LOS ANGELES (SNN-TV) – Nikola Jokic is a player unlike almost anything the NBA has ever seen, and now he’s taking his Denver Nuggets somewhere they’ve never been.
Jokic had 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists, and the Nuggets advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in team history last night, sweeping the Western Conference finals with a 113-111 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Jamal Murray scored 25 points for the top-seeded Nuggets, who overcame a 15-point halftime deficit with a tenacious finish in Game 4 to earn their first conference title in their 47 NBA seasons.
Jokic earned his eighth triple-double of the playoffs by the third quarter, breaking Wilt Chamberlain’s 1967 NBA record for triple-doubles in a single postseason.
And unless the Boston Celtics make basketball history by rallying from their 3-0 deficit in the East finals, beginning with tonight’s Game 4 in Miami, Denver will host the eighth-seeded Heat to open the NBA Finals, beginning June 1st.