Murray often gets overlooked as Jokic's sidekick, but the truth is that Denver relies on the synergy between the two of them to reach the offensive heights we've seen this season. In Game 3, Jokic and Murray became the first pair of teammates in any NBA game to post 30-point triple-doubles, and they did it in the NBA Finals. But the two of them have never had a signature game at the same time. Nikola Jokic has had even more of them just by virtue of his health. Jamal Murray has had plenty of superstar performances in the postseason, with his decimation of the Utah Jazz in 2020 standing out as the best. Otherwise, the Heat might simply be out of usable players. If he is hurt, Miami needs Herro back on the floor as quickly as possible. He played 30 minutes in Game 3 and is essential as an offensive engine for a team that lacks shot-creation. Miami doesn't have an alternative for Lowry at this point. They don't trust Duncan Robinson defensively in this matchup, and Kyle Lowry was clearly in pain as he left Game 3 late in the fourth quarter. His energy on defense has given Miami fits, and he has four steals thus far in the Finals. With 15 points in Game 3, he was essential to breaking Miami's zone defense by both cutting off of the ball and driving against closeouts when he had it. Jeff Green has been reliable for Denver all postseason, and now, Christian Braun has emerged as one of the breakout players of the Finals. 1 concern in Denver all season.īut right now, the tables might be turning. They're turning undrafted free agents into major contributors. They reached the Finals without third-leading scorer Tyler Herro. Miami, meanwhile, has cycled through reserves comfortably all postseason. Whenever Jokic left games, the Nuggets got destroyed, and even at their best in the playoffs, Malone only really trusted Bruce Brown to play big minutes off the bench. Denver looks deeper than Miami right nowĭenver got almost nothing out of most of its bench all season. Right now, the Nuggets are winning the championship on defense. But Malone has been trying to build a defensive culture in Denver for years, and while they'll never be elite on that end of the floor, they've clearly reached the point where they are good enough in the right matchups to survive. are both making max money because they score points. Jokic is the best offensive player in the world, and Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. The Nuggets are undeniably built to win on offense. They've held Heat star Jimmy Butler to just 20.7 points per game, and after struggling on the road defensively all season, the Nuggets just played one of their best defensive games of the season in a hostile environment in Miami. The Nuggets have now held the Heat below 100 points in two of the three games thus far in this series. That game is now looking like an outlier, though, because Denver's defense has been stout in its two victories. The Nuggets had a strong 124.1 offensive rating in Game 2, but as Michael Malone noted, their defensive effort was sorely lacking. Doing it on defenseĪs hard as this is to believe, Denver's lone loss in this series was also its best offensive performance. Here are the biggest takeaways from Game 3. If they can't tie this thing up on Friday in Game 4, they'll head back to Denver with the Nuggets just one win away from their first NBA championship. Now the pressure is squarely on the Heat. The Nuggets held the Heat to just 94 points, and aside from Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, only Caleb Martin even managed to reach double-figures. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray led the way by becoming the first teammates in NBA history to post 30-point triple-doubles in any game, but it was a team-wide performance as the Nuggets played one of their best defensive games of the postseason. The Denver Nuggets have taken a 2-1 lead in the 2023 NBA Finals by defeating the Miami Heat, 109-94, in Game 3 on Wednesday.
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