Over the past 76 years of the NBA’s existence, we’ve witnessed numerous duos who have dominated their competition. Magic Johnson-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen are just two of the most iconic ones. However, there is no pairing in the history of the game as commanding as Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Leading the Los Angeles Lakers to 4 finals trips in 5 years, the Shaq-Kobe duo recorded the last three-peat the NBA has witnessed. However, since then, there has been another big-guard duo that has been dominating the 2023 playoff as the LA duo did – Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. And clearly, the TNT analyst has been impressed considering he compared them to himself and Kobe.
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Throughout the postseason, Shaq has admitted to being in awe of the Joker’s game. However, with the Nuggets now facing his former team, the Diesel is cheering on the Miami Heat to win the 2023 title.
Still, despite his vehement support for Jimmy Butler and co., the Big Aristotle has been appreciating Jokic and Murray’s greatness during the first three games of the finals series. And now, he is even comparing them to his own duo with Kobe.
Shaq shares a post comparing his and Kobe’s stats to Nikola Jokic and Murray’s from their respective 1st finals appearances
The Denver Nuggets clinched a huge Game 3 win on the road to gain a 2-1 advantage in the series. While Christian Braun took over the internet with his 15-point off-the-bench outing, it was the Jokic-Murray duo that led their side to a 109-94 win.
During the game, the 2-time MVP recorded the first-ever 30/20/10 performance in the finals while the Canadian guard lodged a 34-point triple-double himself. This made Murray and Jokic the first set of teammates to post a 30-point triple-double in a single NBA Finals game, as seen in SportsCenter’s tweet below.
Further, they’ve been averaging a combined 59.3 points, 20.7 rebounds, and 19.3 assists per game in the first three games of this finals series.
Shaquille O’Neal shared a post on his Instagram, comparing the Nuggets duo’s stats from their debut finals appearance to his and Bryant’s stats from their 2000 finals appearance.
As evident in the graphic, so far, Nikola and Jamal are having a better finals outing than the Mamba and the Big Aristotle had 22 years ago. However, it’s not over yet.
Can the Heat tie the series before flying back to Denver?
Despite the blowout loss, the Heat did a good job restricting Michael Porter Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Bruce Brown to only 13 points cumulatively. However, in similar fashion to Game 1, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, and Caleb Martin averaged less points than they have been lodging all postseason long.
Trailing 1-2 in the series, Jimmy Buckets warned Michael Malone’s boys that the Heat were going to win the next contest.
“Tomorrow, we’re gonna come out with a lot more energy, we’re gonna compete at a high level and we’re gonna get one at home.”
In order to tie the series at 2 games apiece, Erik Spoelstra’s boys will need to recalibrate and go through several film sessions. Knowing that the Florida-based franchise is a resilient side, the Nuggets cannot let their guard down.
