Murray’s 53 points, Jokic’s near 20-20-20 triple-double power Nuggets past Mavericks
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DENVER — Jamal Murray erupted for a season-high 53 points and Nikola Jokic logged his 30th triple-double of the season with 23 points, 21 rebounds and 19 assists, guiding the Denver Nuggets to a 142-135 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.
According to the Nuggets, Denver is the first team in league history to feature one player scoring at least 50 points and another recording a line of 15 or more points, rebounds and assists in the same game.
The performance echoed Game 3 of the 2023 NBA Finals, when both stars posted 30-point triple-doubles in Miami. This time, it came on the second night of a back-to-back — tipoff arrived only 16 hours after the club’s flight home from a road win in Phoenix.
“Fifty-three from your point guard and 23-21-19 from your center — just outrageous numbers from the best tandem in the NBA,” coach David Adelman said. “They really are the history book of this franchise.”
Jokic, selected 41st overall in the 2014 draft, debuted in 2015-16. Murray, the seventh pick in 2016, joined a season later. Together they have amassed 400 wins, including playoffs, over 10 seasons — the most by any active NBA duo — and delivered the organization’s first championship in 2023.
“How we both started, the path that we had, from nobody to somebody into a championship — and still growing and still performing,” Jokic said.
Murray finished two points shy of his career high. “Sometimes he’s having a rough day and I’ll pick up the slack, and then there’s days when I’m not doing anything and he takes over,” the guard noted. “There’s no tug-of-war with the ball.”
The win keeps Denver on course for another postseason appearance as the franchise cornerstones continue to post historic numbers side by side.
Source: ESPN
