San Antonio Spurs at Denver Nuggets

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

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.

Regular Season Series

SA leads series 1-0