The Denver Nuggets are now one win away from the first championship in franchise history after their 108-95 win over the Miami Heat to go up 3 games to 1 in this best of seven game series. Miami is now in a 3-1 hole for the first time this postseason, and only one time in NBA Finals history has a team come back from such a deficit to win.
Nikola Jokic could arguably lay claim to being the best player in the world after these Finals, he picked up his 5th foul early in the fourth quarter and sat for most of the final period.
Said Nuggets head coach Mike Malone of having to play without Jokic, “our offense may not be as beautiful as it is with Nikola, but the five guys that are out there are defending, and that’s the key to that group playing well.”
It did not matter however, as Miami got just two points combined from their starting backcourt and not enough from elsewhere as key contributors Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo scored just 25 and 20 points, with no one else reaching the twenty-point mark.
Aaron Gordon had a game high 27 points for Denver. Jokic finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Former Brooklyn Nets Bruce Brown had a performance that broke the backs of Miami with 21 points off the bench on 8-11 shooting. Said Heat head coach Eric Spoelstra of Brown’s impact “every time we felt like we got it to six or eight, they were able to push it to 12. That was certainly a frustrating part of the game. Brown was a big part of (that), some of his random drives and plays in the middle of the paint when you’re expecting it to be Murray or somebody else.”
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