With a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals, the Nuggets are on the cusp of winning the franchise’s first-ever NBA championship. Stick here for live updates and analysis as Denver takes on the Heat in Game 5 at Ball Arena in Denver.

Live updates

Pre-game updates

Herro returns (5:08 p.m.): Tyler Herro available tonight. Spo: “All hands on deck.” — Bennett Durando

“Like a baby” (4:49 p.m.): Michael Malone: “I slept like a baby… I got up every two hours and cried.”

With a title on the line, Malone’s playing all the hits. — Mike Singer

How they match up (4 p.m.): For the first time in franchise history, Denver is one game away from winning the NBA championship. Denver Post sports reporter Bennett Durando breaks down the three keys they need to do in Game 5 to bring home the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Want to see the game in person? It’ll cost you. Post sports reporter Ryan McFadden takes a look at how much tickets for Game 5 are going for — and it’s a pretty penny. — Joe Nguyen

Nuggets-Heat Game 5: Must-reads

Nuggets treating NBA Finals closeout chance as must-win situation: Act like we’re down 3-1

If coaching doesn’t work out — and there’s little evidence to suggest it won’t — perhaps Nuggets coach Michael Malone can take up a career in psychology.

Before the Nuggets took part in shooting contests and basic drills as part of their practice Sunday, Malone relayed a message as they’ll vie for their first-ever NBA championship on Monday night at Ball Arena.

“My biggest concern going into any close-out game is human nature and fighting against that,” he said. “You’re up 3-1. Most teams, when you’re up 3-1, they come up for air. They relax and they just kind of take it for granted that, oh, we’re going to win this.”

The Nuggets don’t have to look very far for recent examples of teams blowing commanding leads in the postseason. They stormed back, twice, in the Orlando bubble in 2020, against the Jazz and the Clippers, who each owned 3-1 leads against Denver. But the Nuggets wound up on the right side of history that year and forged their way to the conference finals, Mike Singer reports.

Keeler: Nuggets icon David Thompson predicted Denver’s next championship parade would be for Nuggets. One win to go.

David Thompson jumped to conclusions and dunked on the future with his right hand. Just like old times.

He laughs about it now, recalling how the Skywalker turned into a Soothsayer. See, the Nuggets icon was visiting Denver last June 30, which, ya know, also just happened to be the day of the Avs’ raucous Stanley Cup victory parade. He says he gave an interview during said trip and got asked about the burgundy-and-blue party downtown.

“I told them that the next parade would be the Nuggets’ parade,” Thompson recalled with a grin. One of those proud, I-told-ya-so grandpa grins. “That was a year ago at this time.”

And how perfect is this? At 68, the dude who taught the Front Range how to fly is expected to have one of the best seats in the house Monday for the rarest air in Nuggets history, Sean Keeler writes.

Bruce Brown’s career-defining night comes in same city where Jim Larrañaga gave him his pregame ritual

If time is running out on the Nuggets’ symbiotic relationship with Bruce Brown, at least they’ll always have a special place reserved in his pregame routine.

Game 4 of the 2023 NBA Finals, where else but the city he was taught the ritual, belongs in the highlight reel rotation from now on. It will forever inspire comfort and confidence.

In autumn of 2017, Brown was slumping. It was his second year at the University of Miami, where his responsibilities were heightened as the team’s top returning scorer. He wasn’t meeting expectations early on. A shooting drought had ripple effects on his aggressiveness. Coach Jim Larrañaga took notice and offered Brown a solution. Not X’s and O’s advice, though, Bennett Durando reports.

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