Denver-Los Minnesota Timberwolves exceeded triple-double performance of 61 career points and Nikola Jokic NBA to overcome the Denver Nuggets 140-139 in extra time in extra time on Tuesday night.
Jokic’s 61 points, mostly for a player in the NBA this season, were also the most in a triple double in the history of the NBA. Jokic, who played 52 minutes, 38 seconds, also had 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He did not leave the court after part time.
“Nikola approached me after the third quarter and said: ‘Coach, I’m fine. Leave me there. I don’t want to go out. Let me continue playing,” said the Nuggets coach Michael Malone, later. “I was in a good rhythm, obviously: 61 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds, 2 robberies. The guy is superman.”
Jokic said: “The coach asked me a couple of times [if I wanted to come out] But I felt good. “
The Timberwolves sealed the victory in a couple of free throws by Nickeil Alexander-Walker with 0.1 remaining, concluding a wild sequence in which Russell Westbrook stole the ball at one end in the final seconds, lost a tray and then dirty Alexander-Walker in the corner. The Timberwolves guard made two free throws and lost the third on purpose.
“It’s a guy who hates losing,” Malone said about Westbrook. “Therefore, you may not want to hear any of that because she is a perfectionist and is a competitor. And knowing that I will probably put a lot of this. But we lost tonight. Denver’s nuggets, we, like a collective group, lost a game tonight, not a player.”
Westbrook left the sand before Denver’s costumes were open to the media.
“Obviously, I feel horrible for Russ,” Malone said. “That last play we get the rotation, we did not become, and then the lack. It was not for lack of effort or care.
“Sometimes it is so, and that is why we have to be strong. We have to be resistant.”
The big question: Should the nuggets have not tried the tray and remove the ball back to run through the clock?
“It’s difficult. You have a two break against one,” Malone said. “As a coach, am I in the bank screaming, ‘Don’t go?’ We have a tray.
Jokic was asked if he will talk to Westbrook about the sequence.
“Why?
Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 34 points along with 10 rebounds and 8 assists. He had 10 points entering the fourth quarter and has scored 25 or more in seven consecutive games against Denver.
“He simply took off and that is what the superstars do and that is why he is a special person and a special player in this league,” said Jokic.
Jokic hit two free throws with 13.9 seconds to tie 112 in regulation. He fell into a float with the remaining 7.3 seconds to tie it in 125 in the first extra half.
“Nikola Jokic could be the best basketball player I have seen closely, in addition to me,” Edwards broke. “It’s amazing. MVP’s career is hard. I don’t know. It was 60. That’s crazy.”
The game had an intensity of playoffs and presented 21 lead changes. The Timberwolves have won six consecutive about the Nuggets, including the playoffs, since Jokic became the second player in the NBA history to lose with a double triple of 50 points, after Wilt Chamberlain in 1963.
The Timberwolves were without Naz Reid and Donte Divinnzo, who the League suspended a game for their roles in an altercation on the court against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
Denver did not have Jamal Murray (hamstrings) or Michael Porter Jr. (personal reasons).
Jokic finished 18 of 29 from the field, including six triples. His 61 points were the second most in a game in the history of the Nuggets (David Thompson had 73 in 1978), and the most delivered to an opponent in the history of Timberwolves.
There was a wild play near the end of the second extra half when Jaden McDaniels received a foul of Jokic during a jump ball. Jokic made a free kick to give Nuggets an advantage of 139-138.
The Nuggets fell 18-3 at home when they tied or led after the first quarter. They led for 16 in the first quarter.
ESPN Research and Associated Press contributed to this report.
