Nuggets shaking off team history, staking claim for first NBA title

LOS ANGELES — The Denver Nuggets played with disruption on their minds in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.

Everybody on that tightknit bench Monday night seemed to know their team had never reached the NBA Finals, had never swept a playoff opponent and had never beaten the Los Angeles Lakers in a postseason series. The Nuggets have given their fans comparatively little to cheer in their 47 seasons in the NBA, and they’ve rarely seized the basketball world’s attention despite a solid list of famous alumni.

But with their confidence soaring in the midst of a dominant playoff run, these Nuggets were determined to secure their latest bit of history Monday night. They kept that attitude even after LeBron James dropped a 31-point first half that could have made a lesser team with a 3-0 series lead start thinking about Game 5 back home.

“Yeah, that’s never been our mentality,” Aaron Gordon said. “That hasn’t been our mentality all year, like, to concede. We’re not that type of team.”

After Nikola Jokic conjured his latest triple-double playoff masterpiece and Gordon blocked James’ shot at the buzzer, the Nuggets had torn up their franchise’s history and written a bold new chapter with a clinching 113-111 victory.

They’re the first Denver team to earn the right to play for an NBA title, and this often-overlooked franchise will be favored to win when the Nuggets get back on the court in nine days. No wonder the conference championship celebration had a little extra energy, with the Nuggets mobbing

Jokic after he received his conference finals MVP trophy.

High-scoring Jamal Murray took a moment to savor the slow growth of a team that has finally blossomed into something beautiful and sturdy.

“We just want to make the most of the opportunity,” Murray said. “First Nuggets team to do this and that. We want to go all the way and stay locked in. I think our chemistry is at an all-time high, the way we play, the way we read the game without even speaking. We talk that language on the court. It’s just

Ashley Landis/Associated Press Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic shoots over Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James in the second half of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals on Monday in Los Angeles.