Nikola Jokic And Jamal Murray Made NBA History As The Denver Nuggets Immediately Punched Back And Took Game 3 To Steal Back Homecourt In The NBA Finals

For the Nuggets to stay alive in the NBA Finals, they needed to leave Miami with at least one win. After narrowly dropping Game 2, things can get out of hand quickly in a playoff series, especially when you're heading to your opponent's building where they have generally been awesome while you've spent the entire season being relatively bad on the road. Games like tonight are one of those playoff games where you need to turn to your best players and hope they can put you on their back and carry the load. As we've seen whenever a road team wins, usually their best players do something crazy.

The Nuggets didn't just get that when it came to Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. They got historic performances

We'll start with Nikola Jokic, because how could you not? Talk about an all time player putting up an all time performance on the road on the biggest possible stage. The Heat felt like maybe they had stolen momentum, the series was at a swing point and Jokic once again showed why he's the most dominant force in the league right now. He was never rushed, when he had to score, he did so efficiently. Can you think of another player that shoots with this type of touch? The way Jokic releases the ball is so soft not matter how he ends up shooting it. It could be a normal hook shot, a fadeaway, an off the dribble floater where his body is going in a thousand directions, it doesn't matter. I certainly can't think of anyone that plays that way.

When it came time to find his teammates and create for others, we got the normal Jokic vision and execution. The way he orchestrates everything is such a joy to watch, there's really no way to limit him once he has the ball. It really comes down to whether or not his teammate makes the shot, because Jokic goes where he wants and does what he wants with the basketball. 

I mean how's this for a list?

Immediately after dropping this historic performance, when asked about what it meant to him you can only imagine how Jokic answered

I feel like that question was asked just for the soundbite, but whatever. It's the truth. Nikola Jokic immediately stopped caring about this game the second the clock hit 0.0. I think part of it is because this is just what Jokic does, so why would he be impressed? To be honest we've all sort of become desensitized to Jokic's production. Let's not pretend a night like tonight is some sort of accident

This is basically prime Shaq level dominance but then also adding an all time passing ability. We should probably be making a much bigger deal about what Jokic is doing this postseason, and he's now two wins away from securing a ring.

Getting one star to step up in a game like this is nice, but when your other franchise guy does the same? That's how you steal back homecourt

It was Murray that was carrying most of the offensive load to start this game. The Heat got off to a pretty decent start, a quick 7-2 lead, and the only thing that really settled things down was the fact that Jamal Murray was being super aggressive and getting into high efficiency areas. He had 8 of their first 12 while the Nuggets started to find their legs, then Jokic woke up and they were off to the races.

As important as that start may have been, I felt like it was Murray's finish that was the key. Everyone knows once the Heat get you to the fourth quarter is when their voodoo truly starts to work. You start playing all the wrong ways, you're careless, and the next thing you know the Zombie Heat are alive. For a while it looked like that was going to happen, I mean the Nuggets did have 5 TOs in the quarter, all of which came from Murray. But it was his 12 points on 3-5 shooting that ultimately helped keep the Heat at bay. Big jumpers to keep things at a comfortable difference, 6-6 from the FT line, I'm not sure the Heat don't come back if not for those 12 Jamal Murray minutes to close this game. 

You could also say the same is true for Christian Braun. As we got to the fourth quarter, Michael Malone had a decision to make. He basically couldn't play Michael Porter Jr given the fact that he couldn't hit a jumper and his defense was actively hurting the Nugget's chances of winning. Malone DNP'd him for the entire fourth and gave those minutes to Bruce Brown/Christian Braun, and a huge reason as to why the Heat zone was ineffective was because of how good Braun was cutting off ball and then making the right decision once he got a touch. He didn't miss a shot, he didn't turn it over, and when it was all said and done Braun had one hell of a game for a rookie playing in the freaking NBA Finals

We even saw him stay home on Jimmy Butler drives/pump fakes which might have been the most impressive part of his entire night, but that boost is the type of performance you're praying for as a Nuggets fan who was hoping to see at least a split. It doesn't matter if Braun doesn't have another game like this all Finals, he did it once and that was enough.

The pressure now immediately swings back to the Heat, who most certainly do not want to be heading back to Denver down 3-1. That's a death wish, so in a sense, the hunter has now become the hunted. As a fan you can rationalize a split as long as you win the first game. If you drop it, the entire vibe of the series changes. Now there's way more panic. In most cases, the first team to lose two games in a row in a playoff series loses the series. You could make the case the Heat will be playing for their playoff lives on Friday night in Game 4. Given how this series has looked though, it wouldn't shock me at all if the Heat won Game 4. Maybe that's just me trying to speak a 7 game Finals into existence, maybe the Nuggets are just too good and Jokic is just too much of an unstoppable force, but I'm holding out hope. I want chaos. I want drama. I want high stakes Finals basketball.

So far I'd say these Finals are delivering. Every game has been awesome, we've witnessed some NBA history by some all time players, and now we the drama is starting to heat up (no pun intended but intended). I cannot wait for Game 4