Nikola Jokic outduels Victor Wembanyama as Denver Nuggets claim overtime NBA win over San Antonio Spurs

LOS ANGELES – Nikola Jokic scored 40 points to propel the hosts Denver Nuggets to a 136-134 overtime victory over Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on April 4, halting the visitors’ 11-game National Basketball Association (NBA) winning streak.

Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Jokic added eight rebounds, 13 assists and three blocked shots for Denver, who won their eighth straight game and inched closer to the Los Angeles Lakers for third seed in the Western Conference.

MVP candidate Wembanyama, back after missing one game to rest a sore ankle, scored 34 points with 18 rebounds, seven assists and five blocked shots for the Spurs, who led for most of the contest but could not resist the Nuggets’ late surge.

Aaron Gordon, fed by Jokic, threw down a dunk to tie it at 124-124 with 6.2 seconds left in regulation.

Wembanyama’s jumper then bounced off the rim as time expired and the game went to overtime, when Gordon’s dunk within the opening two minutes put Denver ahead for good.

“It was indicative of what we can be as a group,” said the 30-year-old, who finished with 15 points.

Cameron Johnson scored 17 points while Jamal Murray added 15 points and handed out 10 assists for the Nuggets.

“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.”

Two weeks before the start of the play-offs, the American said the win 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 contest, but Devin Vassell quickly tied it and the Spurs did not trail again on the way to a 72-65 half-time lead.

The Nuggets cut the deficit to one after Jokic’s lay-up in the third quarter and trailed by four going into the fourth.

San Antonio pushed their lead to 11 on a Wembanyama dunk with just over nine minutes left in regulation, but Denver fought back to briefly take a one-point lead before the two teams finished level after four periods.

Wembanyama called it an “amazing game”.

“Very fun, one of the most fun games,” the Frenchman said. “I wish we could have closed it out.

“It’s good for us. It’s a real test against a team that’s actually playing for something right now.”

Elsewhere, the Detroit Pistons clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference 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 home-court advantage throughout the upcoming East play-offs, for the first time since 2007.

Jenkins also had 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,” Detroit 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 for the Sixers as they dropped to seventh behind the Toronto Raptors in sixth place – the last direct entry to the play-offs.

The Miami Heat, 10th in the East and jockeying to improve their play-in position, beat the Washington Wizards 152-136.

Jaime Jaquez Jr led all scorers with 32 points off the bench for Miami.

Fellow reserve Kel’el Ware added 24 points, 19 rebounds and seven blocked shots as seven Heat players scored in double figures.

They included Bam Adebayo, who had a historic 83-point performance in Miami’s last game against Washington but settled for just 14 on April 4. AFP