Nikola Jokić scored 40 points and the Denver Nuggets beat the San Antonio Spurs 136-134 in overtime on Saturday in Denver, ending San Antonio’s 11-game winning streak and stretching Denver’s run to eight straight victories.
Jokić finished with 13 assists, eight rebounds, three blocks and zero turnovers, then decided it late with an 11-foot step-back jumper over Victor Wembanyama near the final minute of overtime and a floater with 9.8 seconds left. The shotmaking came in front of a sellout crowd of 20,039 at Ball Arena, where the two teams played a game that swung from a Spurs lead of 107-96 with 9:08 left in regulation to an overtime finish that was still in doubt until the last possession.
Denver had to erase a 13-point deficit just to get there. The Nuggets cut San Antonio’s lead with a 17-8 run and pulled within two points with 4:12 left before Aaron Gordon tied it 124-124 with 6.2 seconds remaining in regulation. Earlier, Cameron Johnson hit a 3-pointer off a Jokić assist and was fouled by De'Aaron Fox with 1:24 left, another turn in a game neither side could put away.
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Wembanyama matched the intensity on the other side, scoring 34 points with 18 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks. He became the first Spurs player to score at least 30 points with 15 rebounds in three straight outings, and the first player since Shaquille O'Neal in the 1999-2000 MVP season to post three consecutive games with at least 30 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. The matchup was the seventh head-to-head meeting between Jokić and Wembanyama, and Jokić is now 5-2 in those games.
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Denver coach David Adelman said he would pay to watch these two teams play, and San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said Jokić is the catalyst who makes opponents pay for any small mistake or slippage. The numbers backed him up: Jokić recorded his third career game with at least 40 points, 10 assists and three blocks, and his seventh career game with at least 30 points, 10 assists and zero turnovers, a rare line in the era since blocks began being tracked in 1973-74. For Denver, the result was another late escape. For San Antonio, it was a reminder that even an 11-game surge can end in one possession against a player who never wasted one.
