2023 NBA FINALS: GAME 4 NOTES

The Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat 108-95 on Friday in Game 4 of the 2023 NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV. The Nuggets lead the series 3-1. Below are notes about Game 4.

• Teams that lead the NBA Finals 3-1 have gone on to win the series 97.2% of the time (35-1). The only instance of a team rallying from a 3-1 series deficit to win the NBA Finals was the Cavaliers’ comeback against the Warriors in 2016.

• Teams that lead any best-of-seven playoff series 3-1 have gone on to win the series 95.4% of the time (267-13).

• The two most recent comebacks from a 3-1 deficit to win a playoff series were both completed by Denver in 2020 in the bubble. That year, the Nuggets rallied to defeat the Jazz in the First Round and the Clippers in the Conference Semifinals. Those series victories made Denver the only team in NBA history to successfully come back from a 3-1 deficit more than once in a single postseason.

• Denver extended its road winning streak to five games. Miami lost its fourth consecutive home game.

• Denver guard Jamal Murray finished with 12 assists after having 10 assists in each of the first three games of the series. He joins Magic Johnson as the only players to have 10 or more assists in four consecutive games in a single NBA Finals series. Johnson did it four times (1983, 1984, 1985 and 1991).

• Murray is the first player to have at least 10 assists in each of his first four career NBA Finals games. (He was already the first to do it in his first three.)

• Murray had 12 assists and zero turnovers. That is the third-most assists without a turnover in an NBA Finals game since turnovers were first recorded for players in the 1977-78 season. Robert Reid had 17 assists and zero turnovers for the Rockets against the Celtics on June 5, 1986, and Magic Johnson had 13 assists and zero turnovers for the Lakers against the Celtics on June 2, 1987.

• Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon set a playoff career high with 27 points. His previous playoff high was 25 points for the Magic against the Raptors on April 21, 2019.

• Denver guard-forward Bruce Brown scored 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter.

• Nuggets center Nikola Jokić has become the first player to have at least 500 points, 250 rebounds and 150 assists in a single postseason.

• Heat center Bam Adebayo (20 points, 11 rebounds) has scored at least 20 points in all four games of the NBA Finals. He is averaging 22.3 points and 12.5 rebounds in the series.

• The Nuggets shot 50.0% from three-point range (14-of-28), their highest mark of the 2023 postseason.

• Heat forwards Udonis Haslem and Nikola Jović both celebrated birthdays today (June 9). Haslem turned 43 and Jović turned 20.

• ABC play-by-play commentator Mike Breen called his 99^th NBA Finals game tonight. His 100^th will be Game 5 on Monday.