Nikola Jokić’s OT monster

Denver looked cooked on April 6 when Portland led 115-99 with eight minutes left, and then Nikola Jokić turned the last stretch into a one-man rescue job in a 137-132 overtime win at Ball Arena. Denver finished the night 51-28, and the comeback became its ninth straight win. (espn.com, nba.com) The box score was absurd even before the context: 35 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks in 43 minutes. ESPN’s game recap had Denver down 16 in the fourth quarter, which makes those numbers look less like decoration and more like emergency services. (espn.com, espn.com) Jokić did not just pile up stats across three quiet quarters. NBA.com said he scored or assisted on 17 of Denver’s final 24 points in regulation, which is the basketball version of one person both driving the bus and laying the road. (nba.com) Overtime was the same story with one extra helper. NBA.com said Jokić and Jamal Murray scored all 12 Denver points in the extra period, and ESPN’s recap shows Murray’s free throws and dunk opened control before Jokić finished it with a layup with 1:26 left. (nba.com, espn.com) This landed in the one part of the season where every slip changes the map. The National Basketball Association’s SoFi Play-In Tournament was one week away on April 7, and NBA.com said Denver’s nine-game streak had moved the Nuggets from sixth to third in the Western Conference. (nba.com) That is why this game felt bigger than a random April explosion. ESPN’s game page showed Denver passing the Los Angeles Lakers for third at 51-28, while Portland dropped to 40-39 and stayed in the crowded middle of the West. (espn.com, espn.com) The performance also sat on top of a season-long pattern that has stopped looking normal. NBA.com said this was Jokić’s 33rd triple-double of the season and his sixth during Denver’s 9-0 run, while ESPN listed his 2025-26 averages at 28.0 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.9 assists. (nba.com, espn.com) The steals are what push this one from huge to strange. NBA.com said it was Jokić’s second career game with at least 35 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 5 steals, which the league said is more than any player has had since steals started being tracked in the 1973-74 season. (nba.com) And this was not even his first overtime masterpiece of the week. Two days earlier, ESPN logged him for 40 points, 8 rebounds, 13 assists and 3 blocks in another overtime win over San Antonio, which means Denver got back-to-back extra-time games where its center looked like a point guard, power forward and free safety at once. (espn.com, nba.com) So the night was not just “Jokić had a triple-double.” It was Denver staring at a damaging loss with eight minutes left, then watching the best passing big man of his era drag a late-season playoff race back in his team’s direction possession by possession. (nba.com, espn.com)