Jokić’s insane stat line

Nikola Jokić did not just post another triple-double on Monday night. He dragged Denver out of a game it had almost lost, then stacked a box score that looks fake even by his standards: 35 points, 13 rebounds, 13 assists, five steals, and two blocks in a 137-132 overtime win over Portland at Ball Arena on April 6. Denver trailed by 16 with 8:13 left in the fourth quarter before turning the game inside out (nba.com, espn.com). That comeback mattered because the Nuggets could not afford a sleepy night. The win was their ninth straight, their longest streak of the season, and it moved them into third place in the Western Conference at 51-28, a half-game ahead of the Lakers with only a few games left (nba.com, espn.com). Denver had also needed overtime to beat San Antonio two nights earlier, so this was not a polished cruise. It was another escape, and Jokić was at the center of every useful thing the Nuggets did late (nba.com). Portland had spent most of the night looking like the sharper team. The Blazers led by 14 at halftime, pushed the margin to 18 late in the third, and buried a franchise-record 25 threes. Toumani Camara scored 30 and made eight of those threes. Deni Avdija added 26 points and got to the line 14 times. With 8:13 left in regulation, Portland was up 115-99 and had every reason to think it had broken Denver’s rhythm for good (nba.com, espn.com). Then the game narrowed to Jokić’s pace. He scored 10 in the fourth and sparked a 21-5 burst that stripped the night down to single possessions. Aaron Gordon tied it at 123-123 with a corner three, then put Denver ahead with a baseline jumper in the final minute. Avdija answered with a layup to tie it again. Jokić missed at the buzzer, which only delayed the ending Denver had been forcing for the previous seven minutes (nba.com, espn.com). Overtime lasted just long enough for Denver’s best players to make the result feel inevitable. Gordon and Jamal Murray opened the extra period with threes. Murray scored seven of his 20 points in overtime. Then he fed Jokić for a layup that sealed the game. According to NBA.com’s nightly roundup, Jokić scored or assisted on 17 of Denver’s final 24 points in the fourth quarter alone, which is a cleaner description of his influence than any adjective could manage (nba.com, nba.com). The stat line deserves its own pause because it was not merely big. NBA.com noted that this was Jokić’s second career game with at least 35 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and five steals, the most by any player since steals became an official stat in 1973-74. He also recorded his NBA-leading 33rd triple-double of the season, which fits the larger pattern of Denver’s streak: six of those triple-doubles have come during these nine straight wins (nba.com, espn.com, nba.com). What made the night feel even stranger was the final texture of it. Portland had been one shot away all through overtime, and the game stayed alive until the last desperate fling. The card’s clip points to a CJ McCollum three-quarter-court heave that nearly forced another session, but that play belongs to a different game entirely: McCollum is with Atlanta this season, and his waved-off long bomb came Monday against the Knicks, not in Denver against the Blazers (nba.com, espn.com). In Denver, the last concrete detail was simpler than that. Murray drove, found Jokić, and Jokić laid it in with 1:26 left in overtime.