NBA Game Notes (June 9, 2023)

Here are the NBA game notes for games that were played on June 9, 2023.

Jun 10, 2023

Gordon’s Effort Lifts Nuggets

Aaron Gordon scored a playoff career-high 27 points as the Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat 108-95 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. The teams will head back to Denver to face off in Game 5 on Monday.

Gordon shot 11-15 from the field, including 3-4 from 3-point range. He also contributed seven rebounds and six assists. Gordon posted a plus-minus of +29, the highest such figure in a Finals game in five years (Kevin Durant was +30 on June 8, 2018).

Teammate Jamal Murray scored 15 points but struggled from the field, making just five of his 17 attempts (29.4%). However, Murray dished out a game-high 12 assists and did not commit a turnover. Since the NBA began tracking individual turnovers in 1977-78, only two players have recorded more assists in a Finals game without committing a turnover:

17 — Robert Reid (June 5, 1986)
13 — Magic Johnson (June 2, 1987)
12 — Jamal Murray (June 9, 2023)
10 — Danny Ainge (June 2, 1985)
10 — Derek Fisher (June 11, 2000)

Murray became the first player in NBA history to distribute at least 10 assists in each of the first four games of his Finals career. No other player has started their Finals career with more than two such games in a row. Murray joined Magic Johnson (three times) as the only players to record four 10-assist games in a row to open a Finals.

Nuggets center Nikola Jokic scored 23 points and produced game highs of 12 rebounds, three blocks, and three steals (tied). Jokic is averaging 30.8 PPG and 13.5 RPG in the 2023 NBA Finals. Only two other players in NBA history have averaged at least 30 PPG and 10 RPG through the first four games of their Finals career: Willis Reed (1970) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (2021).

Bruce Brown had a big game off the bench for the Nuggets, scoring 21 points in 30 minutes played. Brown shot 8-11 from the floor — including 3-5 from 3-point range — and did not commit a turnover.

The Heat’s Jimmy Butler scored a team-high 25 points in the loss, shooting 9-17 from the field and 6-9 from the free throw line. Butler also snagged seven rebounds and handed out a team-high seven assists (tied with Kyle Lowry).

Heat center Bam Adebyao scored 20 points and hauled in a team-high 11 rebounds. However, he shot just 8-19 from the field (42.1%) and committed a playoff career-high seven turnovers. Adebyao has made only 15 of his 40 shots from the floor (37.5%) over the last two games.

The Nuggets are the 37th team in NBA history to own a 3-1 series lead after the first four games of a Finals. Only one of those previous 36 teams went on to the lose the Finals: the 2016 Golden State Warriors, who fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers.