MIAMI – The rookie looked like a veteran.

“That’s a rare rookie right there,” Aaron Gordon said with Christian Braun seated to his right in the postgame press conference after the Nuggets’ 109-94 win over the Heat to take a 2-1 series lead in the NBA Finals on Wednesday at Kaseya Center.

“From Day 1, he’s been on top of it. This is a real winner right here. I say because he’s always in the right spot. He’s in the right place at the right time. He’s been doing that all year since Day 1. Nothing changes. He’s in the right place at the right time on the biggest stage. Now, you guys are getting to see it.”

Braun was almost perfect in his first Finals game away from home. Braun finished with 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field. His only miss was a corner 3 that he rebounded. He also grabbed four rebounds, dished out an assist and recorded a steal in his 19 minutes of playing time. While Nikola Jokic recorded the first stat line of its kind in the NBA Finals with 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists, he credited the rookie for the win that restored Denver’s home-court advantage.

“I told him ‘You won us the game,’” Jokic recalled in his postgame conversation with Braun.

“He’s a winner, and he won us the game with energy. … Even when he makes a mistake, it’s an aggressive mistake. You cannot be mad at that.”

Jamal Murray told him something else at halftime. Murray encouraged the rookie to jump passing lanes when he got the chance. An opportunity arrived in the final minute of the third quarter. Heat star Jimmy Butler had the ball on the right side of the court and looked for Duncan Robinson to his left. Braun read Butler’s eyes, tipped the pass into the open court, chased it down and ran past Robinson for an emphatic one-handed dunk.

“He had a chance to do it in the first half and he didn’t go. Second half he went for it,” Murray said.

“He’s going to grow and he’s going to be a very, very solid player in this league. I’m excited to see him develop his game and gain more confidence, more trust from not just us, the coaching staff, as well, and see him grow.”

Like a veteran, he downplayed his own accomplishments.

“Those guys make it really easy. Playing with those guys, it seems like they make the right play every time. My job is just to be ready when my name is called,” Braun said, sounding significantly older than his 22 years.

“Playing with Nikola, playing with Jamal, whoever it is, I just got to be ready for the ball. Today, it found me in some pretty easy spots.”

All seven of his made shots came inside the restricted area. While the shots may have been routine finishes, his movement to get those looks resembled that of a crafty veteran. When the Heat tried to blitz the ball out of Murray’s hands, Braun made smart cuts to vulnerable spots in the defense. The same happened when Miami utilized its zone defense, something that gave the Nuggets trouble in Game 2.

“I have to give Christian a lot of love,” coach Michael Malone said.

“His play was fantastic. Did not look like a rookie – aggressive, strong, physical, confident. His 15 and 4 off the bench in 19 minutes were very, very impactful.”

After another solid playoff performance, the first draft pick of the Calvin Booth era appears to be panning out. He’s been the only rookie playing meaningful minutes for most of this playoff run, but no performance was as impactful or important as the one he produced in his first Finals game on the road.

“We believed in him,” Malone said. “We drafted him, and he’s everything we hoped for and more.”

The Nuggets coach said Braun showed up confident from Day 1. He won championships at the high school and college level before the Nuggets selected him with the 21st overall pick. Now, he’s two wins away from helping the Nuggets win an NBA title in his first professional season.

“I can’t really fail if I go out there and play hard. They don’t expect much from me on the offensive end but expect me to go out there and give effort on defense, rebound, whatever it is, try to get extra possession for those guys to score,” Braun said of Denver’s more established players.

“They trust me, and they put me in the right spots, and all I’ve got to do is lay a ball in and get a steal. My job is pretty easy, and those guys make me look pretty good.”