In the NBA Finals, the Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami HEAT, 109-94, to take a 2-1 series lead and regain homecourt advantage. Miami is now 6-3 at home while Denver has moved to 5-3 on the road.
As the first teammates to each register 30-point triple-doubles in an NBA Finals game, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray made history. With 66 points combined, Murray and Jokic outscored Miami’s entire starting lineup.
32 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists from Jokic filled the box score to the brim. He made history by becoming the first player to ever record at least 30 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 assists in a Finals game. His 10th triple-double of the postseason was this one.
Murray, on the other hand, recorded a final line of 34 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. In each of the Final’s three games, Murray has tallied at least 10 assists.
Denver also had a poor night from long range, hitting just 27.8 percent of its shots on just 18 total. Denver made up the deficit by scoring an absurd amount of points from the free-throw line, connecting on 58 percent of their attempts from behind the arc and shooting better than 58 percent in each of the series’ first three games.
By the end of the first, Murray and Joki had scored a total of 18 points. The HEAT only made 28.6 of their three-point attempts in the quarter, failing to make any of them. Butler, who played the game’s leading role for Miami, scored 10 points in the opening period, and both sides went into the second quarter tied at 24 points apiece.
After a slow 2-for-7 start, Adebayo found his flow in the second quarter and raised his total to 9 points. Denver’s Murray hit two three-pointers. Just beyond the quarter’s halfway point, his second three-pointer gave him 14 points, forcing Miami to take a timeout. Murray scored 20 points, Jokic recorded 14 points and 12 rebounds, and the Nuggets led 53-48 at the break.
Denver went on a 6-0 run to start the third quarter, giving them their first game-opening double-digit lead. Jokic turned up the heat and scored 12 points to make it a 14-point contest. When Braun cut baseline for a shot to the basket and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope swished a midrange jumper out of the pick-and-roll with Jokic, the game increased to 16 points and Miami was forced to call another timeout. Denver had an 82-68 advantage going into the fourth quarter when Braun made a layup after slicing through Miami’s zone defense and then intercepted a pass from Butler for a dunk.
Braun continued to pour it on until he hit 15 points, the highlight of which was a tremendous finish over Butler in transition. This resulted in a 21-point game. Miami wouldn’t go away and went on a 7-0 run to chip away at that lead. Murray would not let his team cough up the advantage and pitched in 12 total points in the quarter, and Denver crossed the finish line with a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
