By Darnell "Playmaker" Sallins
The Denver Nuggets are now two wins away from capturing their first ever NBA championship. A historic performance from their star players as the Nuggets took a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals. The Nuggets won Game 3 Wednesday night in Miami 109-94 behind Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
Nikola Jokic making Finals history by recording the first-ever 30-20-10 game. The Joker led the by Nuggets with 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists. In the 75-year history of the NBA it is amazing that this is the first time in Finals history that a 30-20-10 game happened. Thinking about all the great big men like Wilt Chamberlin, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, none of which ever recorded a 30-20-10 in a Finals game until Nikola Jokic. It is mind-blowing of how The Joker plays the game of basketball without being the most athletic but with such skill as a big man.
Jokic's running mate Jamal Murray had a historic performance to match Jokic while being the leading scorer of Game 3. Murray had a triple-double himself with 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Murray set the tone in the first half for the Nuggets scoring 21 points of his 34 total points.
Jokic and Murray have become the first teammates in NBA history to record 30-point triple doubles in the same game. Another mind-blowing history being made in the 75 years of the NBA by the duo in Denver. The number of duos in NBA history like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson, David Robinson and Tim Duncan, Wilt Chamberlin and Jerry West, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. None of these great duos have done what Jokic and Murray did Wednesday night.