The Denver Nuggets are one win away from reaching new heights. Up 3-0 in the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, they are on their way to the franchise's first appearance in the NBA Finals. Michael Malone does a lot of great scheming to get the most out of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, who have been lighting it up. But sometimes, he gets some quality help from his players.

Jokic is known for racking up assists. In the Nuggets' Game 3 win, he dished an idea to Malone for a set they could turn to in the fourth quarter — and it worked tremendously.

“The end of the game, him and Jamal were out there playing the two-man game. I have to give credit where credit is due: that was Nikola's call,” the Nuggets coach said. “He said on the bench, Let's go to this play. Let me and Jamal play whole side of the floor and we'll make the right reads.’ And we milked that down the stretch. So, Coach Jokic did a great job tonight.”

The Nuggets emptying out the right side of the court and letting their two best players work in the space put the Lakers in a bind. On one play, Anthony Davis stayed with Murray too long after a pick when the Lakers were looking to hedge the screen and recover. He left Jokic with room to nail a clutch three. On a following play, a hedge from Murray's defender (Dennis Schröder) gave Murray space to cut deep into the paint, leading to a nifty finish inside. Then on another, Murray handed the ball off to Jokic, who drove and kicked to Michael Porter Jr. for a triple.

Nikola Jokic's intelligence makes him well-equipped to break down the game and give feedback to his coaches. But he isn't eager to cut his teeth even further on the coaching side of things, though, saying he doesn't want to be one. “I think that's the worst job on the planet for sure,” the Nuggets superstar said.

The Lakers have brought a good fight in each game but none of their late surges have been enough to defeat the Nuggets. Denver has gone on timely runs and made good defensive plays to fuel their nearly unstoppable offense.