Jokić’s 10‑Game Streak
Denver’s Nuggets extended a late‑season surge to 10 straight wins with a victory over Memphis — marking the first 10‑game winning streak in Nikola Jokić’s NBA career and sending clear momentum into the playoffs. The win came with a tradeoff: the team pushed Aaron Gordon to a season‑high 41 minutes against Victor Wembanyama, and Denver publicly flagged his health as the primary playoff concern. ( )
Denver just did something Nikola Jokić had never done in 11 National Basketball Association seasons: win 10 straight games. The streak reached that mark with a 136-119 win over Memphis on Wednesday, April 8, and Jokić logged his 34th triple-double of the season with 14 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists. (espn.com, nba.com) That number sounds strange because Denver already won a championship with Jokić in 2023. The surprise is that his teams have usually been built for six months of steadiness, not the kind of late-season heater that turns the standings every night. (espn.com, clutchpoints.com) The timing is what changed the feel of it. Denver is 52-28 after the Memphis game, has gone 10-0 in its last 10, and sits third in the Western Conference behind only Oklahoma City and San Antonio with two games left in the regular season. (cbssports.com, espn.com) This streak did not come against one soft patch of the schedule. Four days earlier, Denver needed overtime to beat San Antonio 136-134 in a game where Jokić scored 40 points and outdueled Victor Wembanyama after the Nuggets had trailed by 20. (nba.com, nba.com) That San Antonio game is also where the bill came due. Aaron Gordon played 41 minutes against Wembanyama, which was his season high, and Denver has since made clear that Gordon’s health is the roster issue it is watching most closely before the playoffs. (nba.com, denverpost.com) Gordon is the player who lets Denver keep its normal shape when games get messy. He guards bigger forwards, finishes cuts that Jokić sees a second early, and gives the Nuggets a strong body to throw at stars like Wembanyama for long stretches. (nba.com, nba.com) So Denver’s late push comes with two truths at once. The team is playing its best basketball of the season, and the cost of getting there has included leaning hard on one starter whose minutes were supposed to be managed. (denverpost.com, cbssports.com) The Memphis win showed the upside of that gamble. Jamal Murray scored 26, Cedric Coward added 27, and Denver put up 136 points even though Jokić took only 17 shots, which is usually what this team looks like when the center controls everything without forcing anything. (espn.com, nba.com) Now the playoffs are close enough that every choice has a double meaning. A 10-game streak says Denver can still look like a contender, but Gordon’s 41-minute night says the margin between a dangerous April and a dangerous May may be one tired leg. (denverpost.com, espn.com)
