NBA Finals: Denver Nuggets beat Miami Heat to move to within one win of maiden title

The Denver Nuggets moved to within one win of their first NBA title with a 108-95 victory over the Miami Heat to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven championship series.

Forward Aaron Gordon proved a key figure with 27 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

The Nuggets can secure the championship with a home win in game five on Monday evening (01:30 BST on Tuesday).

“I thought Aaron was huge all night long,” said Nuggets head coach Michael Malone. “He brought his hard hat tonight and was just a warrior on both ends for us.

“This is truly a team win. We’ve done our job but we’re not celebrating like we’ve done anything yet.

“We know we’re going to have to go home and turn off the TV, the radio, don’t read the papers, don’t listen to everybody telling you how great you are because we haven’t done a thing yet.

“We have to win another game to be world champions, and we’re going to do that by simply taking it one quarter at a time. If we stay true to our identity, we’ll give ourselves a great chance to do that.”

There was a scare for the Nuggets when two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic tweaked an ankle in the first quarter and then had to sit out a five minute-spell in the fourth quarter because of foul trouble.

But Miami failed to take advantage of his absence and once the Serbian returned with 4:09 left in the game, Denver, who had led by four at the break and extended their advantage to 13 points in the third quarter, remained in control.

Jokic finished with 23 points, Bruce Brown scored three late baskets to end with 21 while guard Jamal Murray had 15 points and 12 assists.

“Every time we felt like we got it to six or eight, they were able to push it to 12,” said Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra, who insisted that the series could still be turned around.

“We have an incredibly competitive group. We’ve done everything the hard way, and that’s the way it’s going to have to be done right now, again.”