05 June 2023 , 11:18
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Nikola Jokic produced another history-making performance on Sunday night, but it was not enough to overcome an inspired Miami Heat who upset the odds and levelled the NBA Finals at one apiece against the Denver Nuggets.
The Serb plundered 41 points and 11 rebounds at Ball Arena as the Nuggets tried to take a huge step towards the championship, but Jimmy Butler and the Heat surged ahead early in the fourth quarter, with huge contributions from across the rotation in a 111-108 victory.
Butler, Bam Adebayo and Gave Vincent all passed the 20-point mark, with key scores also coming from Max Strus and Duncan Robinson as the series heads back to Miami with honours even.
Miami have been a fairytale story throughout the post-season, rising from the eight-seed to eliminate the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics en route to an unlikely finals appearance.
Still, they were big underdogs going into the series against Jokic and the Nuggets, and Sunday's road victory is made all the more impressive when considering the two-time MVP's incredible form throughout the playoffs.
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On Sunday, Jokic became just the third player in NBA history to rack up 500 points, 200 rebounds and 150 assists in a single season, joining basketball royalty Larry Bird, who did it with the Boston Celtics in 1987, and LeBron James, who achieved the feat in four straight years with the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2015-18.
Jokic has already broken the record for most triple-doubles in a single playoff run with nine, and he continues to climb the ladder of most playoff triple-doubles all time, sitting third behind only James and Magic Johnson. But after the game, Jokic was solely focused on what went wrong for the Nuggets on Sunday and how they need to address it for game three in Miami.
"We just didn't play the right way in the fourth quarter," he said in his post-game press conference. "They scored 36 points in the fourth quarter and that is too much, of course. They got a couple of offensive rebounds and it just happened to be like that. We didn't want it to happen, of course, but it happened and we are going to Miami to play another game.
Jimmy Butler delivered another big performance for the Miami Heat on Sunday night. (Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)"We had a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding. They were getting open looks, especially at the beginning and they had a couple at the end too. You need to know where to be and what to do and the coverage.
"They just put us in their rhythm and we don't want to play that way and they want to, obviously. Maybe playing a little bit faster can help us. They have a really good team and really good players and we need to adjust to the skill sets of the players."
Game three tips off in Miami on Wednesday evening and the Nuggets will have to overcome a Heat team that has been formidable on home floor throughout the playoffs, going unbeaten until dropping two games to the Celtics at Kaseya having surged 3-0 ahead in the Eastern Conference finals.
The Heat could also be boosted by the return of Tyler Herro from a broken hand. Herro won the Sixth Man of the Year award after averaging 20 points, five rebounds and 4 assists per game in the regular season and he is tipped to make his return in game three after six weeks on the sidelines.