Hoops Rumors ordinarily doesn’t cover this sort of thing, at least not directly. But the historic performances Wednesday by Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray in the Nuggets‘ 109-94 Game 3 victory over the Heat are worth highlighting.
Jokic and Murray became the first teammates in NBA history — regular season or playoffs — to record 30-point triple-doubles in the same game, the league announced (via Twitter). And it came on the biggest stage, during the NBA Finals.
Jokic, the two-time MVP, finished with 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists, which made him the first player to record a 30-20-10 game in the Finals, ESPN Stats & Info tweets.
That marks his third career 30-20-10 playoff game; there have only been two other playoff instances of that stat line, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain recording one apiece.
Murray also made individual history, becoming the first player to record 10-plus assists in his each of his first three Finals games, per ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk (Twitter link). The 26-year-old finished with 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said it was “by far their greatest performance as a duo,” according to Mike Singer of The Denver Post (Twitter link).
As impressive as the victory was, it was still only one game, and the series is far from over. The Nuggets now lead the best-of-seven series 2-1, with Game 4 set for Friday night in Miami.
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