DENVER — The Minnesota Timberwolves overcame a career- and NBA-best 61-point triple-double performance from Nikola Jokic to outlast the Denver Nuggets 140-139 in double overtime on Tuesday night.
Jokic’s 61 points — the most by a player in the NBA this season — were also the most points in a triple-double in NBA history. Jokic, who played 52 minutes, 38 seconds, also had 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He didn’t leave the court after halftime.
“Nikola came up to me after the third quarter and said, ‘Coach, I’m good. Leave me in there. I don’t want to come out. Let me just keep playing,'” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said afterward. “He was in a good rhythm, obviously — 61 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds, 2 steals. The guy is Superman.”
Said Jokic: “Coach asked me a couple times [if I wanted to come out] but I was feeling good.”
The Timberwolves sealed the win on a pair of Nickeil Alexander-Walker free throws with 0.1 left, concluding a wild sequence in which Russell Westbrook stole the ball on one end in the closing seconds, missed a layup and then fouled Alexander-Walker in the corner. The Timberwolves guard made two free throws and missed the third one on purpose.
“He’s a guy that hates to lose,” Malone said of Westbrook. “So he may not want to hear any of that stuff because he’s a perfectionist and he’s a competitor. And knowing the way I do, he’s probably going to put a lot of this on him. But we lost tonight. The Denver Nuggets, we as a collective group lost a game tonight, not one player.”
Westbrook left the arena before the Denver locker room was open to media.
“Obviously, I feel awful for Russ,” Malone said. “That last play we get the turnover, we don’t convert, and then the foul. It was not from a lack of effort or care.
“Sometimes it goes like that, and that’s why we’ve just got to be strong. We’ve got to be resilient.”
The big question: Should the Nuggets have not attempted the layup and pulled the ball back out to run down the clock?
“It’s tough. You’ve got a two-on-one break,” Malone said. “As a coach, am I up on the sideline yelling, ‘Don’t go?’ We’ve got a layup. But it’s easy to say that (pull the ball out) in hindsight, because we missed a layup. … He (Westbrook) is a tough kid, and I think he knows that everybody in that locker room’s got his back.”
Jokic was asked if he will speak to Westbrook about the sequence.
“Why? It happened. It’s basketball. I’m pretty sure he didn’t want to foul. It happens,” he said.
Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 34 points to go 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 just took off and that’s what superstars do and that’s why he’s a special person and a special player in this league,” Jokic said.
Jokic hit two free throws with 13.9 seconds left to tie it at 112 in regulation. He dropped in a floater with 7.3 seconds left to knot it at 125 in the first overtime.
“Nikola Jokic, he might be the best basketball player that I have ever seen close up, besides myself,” cracked Edwards. “He is incredible. The MVP race is tough. I don’t know. He had 60. That is crazy.”
The game had a playoff intensity and featured 21 lead changes. The Timberwolves have won six straight over the Nuggets, including the playoffs, as Jokic became the second player in NBA history to lose with a 50-point triple-double, following Wilt Chamberlain in 1963.
The Timberwolves were without Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo, who were suspended one game by the league for their roles in an on-court altercation against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
Denver didn’t have Jamal Murray (hamstring) or Michael Porter Jr. (personal reasons).
Jokic finished 18-of-29 from the field, including six 3-pointers. His 61 points were the second most in a game in Nuggets history (David Thompson had 73 in 1978), and the most given up to an opponent in Timberwolves history.
A wild play ensued near the end of the second overtime when Jokic was fouled by Jaden McDaniels during a jump ball. Jokic made one free throw to give the Nuggets a 139-138 lead.
The Nuggets dropped to 18-3 at home when tied or leading after the first quarter. They led by 16 in the opening quarter.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
