Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray and Udonis Haslem all made history on Wednesday night in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Jokić and Murray from Denver, they became the first teammates in finals history to both record triple-doubles in one game; meanwhile Miami’s Udonis Haslem, he became the oldest player to ever check in for an NBA Finals game, breaking the record that was set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at 42 years, 58 days old on June 13, 1989.
Haslem will turn 43 years old on Friday, he is currently in his 20th and final NBA season of his career, which all 20 of his seasons were played with one team… the Miami Heat.
While both teams set historic records, one had to come out with a victory in Game 3 and it didn’t go the way Miami wanted.
Jokić recorded 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists, ultimately recording his 10th triple-double of the 2023 playoffs, an NBA playoff record he is still paving; Murray would add 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists and the Denver Nuggets took back the series lead on the road by defeating the Miami Heat, 109-94, in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
“By far, their greatest performance as a duo in their seven years together,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
Jokić is now the seventh player to have two triple-doubles in the same finals’ series. Magic Johnson and LeBron James each did it in three different finals. Larry Bird, Jimmy Butler, Wilt Chamberlain and Draymond Green all had one finals series recording two triple-doubles.
“We were more locked in, more focused,” Jokić said.
Christian Braun was phenomenal off the bench for the Nuggets, scoring 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting. The Nuggets would also out hustle the Heat 58-33 in rebounds, over half of that total for Denver would come from Murray and Jokić, as they took a 2-1 lead in the series.
“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.”
Bam Adebayo would add 22 points and 17 rebounds for Miami, while Jimmy Butler scored 28 points and Caleb Martin would come off the bench to produce 10 points.
“We’ve got to come out with more energy and effort and that’s correctable, that’s on us as a group,” Jimmy Butler said.
If you take a look at the box score, both Jokic and Murray almost matched the Heat’s efforts as an entire team in Game 3. They both combined for 24 field goals; Miami had 34. They both had 31 rebounds; Miami had 33. They also had 20 assists… that was the same total Miami had as a team on Wednesday.
“You have to expect there to be elite talent in the finals,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And both those guys are elite-level talent.”
It was certainly not one of the shining moments for the Heat during their playoff run this year, they will have to find a way to respond in Game 4 on Friday night in Miami, before the series shifts back over to Denver’s home court.
“It’s not an easy task to do, but if we want to win, we’re going to have to figure it out,” Butler said.
Miami never held the lead in the second half. A dunk from Bam Adebayo gave the Heat their last lead, 44-42, with 3:18 remaining in the first half; that was before Jamal Murray knocked down a three-pointer that would mark the seventh and final lead change of the game. It was 53-48 at halftime, before Denver pushed the lead to double digits for the first time early in the third and wound up leading by as many as 19 later in that period.
The score was 53-48 in favor of Denver heading into halftime, it would all unravel in the second half for Miami though. The Nuggets would build up a lead as large as 21 points and they would remain in control till the end of regulation. The Heat did bring the deficit within nine points on a three-pointer from Duncan Robinson with 1:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, but there was no late game magic this time around for Miami… it’s on to Game 4 now with a chance to even up the series.
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