NBA PICKS & THEPEACHBASKET PICK’EM PREVIEW BETWEEN THE MIAMI HEAT AND DENVER NUGGETS. ALTERNATIVE FANTASY BASKETBALL THAT IS FREE 2 PLAY DIRECTLY ON THEPEACHBASKET. WIN PRIZES & EXPERIENCES!
The following comes courtesy of Bard, Google’s AI platform except where bold.
The Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat 108-95 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday night to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.
Aaron Gordon led the Nuggets with 27 points, while Nikola Jokić added 23 points and 12 rebounds [Off to a great start! It is usually in these numbers where Bard is off by a bit… or a lot. Not today though!]. The Nuggets also got a big boost from their bench, as Bones Hyland scored 16 points and Monte Morris added 15 [And just like that, Bard goes off the rails. Neither Hyland or Morris scored, or played, for the Nuggets in game 5. The Nuggets got a boost from Bruce Brown however who scored 21 points off the bench.].
The Heat were led by Jimmy Butler, who scored 30 points [Butler finished with 25 points]. Bam Adebayo added 17 points and 12 rebounds, but the Heat struggled to get anything going from beyond the arc, shooting just 7-of-30 from three-point range [Adebayo had 20 points and 11 rebounds but missed some short range jumpers in crunch time. The Heat shot 8-25 from deep].
The Nuggets led for most of the game, but the Heat cut the lead to 92-89 with 6:24 remaining in the fourth quarter. However, the Nuggets responded with a 16-0 run to put the game away [The Nuggets led for most of the game, yes. Their biggest lead was 17 while the Heat only managed to lead twice and never by more than 3 points.].
The Nuggets can win their first NBA championship in franchise history with a win in Game 5 on Monday night at Ball Arena.
Here are some other key takeaways from Game 4:
- The Nuggets’ bench was a major factor in the win. Hyland and Morris combined to score 31 points, and they helped the Nuggets keep the Heat at bay when Jokić was on the bench [Nope, scroll up].
- The Heat’s defense was not as effective as it had been in previous games. The Nuggets shot 50.6% from the field and 40% from three-point range [Nuggets shot 49.4% from the field and 50.0% from deep].
- The Nuggets are now one win away from their first NBA championship in franchise history. They will look to close out the series on Monday night at home.
