Toronto Star Classroom Connection

Nuggets one win from first title

Back-to-back wins on Heat court set up potential clinch party in Denver on Monday night

TIM REYNOLDS

Aaron Gordon scored 27 points, Nikola Jokic added 23 and the Denver Nuggets are one win away from their first NBA championship after beating the Miami Heat 108-95 on Friday night to take a 3-1 lead in the title series.

Bruce Brown added 21 off the bench for the Nuggets, who took both games in Miami to grab complete command. They’ll have three chances to win one game for the crown — two of those in Denver, the first in what’s sure to be a raucous atmosphere for Game 5 on Monday night.

Denver’s Jamal Murray had 15 points and 12 assists, his fourth consecutive double-digit assist game.

Jimmy Butler scored 25 points for Miami, which has fallen into a 3-1 hole in each of its last three Finals appearances — joining 2014 and 2020. Bam Adebayo had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat, while Kyle Lowry added 13 points.

The Heat walked off the floor in silence, fully aware of how much trouble they’re in.

The Nuggets were overwhelming favourites to start 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 four games of the Finals.

Denver led by 13 going into the fourth, and Miami came out for the final quarter with appropriate desperation. The Heat scored the first eight points, Jokic committed his fifth foul and had to go to the bench with 9:24 left — and it was down to 86-81 when Butler converted a three-point play with 8:42 remaining.

But the Nuggets — who fell apart in the fourth quarter of Game 2 for their lone loss of the series — didn’t fold, even with their two-time MVP still out. Murray made a threepointer to stop Miami’s 8-0 spurt, and Jeff Green made a huge corner three from near the Heat bench for a 94-85 edge with 6:21 left.

Jokic checked out with Denver up 10. He came back with the Nuggets up nine.

Miami didn’t take advantage of that chance, and now finds itself on the wrong end of history. Teams that take a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals have won 35 of 36 previous times, and the Heat will have to buck that trend to keep Denver from winning its title.

The Nuggets also survived a scare. Jokic tweaked his right ankle when he landed on the back of Max Strus’s foot midway through the opening quarter. He remained in the game after it happened, briefly retreated to the Denver locker room before the start of the second quarter, then played the rest of the way with no evident issues.

■ Murray played with tape protecting the bottom of his left hand, thanks to a nasty floor burn from Game 3.

■ It was Denver’s 25th win on the road this season, tying a franchise record set last season.

■ It was retiring 20-year veteran Udonis Haslem’s 43rd birthday and Miami rookie Nikola Jovic’s 20th birthday. Jovic was 58 days old when Haslem signed his first Heat contract. If this was Miami’s home finale, the Heat went 613-299 at home during Haslem’s career.

■ Miami started the playoffs 6-0 at home. The Heat are 0-4 on their home floor since.

■ Miami led 21-20 after one quarter. The 41 combined points were the fewest in the first quarter of the last 24 Finals games. The first quarter of Game 4 of the Toronto-Golden State series in 2019 had 40 points.

■ Faces in the crowd: Kentucky coach John Calipari, actor Forest Whitaker, two-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, Bears QB Justin Fields.

SPORTS

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2023-06-10T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-10T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://torontostarnie.pressreader.com/article/283386246296636

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