Miami (AP) – The Denver Nuggets are one win away from their first NBA Championship in franchise history. The Nuggets grabbed a 108-95 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 4 to take a 3-1 series lead.

Miami took a 21-20 lead after the first quarter. Nikola Jokic came off the bench in the second quarter and almost immediately drilled a three-point shot. The shot gave the Nuggets momentum to close out the first half with a 55-51 lead.

The Nuggets took instant control of the game, opening the third quarter with a 10-4 run to grab a double digit lead (65-55). Near the end of the quarter, the game was halted for eight minutes after a wild string of events. A dunk by Miami’s Bam Adebayo resulted in a broken rim, and a medical emergency behind the Heat bench.

Nikola Jokic taking matters into his own hands trying to fix the uneven rim after Bam Adebayo hung on it 😅pic.twitter.com/JJl6ftG7UW

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 10, 2023

Aaron Gordon scored on an alley-oop from Jokic and converted a three-point shot to give Denver a 13-point lead (86-73) heading to the final quarter of play.

The Heat opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to cut Denver’s lead to 86-81. Jokic committed his fifth foul that sent him to the bench with 9:24 left. Jamal Murray and Jeff Green each made a three-pointer for the Nuggets for a 94-85 lead with 6:21 remaining.

Jokic checked back in the game around the four-minute mark and the Nuggets were able to shut down Miami’s offense. The Heat scored four points in the last minutes to Denver’s 13.

Miami now finds themselves down 3-1 in the NBA Finals. Teams that take a 3-1 lead in the Finals have won 35 out of 36 previous times.

NUGGETS SURVIVE SCARE… Jokic rolled his ankle in the first quarter on Max Strus’ foot after attempting to grab a rebound. He went to the locker room and returned to the bench after a few minutes.

Nikola Jokic had to head to the locker room after rolling his right ankle.

He was back on the Denver bench to start the second quarter. pic.twitter.com/8fp9jaKcwF

— ESPN (@espn) June 10, 2023

UP NEXT… Game 5 will take place in Denver on Monday, June 12 with an 8:30 p.m. start time.

Player	Minutes Played	Points	Rebounds	Assists
Nikola Jokic	37	23	12	4
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope	36	7	4	2
Jamal Murray	42	15	3	12
Aaron Gordon	41	27	7	6
Michael Porter	22	11	3	0
Bruce Brown	29	21	4	2

Player	Minutes Played	Points	Rebounds	Assists
Bam Adebayo	43	20	11	3
Jimmy Butler	45	25	7	7
Kevin Love	18	12	4	0
Caleb Martin	32	11	5	1
Kyle Lowry	32	13	3	7
Duncan Robinson	25	12	1	3