Wembanyama denies Jokic in closing seconds as Spurs beat Nuggets 113-110

DENVER — Victor Wembanyama stole Nikola Jokic’s pass with 4 seconds left, and the San Antonio Spurs held on to beat the Denver Nuggets 113-110 on Friday night.

Wembanyama finished with 35 points and 18 rebounds to help the Spurs overcome a big night from Jokic. The three-time MVP had 41 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists, falling just short of his 15th triple-double.

San Antonio led by one with 17 seconds left and Denver had a chance to win. Jokic tried to pass to a teammate but Wembanyama intercepted it and fed Devin Vassell for a game-sealing dunk.

Michael Porter Jr. missed 34-footer at the buzzer that would have sent it to overtime.

Porter finished with 22 points for the Nuggets, whose three-game winning streak ended.

Wembanyama picked up his fifth foul with 8:46 left but shook it off to hit two deep 3-pointers to give San Antonio a 97-92 lead with 7:52 left.

Denver rallied to lead by five but the Spurs scored six straight points to take a 109-108 lead and set up the final moments.

Takeaways

Spurs: Wembanyama was unstoppable at times but also committed eight turnovers to nearly register an unwanted triple-double. The rest of the team had only six turnovers.

Nuggets: They were acutely aware of Wembanyama’s presence on defense, dribbling through the paint and shooting fadeaways. Porter showed no fear when he dunked with 2:35 left with Wembanyama near the rim.

Key moment

The teams hit a flurry of 3-pointers midway through the third quarter. The Spurs hit three in a row and Denver made two straight to combine for 15 points in a span of 67 seconds.

Key stat

The Nuggets fell to 2-5 in the first leg of a back-to-back. They have won all six games of the second leg heading into Saturday night.

Up next

The teams meet again Saturday night in San Antonio.