At Kansas, Christian Braun won something that many only ever dream about in a college basketball National Championship. Following his NCAA title, he immediately won the NBA championship with the Denver Nuggets in 2023. Fast forward two years and he is making huge winning plays as a starter in the NBA playoffs, shining against the LA Clippers in game one.
The Most Improved Player (MIP) candidate has raised his averages from last season by a whopping 8.1 PPG, 1.5 RPG, and 1.0 APG, while shooting more efficiently and leading the league in dunks for a guard. Braun has been a fast break menace for the Nuggets and is even connecting on 39.7% of his three-pointers. He showcased all of these skills on Saturday night.
Against the Clippers, Braun did a little bit of everything, playing 45 minutes in the 112-110 overtime win and adding 11 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals. He was also a primary defender on both James Harden and Kawhi Leonard throughout the game, being part of the reason that Leonard turned the ball over 7 times (the most he has committed since 2021).
While the box score shows his productively, it does not even get close to relaying his clutchness in the game, that early on appeared to be slipping away from Denver and got incredibly close in the 4th quarter and more specifically, overtime. Braun had two key sequences that represent why he was such a great Jayhawk and why Nuggets Nation loves having him on their team now.
Braun’s hustle and fearlessness to take the big shot is why Denver won
In the game, Braun had 3 rebounds, but perhaps his biggest moment of securing the basketball will not show up anywhere in the box score. With just over two minutes left in overtime, Nikola Jokic deflected a James Harden pass intended for Ivica Zubac. Many times, this deflection would have just gone out of bounds, but not with CB on the court and near the play.
Braun reacted incredibly quickly to the deflection and saved the ball from going out with a head-first dive into the court-side seats in the front row and tipped the ball back to Jokic. This led to Denver possessing the ball and getting free throws on the very next possession.
In addition to that insane hustle play, he made his presence known on the offensive end in overtime as well. Despite going 0/3 on three-pointers entering overtime, Jokic found Braun at the top of the key with one minute left in OT and the former Jayhawk splashed home the long-range shot, extending Denver’s lead from a heart-attack inducing one point up to 4 points.
Had this shot not gone in, it is very likely that the Clippers come out on top in this hard fought game, but CB took the shot confidently and without hesitation in the biggest moment of the entire game, resulting in his first made three of the contest and the biggest shot of the year. Braun and the Nuggets face off with the clippers again on Monday night in game 2 of the first round.