MIAMI – Aaron Gordon went from fitting in to standing out in Game 4.

Denver’s 27-year-old power forward led the Nuggets to a 108-95 win Friday, bringing the Nuggets within one win of the franchise’s first championship, by keeping his approach consistent. Ever since he arrived in Denver after being traded from Orlando, Gordon’s been willing to do the dirty work of defending opposing teams’ top offensive player, often regardless of position.

“I felt like I was going to be a defender for this team, a defenseman for this team,” Gordon said. “I knew they could score. MPJ, one of the best shooters on earth. You’ve got a two-time MVP in Joker that can do everything on offense. You’ve got Jamal Murray that can go for 50 on any given night. I knew I was coming in to play defense and make their job easy.”

Gordon made his teammates’ jobs easier in a different way in Game 4, scoring 27 points, the most he’s scored in a playoff game, on 11 of 15 shooting. He made 3 of 4 from 3-point range, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out six assists and came up with a couple of steals in 41 minutes and 42 seconds of playing time. The Nuggets won those minutes by 29 points, by far the best plus-minus on the team.

“Making threes, getting to the foul line, guarding at a high level, Aaron did it all for us tonight,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “He really did. We’ve seen that now in four games in the Finals where Aaron has had moments where he has carried us offensively. He made 3s tonight, obviously, which is always a good thing. But I couldn’t be more proud of Aaron Gordon and his impact across the board tonight.”

Gordon’s 15-point second quarter was critical to Denver maintaining a 55-51 lead at halftime. He hit both of his 3-pointers before halftime, drove for a dunk and put down an alley-oop finish from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope during his big second quarter. Gordon missed his only two shots in the first quarter and split a pair of free throws before going 6 for 7 from the field in the second.

“AG was being extremely aggressive. They were switching a smaller defender on him or in transition he had a smaller defender on him. Every time we want him to be aggressive,” Bruce Brown said.

“Tonight was his time to score. He was hitting threes, so that was huge for us.”

Early in the third quarter, Gordon borrowed a trick from Nikola Jokic’s catalogue, threading a bounce pass to Jamal Murray, whose layup put the Nuggets up 10. A few possessions later, Gordon finished another alley-oop, this one off a Jokic assist. Gordon closed the third quarter with a tip-in, a blind finish off another lob from Jokic and a corner 3 that he seemed to know was going in as soon as he released it. His nine third-quarter points helped the Nuggets lead by 13 to start the fourth.

“He was the best player on the floor,” Jokic said.

After Jokic picked up his fourth and fifth fouls on consecutive possessions with more than nine minutes left in the fourth, Gordon filled in at center. The Heat used Jokic’s foul trouble to close within six on a couple of occasions before Gordon’s 11th made shot gave him a new playoff career-high and put the Nuggets up eight with under seven minutes to play.

“Aaron Gordon was huge all night long,” Malone said. “He brought his hard hat tonight, and he was just a warrior on both ends for us.”

Another performance like that, and Gordon and the Nuggets could be celebrating a championship Monday in Denver. Gordon plans to go into the biggest game of his career with the same, consistent approach.

“That’s what I like to do. I like to play defense. That’s my niche. That’s how I came into the league, defensive-minded,” Gordon said.

“As far as the offensive side, it was just get in where I fit in, find cuts, find openings, find transition buckets, try and get easy ones, and then just – really just get in where I fit in.”