The Denver Nuggets got up early on national TV tonight against the Phoenix Suns but the Suns were not going to let Denver get an easy victory. Devin Booker sparked a big second half comeback for Phoenix which countered a massive, historic triple double from Nikola Jokic. A big fourth quarter turned a potential blowout into a nail biter that took overtime to decide. It was all Nuggets in overtime though and they secured another victory 149-141.

The Nuggets were hitting their shots early even though they weren’t playing a ton of defense. Aaron Gordon hit a three…then another…then another, he flat out couldn’t miss. The Nuggets built a lead behind his shooting but the Suns kept within arm’s length. Denver kept pushing the pace and getting points with Jokic taking his turn as the scorer. Their lead grew up to double digits so the Suns took a timeout. They rallied a bit after that and pull back within single digits for a brief moment. Denver responded though, once again through Jokic, and pushed the lead right back up. At the close of the first Denver led 37-28.

Phoenix was able to control Denver’s offense much more to open the second half. The Nuggets couldn’t score without Jokic on the court and Booker was able to get going for the Suns. They closed in on Denver’s lead for a moment but the Nuggets responded. Peyton Watson hit some threes and the lead went right back up to thirteen. After that Jokic checked back in and started diming up his teammates to keep pushing up the lead. It got up to about fifteen before Kevin Durant started to push back, he stopped the bleeding for a moment but Phoenix didn’t do much to close the lead. Denver went to half leading 68-57.

Jokic secured a triple double early in the third quarter while Denver maintained their advantage. Slowly but surely the lead started creeping up, Once it topped 20 on a Michael Porter Jr. dunk Phoenix took a timeout. It didn’t yield immediate results but Phoenix did get back on track and eventually rattle off an 8-0 run behind Booker. The Nuggets responded with Jamal Murray finally getting going. It went back and forth as the quarter progressed but Denver never let Phoenix get within striking distance. Phoenix closed the quarter strong and had an opportunity to get within single digits in the final minute. They couldn’t convert on the final possession in the quarter and Denver headed to the fourth up 102-91.

Phoenix put the pressure back on to start the fourth quarter. They chipped away at Denver’s lead and got back under single digits. Booker kept canning shots so Malone brought Jokic back in to stop the run. Nikola responded but Phoenix kept pushing and chipping away at Denver’s lead. After another Phoenix run, Booker had them trailing by just three. It stayed a couple basket lead heading into the stretch of the game. With Denver clinging to a lead they had a far bigger concern arise at around the three minute mark when Jokic started looking hobbled and was grabbing at his knee. He stayed in the game but the Suns finally worked all the way back and tied the game. They ended up taking a one bucket lead going into the final minute but Porter Jr. ripped away an offensive rebound for a putback and then played great defense on Durant to force a miss. Christian Braun knocked down a three with 1.4 seconds to give Denver the lead and set up a final shot for Phoenix. Durant got an open look in the corner and buried it to send the game to overtime tied at 125.

The Nuggets went to their bread and butter, the Jokic-Murray two man game, to start OT and rattled off seven straight points. Phoenix looked shell shocked and had nothing left in the tank. Denver got up ten with two minutes left and it looked over. Joker kept feeding the basketball down the court and secured the NBA’s first ever 30-20-20 game. Five extra minutes was enough to snap Denver out of their funk and they win 149-141.