The Denver Nuggets defeated the San Antonio Spurs 117-106 on Friday night in Austin, Texas.

The game was held at Moody Center at the University of Texas, a smaller arena that the Spurs used to connect with the rest of their fans in the Texas area. Whether the game was being played in San Antonio, Austin, or on Mars, Nikola Jokic was going to hit some floaters.

Jokic finished the game with 31 points, seven rebounds, and five assists en route to his 22nd 30-point game of the year. The Nuggets are 17-5 when Jokic scores 30+ points, and it felt that way tonight. Jokic was unstoppable, attacking Victor Wembanyama in unique ways that left the opposing phenom flustered. When Jokic attacked the paint tonight, he went to a floater no less than seven times, shooting over the outstretched (and I mean STRETCHED) arms of Wembanyama for some impressive baskets. Jokic attacked closeouts, moved Wemby out of the way with his shoulders/leverage, and simply dominated the paint. It was a lot of fun to watch.

The way the game went though, it was a low volume scoring night for other Nuggets starters. Jamal Murray had just 15 points, much of that in the fourth quarter while leading the bench unit. Michael Porter Jr. had 13 points and seven rebounds. Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope combined for just 11. While the Nuggets starters got out to a great start in the first quarter, they lost some steam in the middle of the game.

At one point, the Nuggets had a lead all the way up to 21 points early in the second quarter, and it looked like this game would be a blowout. The Spurs fought back though, knocking Denver’s second half lead all the way down to just four points. That was the danger zone for Denver late in the third quarter, and they needed to recover their mojo.

It was great to see Denver’s bench unit pick up the slack. Murray staggered with the group and played with Justin Holiday, Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, and Zeke Nnaji. That group hustled defensively, turned stops into transition offense, and found pockets of space in the halfcourt to get open shots. Murray was the main pressure point there, but there were plenty of opportunities for Braun and Watson to create off the dribble. Both young guys hit jumpers off the bounce while mixing in opportunities to get to the rim.

Braun in particular made one of his most impressive shots of the season, a between-the-legs stepback three-pointer that looked extremely refined. If he starts making that shot with any regularity, the Nuggets will win seven championships in a row.

 Holiday primarily served as a floor spacer and shot 3-of-6 from three, but he also had some nice drives to the basket too. Holiday’s three to beat the buzzer at the end of the third quarter was a big, big play. Even Nnaji got in on the action with four points, four rebounds, two assists, and three blocks in his 16 minutes. Denver’s bench combined for 47 points and looked great for the most part. It was a professional win from that unit especially.

Wembanyama was a joy to watch defensively out there, and seeing Denver try to navigate his length and athleticism was an interesting chess match. Jokic used the floater, but more often than not, the Nuggets forwards tried to get into his body and were successful. Wemby had two steals and three blocks, but he also had five fouls trying to challenge the Nuggets at the rim. Porter had one of his best dunks of the season dunking over Wemby, who was caught unawares and made a bit of a business decision.

The Nuggets have now won 11 of their last 12 games and just retook first place in the Western Conference. They’re going back and forth with the Oklahoma City Thunder right now, and it appears that the first team to blink will likely drop to second place for good. Denver’s in the midst of a four-game road trip and will travel to Dallas and face the Mavericks on Sunday. Oklahoma City has four of their next five games on the road, though the competition on the next few (@ Memphis, vs Utah, @ Toronto) isn’t exactly frightening for them.

Can Denver keep up the pace? It seems like they can do whatever they want to at this point.

Final Rotations