Aaron Gordon has set a career playoff high with 27 points and Denver Nuggets moved within one victory of their first title with a 108-95 victory over Miami Heat in Game Four of the NBA Finals.
Nikola Jokic recorded 23 points and 12 rebounds, and Bruce Brown scored 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, as the Nuggets took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Jamal Murray registered 15 points and 12 assists, and Michael Porter Jr added 11 points for Denver.
Jimmy Butler had 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, and Bam Adebayo amassed 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat. Kyle Lowry scored 13 points, and Kevin Love and Duncan Robinson added 12 for Miami.
Denver can win the title at home in Game Five on Tuesday (NZ time).
The Nuggets shot 49.4 percent from the field, including 14-of-28 from three-point range. Gordon made 11-of-15 shots, adding seven rebounds and six assists, while Brown shot 8-for-11.
The Heat made 44.9 percent of their field-goal attempts and were eight-of-25 (32 percent) from behind the arc. Adebayo committed seven of Miami's 15 turnovers.
Miami trailed 97-89, after Robinson drove for a basket with 2m 57s left, before the Nuggets put the game away with an 11-2 dash.
Brown converted a three-point play to give the Nuggets an 11-point lead with 2m 36s left. Adebayo scored on a lay-up seven seconds later, before Brown made his own lay-up to make it 102-91 with 2m 04s to play.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope drilled a three3-pointer with 1:49 left, Brown buried a trey 28 seconds later to make it 108-91 and Denver closed it out.
Gordon scored seven points in the final 72 seconds of the third quarter. He capped the burst with a three-pointer with 5.4 seconds remaining, as the Nuggets took an 86-73 advantage into the final stanza.
Miami scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter, capped by Butler's three-point play to trim the deficit to five with 8m 42s left. Murray connected on a trey 17 seconds later for Denver's first points of the quarter.
The Nuggets led 96-87, after Brown's fastbreak lay-up with 5m 07s remaining. Jokic returned with 4m 09s left, after sitting out for 5m 15s with his fifth foul. Denver led by 10, when he took a seat.
Jokic and Gordon each scored 16 first-half points, as the Nuggets led 55-51 at the half. Butler scored 14 in the half for Miami.
Gordon put up 15 points in the second quarter.
Reuters
