Nuggets take commanding lead in NBA Finals, one win from first title

The Denver Nuggets are one win from history.

One win from their first championship in the NBA Finals.

The Nuggets took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Miami Heat on Friday night, taking Game 4 by a final score of 108-95.

Nikola Jokic had 23 points, 12 rebounds and four assists, Bruce Brown contributed 21 points off the bench and Aaron Gordon poured in a playoff-high 27.

Gordon was the catalyst for Denver after a sleepy start for both teams, putting up 15 points in the second quarter to stretch the Nuggets’ halftime lead to 55-51. Jokic briefly went to the locker room after tweaking his ankle in the first, but it didn’t appear to affect him the rest of the game.

The third quarter was bizarre, as the rim had to be leveled after a failed dunk by Bam Adebayo and then a Heat fan stretchered out after suffering a medical event. But it didn’t matter for Gordon, as he scored 10 more in the third to stretch Denver’s lead to 13.

In the fourth, Brown carried the Nuggets after Jokic got into foul trouble, never letting Miami really get within striking distance. Jokic checked out with Denver up 10, sat for more than five minutes, and came back in with Denver still up nine.

The Nuggets can pursue history on Monday night at Ball Arena. This team had never even made the Finals until a couple of weeks ago, now they can take the whole thing in front of their home fans and throw us a raucous parade.

"Congratulations…we're not celebrating though."

Coach Malone shouts out several Nuggets in the locker room after Denver's Game 4 win to go up 3-1!
(via @nuggets)

Game 5: Monday, 8:30 PM ET on ABCpic.twitter.com/oRyprY9Hzz

— NBA (@NBA) June 10, 2023

Jokic and Murray drew comparisons to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal pregame from the ESPN broadcast team, and they’ll look to start stacking rings like the Lakers’ greats.

You can’t become one of the best duos to ever do it without a first championship, and that’s what Jokic, Murray and the rest of the Nuggets are on the verge of accomplishing.

Enjoy the weekend, Denver. Monday might go down as one of the biggest nights in Colorado sports history.

This story was first published by Sactown Sports‘ sister station, Denver Sports. Thank you for reading sactownsports.com. Follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.