Denver Nuggets 108 vs 95 Miami Heat summary: stats and highlights | NBA Finals Game 4
The Denver Nuggets are a win away from their first NBA Championship in franchise history after taking care of the Heat in Miami for a second straight game. Aaron Gordon was the hero in Game 4, leading all scorers with a playoff high 27 points in the 108-95 win on Friday night.
Heat lose fourth straight at home
The Heat came into Game 4 having lost their last three games at the Kaseya Center, knowing that a loss before heading to Denver for the next game would make a tough task almost impossible. Denver came in to Dade County and beat the Heat up for a second straight game, holding Miami to under 100 points for the third time this series.
The Nuggets have an obvious size advantage over the Heat, and they maximized this mismatches to the fullest in the biggest game of the season. Neither team got off to hot shooting starts, as both teams combined for just 41 points in the first quarter.
Nikola Jokic twisted his ankle in the opening quarter, but would shake off the injury in the second quarter. While he got taped up and stretched his sore ankle out on the bench Aaron Gordon went into full take over mode scoring 15 of his 16 first half points in the second.
Air Gordon takes the stage
There was a point just before halftime when the Nuggets looked like they were on the verge of blowing the game open up nine with a couple minutes to go before halftime. Kyle Lowry brought the Heat storming back and cut the lead to four in a 13 point first half.
Jokic and Jamal Murray didn’t have to be spectacular like they were in Game 3, because they got so much help from Gordon and Bruce Brown, who stepped up in the second half. Murray had 15 points and 12 assists, becoming the first player in NBA history to dish out 10+ assists in each of his first four Finals games. Jokic finished with 23, 12 and 4 assists, debunking the theory that keeping him from playing distributor was the key to beat the Nuggets.
Gordon’s hot hand continued into the third quarter, scoring 9 as the lead trickled up to 13 going into the final 12 minutes. Miami would make a run to start the fourth quarter thanks to another spurt from Duncan Robinson that would trim the lead to five with 8:30 to go.
Denver one win away
The Heat kept waiting for their star to show up, but Jimmy Butler, who scored 25, was shut down in the fourth quarter, and Murray hit a huge three to put the game back to eight and take the air out of Kaseya Center and that was the beginning of the end for Miami. Jeff Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope would hit two more big threes as Bruce Brown put up 11 of his 21 in the fourth quarter to close out the Heat in Game 4.
The Nuggets now head back home with a chance to win their first title in franchise history at Ball Arena on Monday night. The hill gets even steeper for the Heat who have to battle down 3-1 and getting ready to hit the road hoping to keep their title dream alive. In the history of the NBA there has only been one team that came back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals. That was the Cleveland Cavaliers when they did it against the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 Finals.
