Denver Nuggets coach David Adelman labelled Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray “the best tandem in the NBA” after they combined to see off the Dallas Mavericks.
Murray scored a season-high 53 points and Jokic added 23, 21 rebounds and 19 assists as the Nuggets beat the Mavs 142-135. It was the first time in history that a team had a player score 50 points and another contribute at least 15 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists in the same game.
“Fifty-three from your point guard and 23, 21, 19 from your center. Just outrageous numbers from the best tandem in the NBA,” Adelman said. “They really are the history book of this franchise when it comes to the longevity together, and also the playoffs and all these wars they’ve been through in a basketball sense, it’s just super special.”
It was a fourth successive win for Denver as they improved their season record to 46-28, good enough for fourth place in the Western Conference.
But it was Murray and Jokic who stole the show.
“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 added: “I feel like our best chemistry is when we’re not [both playing well].
“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. There’s not tug-of-war with the ball; there’s no animosity of who’s shooting it.”
Kidd rues another close loss as Dallas suffer defeat no.50
The Nuggets may be flying but the same cannot be said for Dallas, who dropped their fifth straight to slide to 23-50 overall. It is just their second 50-loss season in the last 28 years.
“I think when you look at the record, sometimes the record isn’t the truth, but it is,” coach Jason Kidd said. “That’s what our record is. To have that many wins and that many losses, that’s why you keep score.
“For us, we’ve been in a lot of close games, but unfortunately, we just haven’t won them. So, it’s something for us to learn from and hopefully we can get better the next time we play, which is Friday [in Portland].”
