The Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs faced each other less than twenty-four hours ago and then took a quick flight to Texas to do it again. After a back and forth first half, the Spurs got a lead in the third quarter before the Nuggets mounted a comeback behind Nikola Jokic that ultimately was successful in overtime. In addition to Jokic putting up forty-six points, Michael Porter Jr. had a big game and Denver overcame a 20/20 night from Victor Wembanyama to get a 122-111 win.

The Spurs got off to a good start with the Nuggets struggling to score out of the gate. Harrison Barnes had a couple buckets and Jamal Murray got into early foul trouble. Russell Westbrook responded by pestering Wembanyama and got him into foul trouble as well. Denver wasn’t hitting their threes but Jokic was going to work against Zach Collins. The Nuggets held a small lead for a couple minutes before a Spurs run led by Julian Champagnie got the lead back for San Antonio. Collins was the next San Antonio big man to get into foul trouble and that let Jokic continue to feast. He led a strong close to the quarter for Denver and they led 30-27 after one.

The second quarter started with Jokic on the bench and Wemby on the court but Denver’s defense was holding strong while Murray ground out some baskets. Denver couldn’t buy a three to save their life though and eventually San Antonio got the lead back with just under eight minutes left in the half. Jokic checked back in and calmed things down while the teams traded buckets. It was pretty obvious that both teams were tired. There as a lot of sloppy play and shots drawing front iron on both sides. The Nuggets were just 1 for 15 from three and Devin Vassell was attacking the basket and getting dunks at the end of the quarter which turned momentum in San Antonio’s favor. Still, the Spurs weren’t ale to get much separation and they only led 55-54 at half.

Denver opened the second half still missing threes, though Jokic did get at least one to fall. The Spurs meanwhile got hot from outside and took a lead. It quickly jumped to double digits with the Nuggets lacking all energy. They started to show a little life after that with Jokic hitting another three. Wemby was giving them problems and when he checked out San Antonio was up by seven with five minutes to go in the quarter. Christian Braun got called for a foul on a three point shot that was deemed a “reckless closeout” and thus it was three shots and the ball for San Antonio. That took the air out of the Nuggets run. San Antonio kept the lead right around ten but Jokic kept them from running away with it. A strong close by San Antonio got it back above ten and going into the fourth they led 92-81.

Porter Jr. led the bench to start the fourth and they chipped away at the lead with Wemby and Jokic on the bench. After Mike rattled in a jumper the lead was down to just five with seven minutes left in the game. The stars checked back into the game shortly after that and with the Spurs lead down to three. Denver kept leaving the San Antonio open for three and didn’t take care of the basketball so they couldn’t quite get over the hump. They stayed consistently behind by a point or two with the quarter heading down the stretch and Porter and Jokic keeping them in it. Westbrook hit a three to finally give Denver a one point lead with under two minutes to play. He was disruptive on defense and Denver clung to a two point lead before Vassell tipped in a miss and tied it up at 108 all with fifteen seconds left. Jokic got a great look at the buzzer but it rimmed out and we headed to overtime.

Denver ramped up the effort and energy on defense to start overtime and fed Jokic the ball. He built a seven point lead for Denver in the first two minutes all by himself. With a minute and a half to play the Spurs still didn’t have a field goal in overtime. Vassell got a dunk to finally get them one but Murray and Jokic followed up with layups to put Denver up eight with forty-three seconds to go. After Wemby missed a three MPJ buried one of his own for the dagger. It takes an extra five minutes but the Nuggets get the revenge win 122-111.

MPJ saved Denver’s bacon

Jokic had a monster game but Mike was equally as important to this win. The Nuggets were down eleven going into the fourth with Jokic on the bench. Usually that spells doom but Porter came alive and carried them on offense through Jokic returning. Mike’s now scored eighteen or more in seven straight games and is starting to feel like as big of a threat on offense as anyone on the Nuggets not named Jokic. It was especially encouraging to seem he work through the early shooting struggles that everyone was having tonight and still end up with a big game. He scored twenty-four of his twenty-eight points in the second half and overtime and Denver needed every one of them.

Great team defense

Jan 4, 2025; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) and Denver Nuggets forward Peyton Watson (8) reach for a rebound during the second half at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Trying to stop Victor Wembanyama is an impossible task but the Nuggets really locked in late in this game and kept him off the scoreboard. They used a combined effort from Jokic, Peyton Watson, DeAndre Jordan and even Westbrook to consistently keep Victor frustrated offensively. The back to back probably helped as well as Wemby started to look pretty tired and sluggish at the end. Still, the Nuggets deployed as good of a defensive game plan as any against one of the toughest players to defend in the entire NBA and it took efforts from everyone to pull it off. Kudos to them for playing well in an area they’ve struggled a lot lately.