Is there anything Nikola Jokic can't do?
The superstar center was unstoppable once again on Wednesday night as Denver cruised to a 109-94 win over Miami. It gave the Nuggets a 2-1 series lead in the NBA Finals and moved them to within two games of their first championship in franchise history.
Jokic finished the night with a historic stat line of 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists. It marked the first time in NBA Finals history that a player has recorded a 30-20-10 game.
MORE: NBA Finals Game 3 player grades: Jokic, Murray steal the show in South Beach
To put that into context, only three players have ever finished with 20-20-10 games in the Finals: Tim Duncan, Bill Russell and Dave Cowens. Before Jokic did it on Wednesday night, the last three players to finish with 25 points and 20 rebounds in a Finals matchup were Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal and Larry Bird.
Even more remarkably, it was just the fifth 30-20-10 triple-double in NBA postseason history. Three of those belong to Jokic. The only other players to ever accomplish that feat are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (once) and Wilt Chamberlain (once).
Nikola Jokic has recorded the 1st 30-pt, 20-reb, 10-ast game in NBA Finals history tonight.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 8, 2023
It is his 3rd career 30-20-10 playoff game of any kind. There have only been 2 other 30-20-10 games in NBA postseason history (1 each by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Wilt Chamberlain). pic.twitter.com/uDVu9JJOoA
Never one to stop and smell the roses, the Serbian big man was his usual humble self after the game when he was asked what it meant to make history.
"I mean, to be honest, not much," he told ESPN's Lisa Salters. "I'm just glad that we won the game. It was a big one for us, just because they won in our arena. We just didn't want to go down 2-1."
“You are the first person in NBA History to have a 30-20-10 NBA Finals game. What does that mean to you?”
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) June 8, 2023
Nikola Jokic: “I mean to be honest, not much…I’m just glad we won the game .”
pic.twitter.com/7tNXrwqykh
Jokic has been a force of nature throughout the 2023 playoffs, averaging 30.4 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.1 assists per game. If he keeps it up, he could become just the fourth player in NBA history to finish the postseason averaging a triple double. The other three are Oscar Robertson (1962), Jason Kidd (2007) and Russell Westbrook (2017 and 2021).
Of course, he isn't doing it alone. His Nuggets teammate Jamal Murray was also spectacular in Game 3, finishing with a 30-point triple-double of his own.
MORE: Jokic and Murray become first teammates to both record triple-doubles in an NBA Finals game
It marked just the 15th time in NBA history two teammates recorded a triple-double in the same game — regular season or postseason — and the first time it has ever happened in the Finals.
If the Jokic-Murray duo continues lighting it up, a Championship could be heading to the Mile High City in the very near future.
