DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic’s magnitude is matched only by his modesty.
“I mean, I had a good game,” Denver’s superstar center said in his typical understated fashion after setting an NBA record by scoring 18 points in overtime, leading the Nuggets past Minnesota 142-138 on Thursday night.
Those 18 points came in the final 2:53 of overtime, no less, and Jokic finished with 56 points along with 16 rebounds and 15 assists for his 179th career triple-double.
No player in NBA history ever had a 55-15-15 triple-double before Jokic’s masterpiece capped the league’s five-game Christmas Day slate.
Every bit of it was necessary for the short-handed Nuggets, playing without three opening night starters, to overcome a 44-point performance by Anthony Edwards, who sent the game to overtime with a twisting 3-pointer from the left corner with a second to go in regulation.
Edwards scored 11 points in OT but picked up two technical fouls in the final minute, one for knocking the ball out of Jokic’s hands on a dead ball following a basket.
Edwards scored seven quick points at the start of overtime as the Wolves used a 9-0 run to take a 124-115 lead and silence the sell-out crowd at Ball Arena.
The Nuggets looked cooked. And coach David Adelman called timeout with 2:59 remaining.
That’s when Jokic took over.
The Nuggets’ 27 points from that point on set an NBA record for most points scored in a five-minute overtime, and it started with a 3-pointer from Jokic at the 2:53 mark.
Jamal Murray, who added 35 points, blocked Rudy Gobert’s putback and dished to Tim Hardaway for a 3. After Julius Randle made two free throws, Jokic hit another 3-pointer, then tied it 126-all with a floating jump shot with 1:26 remaining.
Over the final 56 seconds, Jokic made 10 of 11 free throws, giving him 18 points in the extra period, breaking Steph Curry’s record of 17 points in a single overtime set in 2016.
“The best player in the world,” Adelman marveled, rattling off what he called a “crazy stat line” and terrific efficiency by Jokic, who made 15 of 21 shots, including 4 of 6 from beyond the arc, sank 22 of 23 free throws and had a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
“I’ll just keep saying: Don’t get tired of this,” Adelman said. “He’s the best player in the world, just the bottom line. And what he does nightly it’s important to the game of basketball. It’s good for sports — it’s good for his head coach.”
The Nuggets certainly are accustomed to historic performances from their Serbian superstar and three-time MVP.
Told that Jokic broke Curry’s individual record of 17 points in an overtime, Murray said, “Seems about right.”
With the Wolves so focused on Jokic, Murray shot a career-high 18 3-pointers and sank half of them, including a key 3 in overtime when he was being guarded by Edwards and Jaden McDaniels.
“Yeah, I just told the bench I was going to shoot a pull-up because of the way they were guarding Jokic,” Murray said. “The way he was scoring, they were so focused on him. I don’t think I shot for most of the fourth and overtime.”
The Nuggets are accustomed to Jokic’s superlative performances, but this one stood out given that Denver blew a late 15-point late lead in regulation and fell behind by nine in overtime.
Edwards scored seven of those points and finished with 44 before his ejection for picking up two quick technical fouls in overtime as the Nuggets closed on a 27-14 spurt.
“They’re gonna show this game 20 years from now, I’ll crack open a beer and watch it,” Adelman said. “There’s other ones that I flip on NBA TV and I immediately turn the channel. So, this was one of those crazy NBA games with two really good teams, top-tier teams, so just proud that we found a way.”
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