By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
A crazy game spilled into a second overtime, and an incredible sequence in the final seconds resulted in the Minnesota Timberwolves escaping with a 140-139 victory versus the Denver Nuggets in Ball Arena.
Nikola Jokic scored a career-high 61 points, including a free throw for a one-point lead with 17.7 seconds remaining in the second overtime. Effective defense on the other side of the court led to transition and Russell Westbrook missing a running layup. Immediately back on the Wolves offense, Nickeil Alexander-Walker was fouled by Westbrook on a three-point shot at the buzzer and made the first two from the charity stripe to seal the game.
“I’m pretty sure that he didn’t want to make a foul or whatever. It happens,” the Serbian superstar responded to a question about Westbrook during a postgame media session.
Grabbing ten rebounds and dishing out ten assists, the Serbian superstar also posted his 31st triple-double in the 2024-25 NBA Regular Season. Playing through a left ankle impingement for 52 minutes on Tuesday, he connected 18/29 from the field, including six three-pointers. His stat line extended to two steals.
“Just tired. It was an exhausting game,” confessed Jokic without confirming projections about potentially sitting out the bottom end of a back-to-back with the San Antonio Spurs in Denver on Wednesday.
Additional European options for head coach Michael Malone, Croatian Dario Saric and Slovenian Vlatko Cancar, both stayed on the bench.
“He might be the best basketball player I’ve ever seen close up, besides myself. He’s incredible,” Anthony Edwards praised the Joker in a media session following a nail-biter, “The MVP race is tough. I don’t know. He had 60. That’s crazy.”
The 23-year-old star of the Wolves ended up with 34 points, ten rebounds, and eight assists. “We were just hoping he missed,” he added on team efforts to contain Jokic.
French teammate Rudy Gobert tallied a 19-point, 12-rebound double-double behind 7/11 makes in just under 40 minutes. He chipped in one steal and one assist as well.
Bosnian Luka Garza was limited to a brief appearance, and Dutch Jesse Edwards was inactive.