Jokic had a historic stat line of 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists, and Murray also gave a triple-double as Denver Nuggets won host Miami Heat 109-94 on Wednesday night to take a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
“By far their greatest performance as a duo in their seven years together,” Michael Malone said.
The Nuggets coach has seen a lot of top-notch performances from Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray and did not have any trouble assessing their efforts in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
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 two shots as Denver came back from a Game 2 loss.
Murray scored a game-high 34 points to go with 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the team.
“Regarding Nikola, nothing he does surprises me, ever,” Malone said. “The guy has shown over and over again that he’s built for these moments. He thrives on these moments, the biggest stage, and he did that again tonight…”
“Jamal is a guy that thrives, lives and excels in the moment. Never afraid of it and you can’t say that for a lot of players. … Jamal missed our last two postseasons (with a knee injury). He’s been dying to get back to this setting and just go out there and put on the performance that he’s putting on.”
Christian Braun came off the bench to score 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting, and Aaron Gordon had 11 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for the Nuggets.
For the Heat who trailed by as many as 21 points, Jimmy Butler scored 28 points and Bam Adebayo added 22 points and 17 rebounds.
“We didn’t play our best tonight,” Butler said. “We got to come out with more energy and effort.”
The Heat will go back to their drawing board to prepare for Game 4 on Friday night in Miami.
The Nuggets who dominated the game are now two victories away from their first NBA title.