Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets completed their sweep of the Lakers on Monday and marched to the first NBA Finals in franchise history. Jokic was named Western Conference MVP (now known as the Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson Award) after averaging 27 points, 14.7 rebounds, and 11.3 assists for the series.
A little history of the triple-double breaker for you, according to CBS Sports Research:
- Jokic finished with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists in the clincher on Monday. This is his eighth triple-double in these playoffs, an NBA record for a single postseason, and he still has one series remaining.
- Jokic is now averaging 29.9 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 10.3 assists in these playoffs. He is the first player in history to average a triple-double over the first 15 games of the postseason. As long as Jokic records at least six assists in Game 1 of the Finals, he will be the first to average a triple-double over 16 matches.
- Jokic averaged 27.8 points, 14, .5 rebounds and 11.7 assists against the Lakers, making him the first player in history to average a triple-double in a best-of-7 series.
- Jokic, who put up 34.5 points, 13.2 rebounds and 10.3 assists against the Suns in the second round, now has two of the highest scoring averages of any player who averaged a triple-double over the entire series of the playoffs.
|
player |
(Triple Double) PPG |
year |
|
Russell Westbrook |
37.4 |
2017 |
|
Nikola Jokic |
34.5 |
2023 |
|
LeBron James |
33.6 |
2017 |
|
Wilt Chamberlain |
28.0 |
1967 |
|
Nikola Jokic |
27.8 |
2023 |
Here’s a great nugget, too: Jamaal Murray finished shooting 52.7/40.5/95.0 splits against the Lakers. This is the first time in history that a player has shot 50-40-90 on a best-of-7 series pass.
It’s hard to beat the Nuggets with the Jokic-Murray duo operating at this historic level quite literally. Only one team has the chance to knock down Denver. Possibly that would be the Miami Heat, who were poised to sweep their team over the Celtics with Game 4 scheduled for Tuesday.