By Daniel Paiz

In NBA Finals Game 4, a complete game from the Denver Nuggets leads to a 108-95 victory over the Miami Heat, and a 3-1 series lead. Aaron Gordon led the way for Denver with 27 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Nikola Jokic added 23 points and 12 rebounds, and Bruce Brown had 21 points, 11 of those coming in the fourth quarter. Jamal Murray added 15 points and 12 rebounds, and also became the first player in NBA Finals history to have 10 plus assists in his first four Finals games.

The Miami Heat were led by Jimmy Butler’s 25 points, as well as Bam Adebayo’s 20 points and 11 rebounds. Miami had 36 points from their bench, but starters Gabe Vincent and Max Strus combined for just two points total. Miami lost both home games in the NBA Finals so far and haven’t won at home since Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Denver now has a 3-1 series lead and can clinch their first-ever NBA championship in franchise history with a win in Game 5 in Denver on Monday, June 12th.

Game 4 recap

This game started out very similar to Game 3 in that both teams look tense and it’s a sluggish, defensive battle. Denver led 7-2 at the 8:41 mark, but Miami rallied to cut the lead to 12-9 at the 4:16 mark. The defensive effort for Denver is solid, but shots seem like they’re not falling enough. At the 2-minute mark the Nuggets have rediscovered what ball movement is, making it 18-11. Yet again, the Heat rally and Jimmy Butler hits a big three-pointer at the buzzer to give Miami a 21-20 lead after one quarter.

The start of the second is a series of runs, as Denver scores the first five to make it 25-23; however, a twist has emerged. Nikola Jokic appears to have tweaked his left ankle and heads back to the locker room. Miami then rallies to tie the game at 30. A 36-32 lead at the 6:21 mark gives Denver a little bit of space as Michael Porter Jr. keeps hustling around, but with little going through the hoop right now.

Gordon has emerged as Denver’s top scorer with 16 points at the three-minute mark while Denver leads 48-43. Jokic has returned, and it appears the ankle is in working order. That’s good news as Denver has a slight 55-51 edge at halftime.

The third quarter might be the most defensive quarter of this series, as there’s three to four minutes where the score hovers around 74-66. Denver keeps getting stops on the defensive end, while hitting very little when they have the ball. The Heat can’t seem to buy a bucket, that is until Bam Adebayo seemingly messes up the rim. Fortunately, it doesn’t take stadium staff that long to fix it. Gordon does his thing again as he now has 25 points, capitalizing right before the end of the third with a very big three. Denver leads 86-73. The pace feels like something Miami would prefer, but they can’t generate consistent offense in this quarter.

This is the case for both teams as at the 9:13 mark, the score is 86-78 Denver. At the 8-minute mark of quarter number four, Jamal Murray hits a huge three as Nikola Jokic watches on from the bench with five fouls. The two-time MVP hasn’t been getting assists tonight, but he is getting the ball to Murray and Gordon who are getting the offense going. Denver again turns good defense into solid offense as a three on one fast break from a steal leads to a 96-87 lead with less than half a quarter to go.

Bruce Brown is loose in the fourth, as he shoots one-handed and gets the and-one, hitting the free throw to make it 100-89 with 2:30 left in the game. His 11 points in this quarter are huge. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, another guy like Porter Jr. who has been struggling, hits a big three to make it 103-91 with under two minutes to play. Bruce Brown then scores again to make it 108-91 with 1:11 to go. Denver earns win number three by ending it with a 108-95 victory.

Keys to Game 5

Aaron Gordon stepping up offensively was huge, especially as Miami tried to slow down Murray, and Jokic had to deal with both foul trouble and a tweaked ankle. Denver showed that they have extra effort guys and fighters who will step up the effort at the right time. Michael Porter Jr. couldn’t get much of anything to fall in the first quarter. However, he kept going after rebounds, he got involved on defense, handled the ball, made cuts to the basket; he went after it in order to get through the slump. Bruce Brown did the same thing in the fourth quarter, being that needed scorer to keep the lead separation for the visiting team.

Denver never panicked when Jokic notched his fifth foul. Instead, Gordon and Murray kept the ball moving around, trusting teammates like Caldwell-Pope and Jeff Green to hit a bucket when needed. Entrusting Brown to get some buckets in the fourth. Denver’s bench was outscored 36-25, but the hustle of the bench guys outshined their Miami counterparts. As a team, Denver had more assists (26-23), more blocks (7-3), and more steals (11-2). These categories are about following a team plan, and how much effort is put in to making something happen. The Nuggets have better chemistry, play their roles better, and focus on uplifting each other.

Miami has good team chemistry, but it didn’t look like they have multiple guys who can do more than one thing to help out their team. When Vincent gets in foul trouble and Strus isn’t scoring, it doesn’t appear they make much of an impact in other aspects of the game. Miami’s coach goes to the bench more than coaching them to impact the game in different ways.

Denver looks like a group acting to best help the team; Miami, meanwhile, has a group of individuals that try playing for each other, but can’t fulfill multiple needs when certain roles are lacking. Denver is one win away from Denver Nuggets history, NBA history, and an NBA title. But it’s important to remember that no one, not even the two-time MVP from Sambor, Serbia, gets here alone: