locker room before the beginning of the second quarter and played the remainder of the way in which with no evident issues.
