Only three others have done it since 1980.
He's got a lot more game to come, not just in these Finals but in his career."įifteen points in a Finals win is no small feat for a player a year removed from his draft.
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Even if he makes mistakes, he knows how to bounce back, and that's huge for a rookie, especially getting these kind of minutes. He's just playing the game the right way, every game. "We're finding him like he's a five-year vet. "He knows the offense will come when he's doing those things, and he's playing with a lot of confidence," said Murray. He held up defensively on multiple possessions opposite Butler. It was really fun to watch a young man step up the way Christian did." "Tonight, man, I could just feel the confidence oozing out of him, the physical aggressive drives, making plays for guys against their zone. That kid never gets too high, never gets too low. He's stayed ready the whole year, mentally, physically, emotionally. He's won at every level: high school, college and now he's in the NBA Finals as a rookie. "If you look around, there's not many rookies playing meaningful minutes this time of year, and it speaks to Christian's confidence," said Malone.
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On four consecutive possessions, he 1) drove into the heart of Miami's defense and found Jokić for a 10-footer 2) took Butler off the dribble from the corner, drew Bam Adebayo and dumped it off to Jokić again for a pair of free throws 3) set a screen for Jokić, curled to the corner and cut to the bucket, where a double-teamed Murray hit him for a layup plus the foul and 4) took it to Butler's chest. When the Heat threatened another fourth-quarter comeback, Braun held them at bay with a flurry midway through the frame. On back-to-back possessions late in the third quarter, he again sliced through the zone, where Jokić found him for another layup, and he poked free a Butler pass for a breakaway dunk that pushed the edge to 82-63. On back-to-back possessions against the zone early in the second quarter, he cut behind it for a dunk and drove through it for a layup against a defense that had to account for Jokić, giving Denver a 33-32 lead. He's in the right place at the right time on the biggest stage, and now you guys are getting to see it."ĭenver Nuggets guard Christian Braun (0) gestures during one of his energetic flurries of action in his team's Game 3 win against the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. He's in the right place at the right time, and he's been doing that all year, he's been doing that from Day 1, and nothing changes. "That's a rare rookie right here," said Gordon, Denver's fourth and only other player in double digits. Braun answered the call, cutting for four of his seven baskets on just eight shots. With only Aaron Gordon complementing their stars in Game 3, they needed another outlet to bust Miami's defense whenever it went zone and/or overloaded on Jokić and Murray's two-man game. If Denver takes two more games from the Heat, Braun will join Bill Russell, Henry Bibby, Magic Johnson and Billy Thompson as the only players ever to win college and NBA titles in consecutive seasons.Īnd the Nuggets might need Braun to do it. The Nuggets drafted Braun 21st overall, and he has now played more playoff minutes than any other rookie in his class. Obviously, it’s not quite the same, but the aspect of fighting until the very end and fighting for a championship, he understands and he showed it tonight." "He’s been in situations where he has played for a title, in the NCAA tournament last year. "He’s very, very mature for his age," said Green, Denver's veteran voice.
He led his high school from suburban Overland Park to three straight state championships in Kansas before joining the Jayhawks, with whom he won the 2022 NCAA title, registering 12 points, 12 rebounds and the game-sealing defensive stop to close his three-year college career in style. "He's a winner, and he won us the game."īraun is, by definition, a winner. "I told him, 'You won us the game,'" Jokić told reporters.
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Good thing, too, because Denver has not gotten much from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope all series (5-of-16 FG), Bruce Brown cooled off in Game 3 (1-of-5 FG), and 36-year-old Jeff Green only has so much lift left in his legs. He benched Porter for the entire fourth quarter in favor of Braun, who repeatedly delivered.
It has looked worse, and Nuggets coach Michael Malone did what he could not bring himself to in Sunday's 111-108 defeat. He is averaging 7 points on putrid shooting - 8-of-31 field goals (25.8%), 3-of-19 3-pointers (15.8%) - through three Finals games. Porter followed a 2-for-8 shooting effort in the Nuggets' Game 2 loss with a 1-for-7 night Wednesday, and his defense has been no better. 1 prep prospect in 2017), size (6-foot-10), contract ($179 million) and regular-season production (17.4 points per game on 49/41/80 shooting splits) mean he should be Denver's third option, except he has been anything but.
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