NBA Finals

Nikola Jokic’s historic effort sends Nuggets past Heat in Game 3

Reuters

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Nikola Jokic’s historic effort sends Nuggets past Heat in Game 3

DOMINANT. Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (left) attempts to shoot over Heat forward Kevin Love in Game 3.

Jim Rassol/USA TODAY Sports/Reuters

Nikola Jokic delivers a historic triple-double performance and Jamal Murray also fills up the stat sheet as the Nuggets whip the Heat to gain a 2-1 series advantage

Nikola Jokic produced a historic stat line of 32 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists, Jamal Murray also had a triple-double and the Denver Nuggets notched a 109-94 victory over the host Miami Heat to take a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals on Wednesday night, June 7 (Thursday, June 8, Manila time).

Jokic became the first player ever to log at least 30 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 assists in an NBA Finals game. He made 12 of 21 shots and blocked 2 shots as Denver bounced back from a Game 2 home loss.

Murray scored a game-high 34 points to go with 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Nuggets, who controlled the contest. 

Jokic and Murray also became the first teammates in NBA history, including the regular season, playoffs, and finals, to both record 30+ point triple-doubles in the same game.

Christian Braun scored 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting off the bench, and Aaron Gordon had 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists for Denver.

Jimmy Butler scored 28 points and Bam Adebayo added 22 points and 17 rebounds for the Heat, who trailed by as many as 21 points.

Game 4 is Friday night at Miami.

The Nuggets used Jokic’s 10th triple-double of the postseason to regain homecourt advantage. Jokic has three of the 30-20-10 performances in NBA postseason history. The others came from Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Denver shot 51.2% from the field but was just 5-of-18 (27.8%) from three-point range. The Nuggets had a 58-33 rebounding advantage.

Miami made 37% of its field-goal attempts and was 11-of-35 (31.4%) from behind the arc. Caleb Martin had 10 points for the Heat.

After leading by five at halftime, the Nuggets scored the first six points of the second half on a Jokic hoop and back-to-back baskets by Gordon to take a 59-48 lead.

Miami was later within seven before Denver began pulling away with a 21-11 surge. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope made a jumper to give Denver a 78-62 edge, and Braun capped the run with a layup and a ferocious slam as the lead reached 82-63 with 50.2 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Heat scored the final five points to trail 82-68 entering the final stanza, and Adebayo sank two free throws to cut the deficit to 12 in the opening minute of the final quarter.

However, Murray hit a jumper and Jokic followed with the next four points to start an 11-2 run. Braun converted a three-point play with 8:45 left and made a floater 17 seconds later to push the Denver lead to 93-72 with 8:28 to play.

Murray’s jumper made it 101-84 with three minutes left. Miami later narrowed the gap to nine before the Nuggets closed it out.

Denver held a 53-48 advantage at the break. Murray had 20 points to lead the way. – Rappler.com

Must Read

Jokic, Murray deliver ‘greatest performance as a duo’ 

Jokic, Murray deliver ‘greatest performance as a duo’ 

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!