One win away from first title, Nuggets try to avoid letdown

DENVER (AP) —Everything from the history books to the way they’ve played throughmost of the postseason suggests the Denver Nuggets are on the vergeof capturing their first NBA title in 47 years in the league.

The goal nowfor Denver is to not let up against the Miami Heat on Monday inwhat will be the first title-clinching opportunity in franchisehistory.

“My biggestconcern going into any close-out game is human nature and fightingagainst that,” coach Michael Malone said Sunday after practice.“Most teams, when you’re up 3-1, they come up for air.”

Malone’smission to keep the Nuggets thinking about hoops, not that trophy,could be helped by the fact that Miami’s only win in this seriescame a week ago in Denver. Also, the Heat have won seven road gamesduring the postseason and are 2-0 when they’ve faced elimination —against Chicago in the play-in tournament and at Boston in Game 7of the conference finals.

When theteams left Denver a week ago, the series was tied at 1 and Malonewas grilling the Nuggets over effort after a 111-108 loss. Now thatit’s 3-1, after two double-digit wins in Miami, it’s clear NikolaJokic and Co., received the message.

On Sunday,the coach tapped into his own team’s recent history — the Nuggetsovercame 3-1 deficits twice to win two series in the bubble in 2020— to emphasize that this series isn’t over yet.

“We’ve beendown 3-1. We’ve come back and won. We know anything is possible,”Malone said.

Nobody neededto convince the Heat of that.

Coach ErikSpoelstra called his team “a very stubborn and defiant group.” Andwhen asked about the confidence the Heat players had in each other,even after putting themselves in what has historically been anear-impossible situation, Jimmy Butler said: “At an all-timehigh.”

Only one of36 teams that have fallen behind 3-1 in the history of the finalshas come back to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy. That was the 2016Cavaliers, led by LeBron James, who trailed Golden State 3-1 beforerunning off three straight, including the finale in Oakland in agame that goes down as one of the best in finals history.

The 1993 Sunsand 1998 Jazz were down 3-1 and both managed to win Game 5 inChicago. In both instances, Michael Jordan and the Bulls wrapped upthe series in Game 6s on the road.

Among the fewhints revealed about Xs and Os during these day-before newsconferences was the effectiveness of Denver’s improving D aroundthe 3-point line. Malone tore into his team after Miami made 173-pointers in Game 2, many of them unguarded after the Heatexploited confusion in the Nuggets’ switching defense.

Miami made 113s inGame3(when the Nuggets got triple-doubles from both Jokic andJamal Murray) then only eight inGame4(when Aaron Gordon showed off the team’s depth byleading the team with 27 points).

“You have tohave an aggressive mindset to be an effective defensive team,”Malone said. “But if you don’t have communication and discipline togo along with that, I think you’re going to be missing some reallykey components.”

Spoelstrasaid Denver’s shift in defense — having players fight through picksinstead of switching on the perimeter — did, in fact, make adifference. Still, he insisted, it’s nothing Miami hasn’t seen ahundred times by now.

“That’s whatthe deal is,” Spoelstra said. “They are trying to take away certainthings. We are trying to get to certain things. (It’s about) howcan you get to it and how can you get to it on your terms.”

Spoelstraoffered no clues regarding the recurring mystery in this series —whether 20-point-a-game scorer Tyler Herro might be returning froma broken hand.

“No newupdate,” Spoelstra said. “He’s doing another contact workout today.I probably won’t have anything for you tomorrow morning.”

Even with alltheir focus on unfinished business on the court, the Nuggets frontoffice spent the weekend looking toward the future. ESPNreportedan under-the-radartradeinvolving draft picks, in which Denver gave up aprotected 2029 first-rounder in exchange for one of Oklahoma City’sfirst-rounders in 2024.

It was asubtle acknowledgment that the Nuggets, with Jokic, Murray, Gordonand Michael Porter Jr., all signed to big contracts, are looking atadding affordable talent sooner rather than later in an effort tokeep their current championship window open.

Never intheir history — which dates back to the founding of the ABA in1967, then their move to the NBA nine years after that — has anyoneon the Nuggets been caught thinking about multiple titles, letalone one.

“It’s justnice to see us be a big family and understand what it takes towin,” Murray said. “But yeah, it’s been a journey, a lot of fun. Wehave got more work to do.”