Nuggets' Michael Malone - Must approach Game 5 like we're down 3-1 - ESPN

DENVER — On the eve of the biggest game in Denver Nuggets franchise history, coach Michael Malone had a message for his team.

Malone wants the Nuggets to turn the clock back to 2020 — when they twice overcame a 3-1 series deficit in the Orlando bubble, first to the Utah Jazz in the first round and then to the LA Clippers in the conference semifinals. As the Nuggets try to win their first NBA championship in their 47th season Monday night against the Miami Heat, Malone wants his team to play with that same level of desperation — despite the fact that this time around they hold a 3-1 advantage, instead of being down in the series.

«My biggest concern going into any close-out game is human nature and fighting against that,» Malone said Sunday in advance of Game 5. «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.

»We know anything is possible (down 3-1). That's why my message to our team was our approach has to be we are down 3-1. They are desperate. We have to be more desperate. They are hungry. We have to be hungrier."

The Nuggets lost their first close-out opportunity of this postseason in Game 4 at Minnesota in the first round. After that, they didn't waste their next elimination opportunities, closing out the Timberwolves in Game 5, beating the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 of the second round and sending the Los Angeles Lakers home in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.

After winning two straight Finals games in Miami, Nikola Jokic said the Nuggets were zeroed in during their practice in Denver.

«We are going to approach it as a must-win game,» Jokic said Sunday. «I know it's a big opportunity, and I think everybody knows. By