It required a group effort and five extra minutes to ensure Denver enjoyed a Merry “Jokmas” on Monday.

The local holiday celebrates the day Nikola Jokic became the Nuggets’ full-time starting center on Dec. 15, 2016. The three-time Most Valuable Player finished with a game-high 39 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and two blocks before he fouled out with 1:23 left in overtime.

“I feel like every day is that (holiday). He’s our best player and has won a lot of awards,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “We’re lucky to have him on this day and tomorrow and however many days he decides to stay here in Denver, Colorado.”

A couple of Jamal Murray free throws with 47 seconds left were the only points the Nuggets scored after Jokic fouled out, but Denver survived when Alperen Sengun’s 3-pointer with 5 seconds left missed and Bruce Brown ran out the remainder of the time for Denver’s first home win since the Nov. 8 game against the Pacers.

“That was a long-ass game, bro,” Murray said.

The Nuggets’ coach said he planned to foul up three, but it didn’t work out that way.

“They did a good job. He slipped out of their action,” Adelman said. “We took (Kevin Durant) away, which was the whole point of it. We wanted them to catch the ball with their back to the basket. Bruce (Brown) was smart, though. Once he faced up to the rim, now all bets are off. You just try to contest, but you can’t foul in that situation.”

Murray added 35 points on 9 of 17 shooting from the field and a 14-for-15 mark from the line. He added five assists and three rebounds.

Tim Hardaway Jr. (13), Cam Johnson (13) and Spencer Jones (11) also scored in double figures for Denver.

Sengun led the Rockets with 33 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, while Kevin Durant (25), Jabari Smith Jr. (16), Josh Okogie (16), Amen Thompson (14) and Reed Sheppard also scored in double figures for the Rockets. Denver’s defensive gameplan and rotations took a hit when Peyton Watson left the game with what the team called a trunk contusion.

“I thought it got Sengun going a little bit, because we had to put different matchups on different people. He got into space and scored, but I give our guys so much credit, and we were doubling a lot. We’re flying around, rotating, and then I’m also asking you to keep them off the glass. It’s not that easy, man,” Adelman said.

“When you put two on Durant, the shot goes up and Steven Adams and Thompson are crashing the glass, it’s just everybody do as well as you can do with 100% effort, and it will work out in the end. That’s kind of what this was.”

NUGGETS 128, ROCKETS 125, OT

What happened: Denver trailed by six after the first quarter but took a 58-51 lead to halftime. The Nuggets took a three-point advantage to the final quarter but had to settle for an overtime win to improve to 19-6 after Nikola Jokic’s 3 to end regulation was just long.

What went right: Jamal Murray hit a clutch free throw in the final seconds of regulation, scored the first four points of overtime and hit a couple of clutch free throws in the final minute to secure the win.

What went wrong: Peyton Watson left the court in the middle of the first quarter with a right trunk contusion and did not return to the game. He hit a 3, threw down a dunk and guarded Kevin Durant in his six minutes of playing time.

Highlight of the night: Nikola Jokic pulled off an almost ground-bound pass to himself off the backboard late in the second quarter. Jokic was defended by Rockets guard Amen Thompson in the post with Steven Adams offering some help. Jokic got them both to turn around with a pass to himself before spinning into a hook shot that started Denver’s 10-2 run to close the quarter.

Up next: The Nuggets have a couple of days off before hosting the Magic on Thursday at Ball Arena.