The Denver Nuggets are on the verge of their first championship in franchise history as they currently hold a 3-1 lead against the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. They're heading home for Game 5 and are in good position to close out the series. They can't get complacent though. They need to show the same intensity and energy they had for the past couple of games to avoid a potential catastrophe. To do so, they're going to mentally swap places with the Heat. Nuggets rookie Christian Braun, the hero of Game 3, told SiriusXM NBA Radio that they will approach Game 5 as if they're the ones down 3-1 instead of the Heat.

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“You just can't relax. We've had some moments like that in the playoffs where we had relaxed, but you can't relax, you got to go into each game, I think Coach Malone talked about it today, we're going in with the mindset that we're down 3-1,” Braun said. “You want to be hungry, you want to stay humble throughout the whole thing. I think we're in a good spot, I think our mindset is in the right spot, like I said we're going to play like we're down 3-1.”

For a coach like Michael Malone who plays a very veteran-heavy, short rotation, Christian Braun has been able to crack the lineup as a rookie. He exploded in Game 3 and was the X-factor with 15 points off the bench on 7-8 shooting and 1-1 from three-point range. In the playoffs, Braun has been averaging 4.7 points per game and 2.4 rebounds in 15.5 minutes per game. For the Nuggets to win the NBA Finals, they'll need key contributions from Braun off the bench.