Jokic, Murray have triple-doubles, Nuggets beat Heat 109-94 for 2-1 lead

MIAMI (AP)— Never had two players from the same team had 30-pointtriple-doubles in the same game. Never in the regular season. Neverin the playoffs. Certainly never in the NBA Finals.

Untilnow.

NikolaJokic and Jamal Murray made history Wednesday night — and have theDenver Nuggets two wins away from making some real history aswell.

Jokic andMurray became the first teammates in NBA Finals history to bothrecord triple-doubles, and the Nuggets reclaimed the lead in theseries by beating the Miami Heat 109-94 in Game 3.

“By far,their greatest performance as a duo in their seven years together,”Nuggets coach Michael Malone said, after his team moved two winsaway from Denver’s first title.

Jokicfinished with 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists — the firstsuch game in NBA Finals history, or at least the first sinceassists were tracked. Murray had 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10assists, getting the rebound he needed with 9 secondsremaining.

The Nuggetsoutrebounded the Heat 58-33, and took a 2-1 lead. Game 4 is Fridayin Miami.

“I’m justglad that we won the game,” Jokic said. “It was a big one for usbecause they won in our arena. We just didn’t want to go down2-1.”

JimmyButler scored 28 points for Miami, and Bam Adebayo finished with 22points and 17 rebounds. Caleb Martin added 10 points.

“We’ve gotto come out with more energy and effort and that’s correctable,”Butler said. “That’s on us as a group.”

Jokic andMurray combined for 24 field goals; Miami had 34. Jokic and Murraycombined for 31 rebounds; Miami had 33. Jokic and Murray combinedfor 20 assists; Miami had exactly that many.

Somehow,some way, the Heat know they need to find an answer beforeFriday.

“It’s notan easy task to do,” Butler said. “But if we want to win, we’regoing to have to figure it out.”

Miami hasbeen the comeback kings of these playoffs — seven rallies in gamesafter trailing by at least 12 points. The Heat were down by 14going into the fourth, and Malone reminded his club of Miami’spenchant for comebacks.

“First twogames, they won the fourth quarter,” Malone said. “Tonight, we winthe fourth quarter, we win the game.”

His teamlistened.

The leadeventually reached 21, the outcome never seriously in doubt, andJokic looking very much like he’s back in cruise control. The Heatgot within nine on a 3-pointer by Duncan Robinson with 1:22 left,but there was no epic finish for Miami. Murray and Jokic had theNuggets too far ahead to get caught.

“You haveto expect there to be elite talent in the finals,” Heat coach ErikSpoelstra said. “And both those guys are elite-level talent.”

Officially,Jokic is now the seventh player to have two triple-doubles in thesame finals. Magic Johnson and LeBron James each did it in threedifferent finals. Draymond Green, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird andButler all had one title series with two triple-doubles.

It wasJokic’s 10th triple-double of these playoffs, extending hissingle-season record, and he was unbothered by whatever Miami threwhis way. He finished 12 for 21 from the floor, 7 for 8 from theline, playing 44 minutes.

“We weremore locked in, more focused,” Jokic said.

ChristianBraun was tremendous off the bench for the Nuggets, scoring 15points on 7-for-8 shooting in 19 minutes. Aaron Gordon added 11 forDenver.

Andafterward, they both marveled at what their stars did in Game3.

“It’sgreatness, man. It’s greatness,” Gordon said. “That’s a dynamic duoright there.”

AddedBraun: “I would say that it’s what they do every game.”

Miami neverled in the second half. A dunk by Adebayo put the Heat up 44-42with 3:18 left in the half, before a 3-pointer by Murrayrepresented the seventh and final lead change of the night. It was53-48 at halftime, before Denver pushed the lead to double digitsfor the first time early in the third and wound up leading by asmany as 19 later in that period.

The Heatstole home court by winning Game 2 in Denver, a game where Murrayhad a chance to force overtime with a 3-point try that missed atthe end. The Nuggets now have the lead again, and there was no Game2 hangover on Wednesday.

“Not justme,” Murray said. “Everybody bounced back.”

TIP-INS

Nuggets:Denver used Reggie Jackson in the first quarter, going nine deep inthe opening 12 minutes for the first time since Game 2 of the Westfinals. ... Denver hadn’t lost two consecutive games to Miami sinceMarch 14 and Nov. 30, 2016. Jokic played in both of those games,Murray in the second one early in his rookie season.

Heat: Itwas the first finals game in Miami since 2014. The Heat didn’t haveany “home” games in the 2020 finals, which were held in the NBA’srestart bubble near Orlando. ... Wednesday was the 11th anniversaryof LeBron James’ 45-point, 15-rebound, five-assist game at Bostonin Game 6 of the East finals — staving off elimination. The Heatwon Game 7 and went on to beat Oklahoma City for James’ firsttitle.

HASLEMRECORD

Miami’sUdonis Haslem — in his 20th and final season — set a record. Hebecame the oldest player to appear in the NBA Finals, breaking themark of 42 years, 58 days set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on June 13,1989.

Haslemturns 43 on Friday. He played the final 29.8 seconds.

RARECOMPANY

Jokic had10 points, seven rebounds and three assists in the first quarter.The only other players in the last 25 years to have that in anyquarter of a finals game were Stephen Curry (12-7-5) for GoldenState in the third quarter against Cleveland on June 4, 2017, andShaquille O’Neal (12-7-3) for the Los Angeles Lakers in the secondquarter against Philadelphia on June 8, 2001.

CELEBWATCH

Former Heatplayer and NBA champion Mike Miller — now an agent — was at thegame, along with one of his clients, Rookie of the Year PaoloBanchero of the Orlando Magic.Bancherotweeted“game ain’t even started yet i’m in here starstruck.”

DJ Khaledwas in attendance, along with soccer greats Neymar and Paul Pogba(on the day Lionel Messi committed to play for Inter Miami),Shakira, Magic Johnson, J. Cole (who played a role in getting CalebMartin to the Heat) and Dwyane Wade — who starred for Miami’s titleteams in 2006, 2012 and 2013.