The other night, Nikola Jokić had 53 points and 11 assists for the Nuggets in Game 3 against the Suns… and Denver lost, 129-124.
Would you believe that’s nothing new?
The last time someone had a 50-point, 10-assist game in the playoffs was 2021, when Damian Lillard went for 55 and 10 in the Trail Blazers’ 147-140 loss to the Nuggets, in a two-overtime affair. Jokić’s line in that one was 38 points, nine assists, and 11 rebounds, for what it’s worth.
Before Lillard, it was Russell Westbrook, who had the only 50-point triple-double in NBA playoff history — 51 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds — in a 115-111 Thunder loss to the Rockets in 2017.
Westbrook’s legendary all-for-naught performance came 30 years after the previous 50-10 playoff game, Sleepy Floyd putting 51 and 10 on the Lakers for Golden State in the only game the Warriors won in the 1987 Western semifinals. Aside from that, it’s happened only once, in another victorious effort, by Jerry West for the Lakers in Game 1 of the 1969 Finals against the Celtics, a 120-118 Los Angeles win.
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