Former Kansas basketball standout Christian Braun had the best game of his young NBA career in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
Two Kansas Jayhawks were selected in the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft, and the No. 21 pick Christian Braun is doing something that no one could have seen coming for him as a rookie — making winning plays in the NBA Finals.
Braun spent three years at the university, averaging 14.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists as a junior. After winning a national title in Lawrence last season — the school’s first since 2008 — he officially declared for the draft. The Denver Nuggets took a chance with the Blue Valley Northwest graduate.
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Denver received the top seed in the Western Conference thanks to their outstanding 53-29 record. They’ve beaten the Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns, and Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Playoffs and are just two wins away from bringing in their first championship in franchise history.
Two-time MVP Nikola Jokic and elite point guard Jamal Murray are the team’s stars, but Braun made as big of an impact as anyone in the Nuggets’ victory on Wednesday. In just 19 minutes played off the bench, he connected on 7-of-8 of his shot attempts, recording 15 points, 4 rebounds, and a steal that led to this emphatic throwdown in the fourth quarter:
Christian Braun with the steal and the THUNDEROUS slam 🔨pic.twitter.com/98uv2wwMoD
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 8, 2023
Braun’s primary role with Denver is to play gritty defense and make hustle plays, so his offensive eruption was certainly a pleasant surprise for Nuggets head coach Mike Malone. Jokic, a superstar center, told the media, “He’s a winner, and he won us the game.” It is especially high praise from one of the most talented players in the sport.
His scoring outbursts will be welcomed at any time, but his impact on the other side of the ball makes him so valuable. He recorded four steals while guarding Kevin Durant in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals, and forced several missed shots on Miami Heat star forward Jimmy Butler in the previous contest. And despite not seeing the floor too often in Denver’s prior matchup with the Lakers, Braun guarded NBA legend LeBron James for many of the minutes he appeared in.
Jayhawk legend Paul Pierce was impressed with Braun, as were many others on NBA Twitter.
Paul Pierce’s reaction was all of ours watching Christian Braun lay Jimmy Butler 😂 pic.twitter.com/qvstE4AUPA
— JumpmanGerm (@Jumpman_Germ) June 8, 2023
If Denver can finish Miami off in the next week or so, Braun would join an exclusive group of NBA players. He’d become the sixth player in the league’s history to win consecutive championships at the college and NBA level (Kansas in 2022, Denver in 2023).
“CB” put up a goose egg in the scoring column in Game 1, following it up with a 6-point performance in Game 2. Game 4 of the NBA Finals will be aired on ABC at 7:30 p.m. CT.
June 7, 2023, will forever be remembered as the “Christian Braun game.”
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