Nikola Jokic fired in a season-high 39 points along with 11 rebounds and nine assists, Michael Porter Jr. scored 25 points and the host Denver Nuggets beat the San Antonio Spurs 132-120 on Sunday night.
Reggie Jackson scored 20 points, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope contributed 16 points and Julian Strawther added 10 points for Denver.The Nuggets played without thier forward Aaron Gordon, who sat out with a right heel strain. With Jamal Murray sidelined since early November, Denver was without their two regular starters.
Nuggets Dominance on Court
Nuggets took a 39-35 lead after a high-scoring first quarter but expanded the lead in the second. Wembanyama scored five straight points to pull San Antonio within 42-40 but it was the closest it would get.
Jackson hit a reverse layup, fed DeAndre Jordan for another layup and then Jordan had a putback dunk of Porter’s missed 3-pointer. Strawther hit one from deep, Christian Braun and Jokic made layups and Braun sank two free throws in an 16-4 run by the Nuggets.
Jokic’s floating bank shot made it 68-48 with 3:07 left in the second quarter.
The Spurs scored eight straight at the end of the period to get within 72-60 at halftime and then got closer to start the third. After Caldwell-Pope hit an 18-footer to open the half San Antonio reeled off another seven points to make it 74-67.
Denver responded again to expand the lead behind two assists and a layup by Jokic during a 16-4 run. Jokic then scored six straight points to put the Nuggets ahead 101-77 late in the third, and they took a 107-84 advantage into the fourth quarter.
They led by as many as 28 in the final 12 minutes.