The Denver Nuggets took control of their Western Conference semifinals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night, capturing a 113-104 overtime home win to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven set.
Denver was led by point guard Jamal Murray — who recorded a team-high 27 points and game-best eight assists and four steals — as well as power forward Aaron Gordon (22 points, eight rebounds, five assists, game-high +15 plus/minus). MVP candidate Nikola Jokic added a 20-point, 16-rebound double-double, as well as six assists.
With their stat lines, Jokic and Murray broke a longstanding NBA playoff mark held by Hall-of-Famers Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, a record that they set during their many years of postseason contests together with the Chicago Bulls.
“The Nuggets’ Jamal Murray (27p/8a) and Nikola Jokic (20p/6a) each recorded at least 20p/5a in the same playoff game for the 31st time, breaking a tie with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen for the most such games in NBA history by a duo,” Statitudes’ Justin Kubatko wrote on Bluesky.
Jokic and Murray have been the core of the Nuggets’ franchise since they both made their NBA debuts in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The duo has helped lead Denver to seven straight playoff berths (though Murray missed the 2021-22 season due to injury), including the 2023 NBA Finals.
The Nuggets won the championship that year against the Miami Heat for their first title in franchise history.
How the Thunder Lost and Where They Go From Here
Having finished the regular season with the best record in the NBA at 68-14 and showing no signs of slowing down after a sweep of the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round, Oklahoma City entered the conference semifinals as the favorite in the West and many fans’ top pick to win the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
After being stunned by Denver at home in Game 1, the Thunder bounced back big time in Game 2 on Wednesday, routing the Nuggets, 149-106.
Following their lights out shooting display 48 hours beforehand, Oklahoma City went ice cold on Friday, as noted by Law Murray of The Athletic on Bluesky.
“Thunder were:
– bad in the paint (missed 30 of 58)
– bad from the free throw line (missed 7 of 22)
– bad in the midrange (missed 8 of 11 non-paint 2s)
– bad from 3 (missed 26 of 35)
On shots outside the paint, Thunder were 12/46. 26.1%. NBA regular season average: 37.1%”
While Jokic had a monster double-double, he shot 0-for-10 on three-pointers and registered a whopping eight turnovers, in what may have been the worst game of his career.
Michael Pina of The Ringer pointed out just how shocking it was that the Thunder lost, given the circumstances.
“The Thunder took 19 (!!!) more shots than the Nuggets, enjoyed one of the worst games you’ll ever see Nikola Jokic play, and lost,” he wrote on Bluesky.
Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Denver, before the series shifts back to Oklahoma City for Game 5 on Tuesday night.
Jokic’s Record-Setting Effort With Murray Came in One of Worst Games of Career
In his “NBA Game Notes” for Friday’s playoff action, Kubatko wrote that with his 20 points, the “Joker” continued his streak of double-digit scoring efforts in the postseason. Jokic has now posted at least 10 points in all 90 of his playoff games during his career, which is the most in Nuggets history.
Jokic is also one of just eight players in league history to begin his playoff career with 90 such games in a row, per Kubatko.
However, there was much more bad than good from the three-time MVP in Game 3.
According to Kubatko’s notes, Jokic became the sixth player in NBA history to miss at least 10 three-pointers without a make in a postseason contest, while his eight turnovers matched a playoff career-high.
“Nikola Jokic committed a career-worst 8 turnovers, scored 20 points on 25 shots, had the worst TS% of his career & missed the most threes of his career,” Keerthika Uthayakumar added on Bluesky. “The Nuggets still won.”
Justin Russo noted that Jokic made bad NBA playoff history with his struggles from beyond the arc, combined with his turnovers.
“Nikola Jokic had 8 turnovers and was 0 of 10 on 3s tonight. He became the first player in NBA postseason history to register at least 5 turnovers and shoot 0% on at least 5 3PA in a game,” he wrote.
Despite the stunningly bad performance by the 30-year-old big man, the bottom line is that the Nuggets won and are now just two victories away from the Western Conference Finals. Not only would that be a sizeable upset over the top-seeded Thunder, but it would all be coming just one month after the organization fired head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth.
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