During Game 3 of the 2023 NBA Finals, teammates Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray became the first pair to record triple-doubles in the same game.
Nikola Jokic is constantly being slandered, despite being a former MVP, and Jamal Murray had recently come back from a serious injury.
No one -except maybe the diehard fans- believed they could make it far in the playoffs, let alone win in the NBA Finals and make history while doing so.
But they did.
On June 7, 2023, in an epic Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Jokic and Murray became the first pair of teammates to record 30-point triple-doubles in the same game.
After the game, their teammate, Aaron Gordon, said the tandem was pure “greatness.”
Via CBC News:
“It’s greatness, man. It’s greatness,” Gordon said. “That’s a dynamic duo right there.”
And dynamic they were.
But more important than the individual accolades is that their performance as a duo led the Denver Nuggets to victory in enemy territory -the only thing that mattered to Jokic.
“I’m just glad that we won the game,” Jokic said. “It was a big one for us because they won in our arena. We just didn’t want to go down 2-1.”
They linked up for their two-man game the entire contest, where they dissected Miami’s defense with their elite pick-and-roll.
The two also dimed up their teammates, such as Gordon (11 points), and Christian Braun (15 points), on their way to combining for 20 assists -the same amount of assists the Heat had as a team.
The most memorable assist happened in the third quarter.
Jokic beat his defender, Bam Adebayo, and attacked the basket from the wing, but he was cut off by Kevin Love, the help defender.
However, Jokic, who possesses superior court vision, saw an open Gordon standing underneath the rim. Jokic tosses up a lob and Gordon easily tips it in, increasing their lead.
Additionally, Jokic and Murray hustled their way to nearly out-rebounding the entire Heat team.
Together, they chased and grabbed 31 boards. The Heat, as a unit, only grabbed 33 rebounds.
The Nuggets went on to win the next two games and thus the 2023 NBA championship. It was the franchise’s first Larry O’Brien trophy.
