Nikola Jokic scored 40 points to propel the Denver Nuggets to a 136-134 overtime victory over Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, ending San Antonio’s 11-game NBA winning streak.
The three-time NBA Most Valuable Player added eight rebounds, 13 assists and three blocked shots for Denver, who won their eighth straight game and moved closer to the Los Angeles Lakers for the third seed in the Western Conference.
MVP candidate Wembanyama, returning after missing one game to rest a sore ankle, posted 34 points, 18 rebounds, seven assists and five blocked shots for the Spurs, who led for most of the contest but could not withstand the Nuggets’ late surge.
Aaron Gordon, set up by Jokic, threw down a dunk to tie the game at 124-124
with 6.2 seconds remaining in regulation.
Wembanyama’s jumper at the buzzer hit the rim, sending the game to overtime, where Gordon’s dunk in the opening minutes put Denver ahead for good.
“It was indicative of what we can be as a group,” said Gordon, who finished with 15 points.
Johnson scored 17 points and Jamal Murray added 15 points and 10 assists for the Nuggets in a contest marked by playoff-level intensity.
“We like the intensity,” Gordon said. “That’s a really good ball club over there that plays really hard. So they brought it out of us.”
With the playoffs two weeks away, Gordon said the victory over the West’s second-placed team was an important marker.
“It’s big,” he said. “I just want us to be ready when the time is coming. This was a good step in that direction.”
Denver’s Johnson drilled a three-pointer to open the game, but Devin Vassell quickly tied it and the Spurs did not trail again on the way to a 72-65 halftime lead.
Denver cut the deficit to one on a Jokic layup early in the third quarter and trailed by four going into the fourth.
San Antonio pushed their lead to 11 on a Wembanyama dunk with 9:08 left in regulation, but Denver battled back to briefly take a one-point lead before the teams finished regulation tied.
Wembanyama called it an “amazing game”.
“Very fun, one of the most fun games,” Wembanyama said. “I wish we could have closed it out.”
But he added: “It’s good for us. It’s a real test against a team that’s actually playing for something right now.”
Pistons Go Top After Beating 76ers
The Detroit Pistons clinched the Eastern Conference top seed with a 116-93 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Tobias Harris scored 19 points, while Jalen Duren and Daniss Jenkins added 16 points apiece to help Detroit secure the top seed and home-court advantage throughout the East playoffs for the first time since 2007.
Jenkins also handed out 14 assists for the Pistons, who improved to 8-2 since star guard Cade Cunningham was sidelined by a collapsed lung.
“The way this group has grown together as quickly as it has, it is special,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “But we’ve got more food to eat. We’ll take tonight, enjoy this, but tomorrow we’ll get back to work.”
With centre Joel Embiid sitting out the second night of a back-to-back, Tyrese Maxey scored 23 points to lead the Sixers, who slipped behind the Toronto Raptors for sixth place and the last direct entry to the playoffs.
The Miami Heat, 10th in the East and jockeying to improve their play-in position, beat the Washington Wizards 152-136.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored a game-high 32 points off the bench for Miami.
Fellow reserve Kel’el Ware added 24 points, 19 rebounds and eight blocked shots, and seven Heat players scored in double figures.
That included Bam Adebayo, who scored 83 in Miami’s last game against Washington but settled for 14 this time.
(With inputs from Agencies)
