Nikola Jokic regularly produces historic numbers. He outdid himself this time.
Jokic became the first player in NBA history to amass 30 points, 20 rebounds and 20 assists in a game, then he blew past those benchmarks to finish with 31, 21 and 22 as the Nuggets survived Phoenix in a 149-141 overtime thriller Friday at Ball Arena.
After leaving teammates and staff in awe, Jokic obliged one Denver assistant coach’s request that he autograph a print-out of the box score. His career-high 22 assists broke Wilt Chamberlain’s 57-year-old record for the most by a center in an NBA game.
“I was talking to AG (Aaron Gordon), and he said to me, that was a ‘quiet’ 30-20-20,” Jokic said. “I said that’s probably true. Because I think I didn’t do anything special. Everything was in the flow.”
Regulation ended in chaos. Devin Booker gave Phoenix its first lead since the first quarter with 1:35 to go, capping an 8-0 run. The Nuggets failed to score on consecutive possessions, but Michael Porter Jr. wrestled away a steal from Mason Plumlee under the Suns’ basket with 33.3 seconds left, allowing him to tie the game with a hard-earned layup off the glass. Denver got a stop then ran pick-and-roll between Jamal Murray and Jokic for the win.
But the topic of who takes the last shot for the Nuggets is not limited by their signature two-man game. A team that averages 31.3 assists per night is ever-dependent on the open man. Christian Braun was the open man at the top of the key on Friday, after Phoenix sold out to stop Jokic on the roll. Braun sank it.
“We all have belief in Christian Braun,” coach Michael Malone said. “We all have belief in a lot of our guys that teams are daring to shoot. Well, shoot the ball. Continue to prove teams wrong.”
“To get Jok to throw it to me and trust me in that moment,” Braun said, “is really, really cool.”
His go-ahead three with 1.4 seconds remaining was the shot of his career, until the Nuggets lost Kevin Durant in the weak-side corner on Phoenix’s last-gasp out-of-bounds play. They were playing a zone, walled up around the perimeter to deny a game-tying shot. It actually worked enough to take away the Suns’ first action, according to Durant, who said he was supposed to go to the strong-side corner. Instead, he improvised and faded to the far side of the floor, where Booker received the inbound pass on the wing.
Thinking there wasn’t enough time for Phoenix to get a pass and shot off, Peyton Watson abandoned Durant to close out on Booker. The Nuggets ran two defenders at the ball. Booker whipped a pass to the wide-open future Hall of Famer, who cashed in at the buzzer.
“I think it’s impossible, right? It’s a catch, and it’s not even a tap,” Jokic said, giving a physical demonstration of the play. “It’s literally whole movement. I think it’s impossible. Me personally. Maybe we need to check the (clock). For 1.4 seconds, to catch, fully (pass), and full shooting motion?”
“I probably should have been with KD anyway,” said Gordon, who was stationed where Durant was originally supposed to end up. “… I’ve gotta do a better job of just sniffing the play out, being there, helping. I wasn’t guarding anybody.”
Overtime was simpler. Jokic, Murray and Braun scored the first seven points. All that was left after that was for Jokic to cement his historic stat line. He pulled it off with 1:18 to go, finding a cutting Porter for his 20th assist. Then he added two more on Denver’s next two possessions.
“Crazy thing is, it didn’t even seem like he had those numbers,” Durant said. “I looked up toward the end of overtime. I was like, ‘Holy (crap).’ That was crazy.”
The three-time MVP tied his career-high with his 29th triple-double of the season. He secured this one with 10:22 remaining in the third quarter. If he plays all 19 remaining regular-season games, he’s on pace to finish with 39, which would be three shy of Russell Westbrook’s all-time single-season record.
“I think I heard Nikola saying to Russ, ‘You didn’t get 30-20-20 before?'” Malone said.
Jokic has assisted 15 or more baskets in 10 games this season. It helped that none of his teammates could miss against Phoenix’s bottom-five defense on Friday. Gordon set the tone with the Nuggets’ wildest heat check of the season. He made four outside shots in the first six minutes, pulling up from the wings and infecting his teammates with the same confidence. All eight players who saw the floor for Denver made at least one 3-pointer. Porter, ironically, was the last to do so. The Nuggets made 21 of 40 shots beyond the arc as a team.
They assisted on 45 of 57 field goals.
But their defense worsened throughout the night. Booker got hot after a scoreless first quarter, amassing 34 points on 19 shots. Braun fouled him on a jumper to hand Phoenix a 4-point play with 5:13 to go, narrowing the gap to 117-112. Earlier in the fourth, Malone had lost his patience with his second unit as the Suns paraded to the foul line, sending Jokic to the table with 9:01 left.
Braun went for 25 points, five rebounds and five assists on an 8-of-11 shooting night. Gordon matched a career-high with seven 3s, scoring 27 points. Each of Denver’s starters tallied at least 16 points on 50% shooting or better.
Jokic puppeteered all of it. Fresh memories of his most muffled games of the season were quickly eclipsed by his single most boundless performance. At least statistically.
Usually, he purports to resent the self-aggrandizement associated with individual numbers. But with a smirk during the wee hours of Saturday morning, he permitted himself to stat-pad in his imagination just once, when asked what he’ll tell his grandchildren someday about this game.
“I will lie, definitely,” Jokic said. “… I will say they didn’t follow the stats. I had more.”
