DENVER — Everyone kept saying the same word. David Adelman said it. Christian Braun said it. Cameron Johnson said it. Even Victor Wembanyama, who lost, said it.
Fun.
In a league that grinds its participants into dust over 82 games, where April typically feels like a waiting room, the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs played a Saturday afternoon overtime game that reminded 20,039 people at Ball Arena why they fell in love with basketball in the first place — and Denver emerged from it with a 136-134 win that might matter more than any other they’ve played this season.
Why? Because it was the two best bigs in the sport trading blows for 53 minutes — Jokic orchestrating, Wembanyama overwhelming with his size and skill, Jokic’s brain solving what Wembanyama’s length creates, and the three-time MVP going for 40 points on the soon-to-be Defensive Player of the Year.
“I would pay to watch these two teams play,” Adelman said afterward. “This is very good basketball. They’re well-coached. They have talented, fun players. They play together. Wembanyama, amazing talent, and then on our side, what we have. You can build off this, for sure.”
How much would he pay?
“Man, I’ve got to think about that. Enough to maintain a solid lifestyle,” Adelman said. “I want to go back to my house. Have my car payment. No, but I would pay top dollar for these two guys.”
The theme echoed through both locker rooms.
“It was a fun game,” Braun said. “With the stakes being so high — they’re fighting for the one, we’re trying to stack as many wins as possible and get to that three — those are the games that kind of bring you together.”
Wembanyama, who had every reason to be frustrated after his team blew a 13-point lead and saw an 11-game winning streak snapped, chose to frame it the same way.
“I think it was an amazing game. Very fun. One of the most fun games,” Wembanyama said. “I wish we could’ve closed it out. My conclusion of this game is that it was good for us. It’s a real test against a team that’s actually playing for something right now.”
He’s right. Denver is playing for something right now — home-court advantage in the first round and maybe more if they’re lucky. The disjointed injuries of the season have also chipped away at their ability to build a kind of identity that carries into the postseason. And what unfolded Saturday required every bit of the resilience this team has built over the season just to survive it.
“That and even better,” Johnson said, when asked what this group can be. They were it on Saturday.
San Antonio came out ablaze, pouring in 43 first-quarter points and seizing a 13-point lead in the second quarter. The early stretch was ugly on Denver’s side — Aaron Gordon was visibly frustrated, and Adelman and Gordon both picked up technicals on the same play in the first quarter after a no-call sequence that swung the game firmly in San Antonio’s direction. Wemby hit Jokic, no whistle. The Nuggets got stopped on that possession and frustration boiled over. Two technicals plus a transition take foul later, it was a seven-point swing on a single possession. That fueled a 13-3 Spurs run that felt like it might bury Denver before halftime.
It didn’t. Jonas Valanciunas came in and immediately provided a physical presence. When he got into Wembanyama, the Spurs — rightfully cautious about their franchise cornerstone — pulled him from the game. Denver clawed back some ground. Then Keldon Johnson elbowed Jokic in the throat, sending the big man to the floor. No call. The Nuggets had to burn a timeout just to get Jokic breathing again. And still, through all of it, Jokic turned in a terrific first half. De’Aaron Fox’s buzzer-beater made it a seven-point Spurs lead at the break, but the deficit felt manageable given the whistles.
The second half is where the Nuggets’ identity emerged. Gordon, limping and battling, drilled a triple to cut it to three early in the third. Braun knocked down another from deep, San Antonio left him wide open all afternoon. He kept firing. Johnson was hitting.
Then there was Bruce Brown, who had appeared in every game this season. He wen back to the locker room and was ruled ineligible to return because he couldn’t take the jump ball — a cruel procedural quirk. And still, Denver hung around with a few solid surprise minutes from Tyus Jones.
The fourth quarter is where we’ve seen things shift a bunch for the Nuggets this year, as they’ve struggled to finish and win in the clutch. Wembanyama scored with 9:08 left to push San Antonio’s lead to 11. Entering Saturday, San Antonio was 48-2 this season in games where they held double-digit leads in the fourth quarter. They’re 48-3 now — and two of those three losses have come against these Nuggets, who rallied from 13 down in the fourth to beat San Antonio on March 12 as well.
Jamal Murray, quiet most of the day, popped off a screen while Jokic drove and kicked it to drilling a triple, giving Denver its first lead since the early moments. Then Devin Vassell jumped into Murray on a three-pointer, and the officials called the foul on Murray. It was a backbreaking call — one in a string of them all afternoon, the worst being that first-quarter sequence that produced the seven-point swing. Wembanyama set a new career high with 17 free throw attempts; at that same point, Denver had attempted 17 free throws total. The Spurs went up four with 2:12 left and Adelman called a panic timeout.
And still, Denver stayed.
Johnson completed a four-point play off a beautiful Jokic feed to cut it to two with 1:20 remaining. Gordon contested Wembanyama at the rim. Jokic missed in the post against a smaller defender. Wemby ran the ensuing break, threw an oop to Vassell, and the game seemed gone.
But Jokic hit two free throws to make it a two-point game with 32 seconds left. The Nuggets then forced a shot clock violation — part of a defensive stretch over the final eight minutes of game time that was as good as they’ve played all year. Then Adelman drew up a great play: Jokic on an immediate post entry, two defenders committed, and AG cut through the lane for a game-tying dunk with 6.2 seconds left.
Gordon contested Wemby’s buzzer attempt on the ensuing possession. Overtime.
Jamal Murray — freaking awesome — dove headfirst into a Gatorade table to save a loose ball on the opening possession, got back into the play, then flipped a pass to Jokic.
“I was yelling, ‘Go, go, go,’ just to get it,” Jokic said. “Me and Jamal, playing so, so, so long together. He’s such a competitor. Those big moments, he stepped up so many times offensively. And this was the kind of defensive possession by him to give us another opportunity to score. It was a great play. A big moment for us.”
Gordon threw down another massive overtime dunk against a Western Conference contender — the vibes were unmistakable. Then Johnson, left wide open at the top of the key, buried the biggest shot of his Nuggets tenure to push Denver’s lead to four. Tim Hardaway Jr. sprinted off the bench to celebrate.
“It’s fun, man. When the team gets hyped, that’s a lot of fun,” Johnson said. “That’s what you play for, those moments right there. You feel the energy in the arena, in front of the bench.”
And then, up two with a minute left in overtime, Jokic was stuck on the wing with the ball and shot clock winding down. He backed Wembanyama to the elbow, then to the middle of the lane. Faked a pass to the left, then turned around and jumped backwards from 11 feet off of one leg. It was the Sombor Shuffle, right over Wembanyama’s fully extended hand.
It nicked the front iron and found goal.
“If you guys remember two years ago, he actually blocked the same type of shot,” Jokic said. “I kind of threw it away and we lost the game. So I think it was nothing different. Maybe I just created a little bit more space. Who knows?”
Wemby can’t believe what Jokic did to him 😮 pic.twitter.com/7C9gJbDXSz
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 4, 2026
He did it again with nine seconds left — going up for a slightly risky shot given the time and score but putting just enough air on a floater from four feet to push it over Wemby for the dagger.
“It’s like a bar game,” Adelman said. “It’s insane. I’ve just never seen anybody who can shoot a floater like Nikola. It’s almost like the more contested it is, the better it is. It goes through the net even cleaner. He just has such a knack for it.”
Jokic scored seven of Denver’s 12 overtime points. His final line: 40 points on 13-of-25 shooting and 13-of-15 from the line, plus 13 assists, eight rebounds, three blocks, and zero turnovers in 44 minutes of action. He became the first center in NBA history to record 40-plus points and 10-plus assists with zero turnovers.
This was his third consecutive 40-point outing against Wembanyama and the Spurs. He’s scored more total points against Wembanyama than any other player in the NBA. He is the first big man this season to score 40-plus against San Antonio.
Along with Christmas Day against Minnesota, where he torched another Frenchman who happens to be a DPOY, Saturday was one of Jokic’s finest performances. And the fact that it was against Wembanyama had a lot to do with it.
Wemby’s final line was immense in its own right: 34 points on 8-of-17 shooting with 16-of-17 from the free throw line, 18 rebounds, seven assists, and five blocks in a season-high 40 minutes.
When asked about Jokic, he was gracious.
“I think he has opportunity, a chance to be the most unique basketball player ever played a game,” Jokic said of Wemby. “So is it fun? Yes, but it’s fun against everybody… I told you guys the first time I played against him that he’s going to change basketball, and I still think that.”
It’s a budding rivalry built on respect rather than animosity. It doesn’t need bad blood to be compelling. The skill is the drama. The respect is the story, and everyone around it seems to understand they’re watching something that won’t come around again anytime soon.
“You’re not going to see two people like this in many generations. The size of both these guys — we were laughing at the jump ball. Jokic is a big guy. He looks like a guard jumping center with Wemby,” Adelman said. “I do think they get up for each other. They both last night thought about what this was going to be. That’s the bottom line. They’re two of the best players alive.”
Braun, who turned in a career day of his own — 21 points, a career-high five threes on a career-high 11 attempts — put it simply: “Getting to watch them and be a part of that game is really fun for me. They’re different players. That fadeaway was an awesome shot. But for me, it seems like I’ve seen him hit so many of those that I almost forgot about it. That’s how crazy it is.”
As somebody who has watched most of Jokic’s career, I still found my mouth agape.
Just fun.
For the two best bigs on the planet, for a team coming together at the right time and for a sellout crowd at Ball Arena.
Seeking the No. 3 seed
The win moves Denver to 50-28, sitting half a game behind the Los Angeles Lakers in the race for the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed with four games remaining in the regular season.
The math has been steep for the three, but a crushing 43-point Lakers loss to the Thunder — combined with injuries to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves that will sideline both for the remainder of the regular season — has blown the door wide open. The Lakers need to lose two of their final five, and the Nuggets would need to win out for the teams to flip spots in the standings.
“If we are the three, it means that we’re moving in the right direction to end the season,” Adelman said. “If we end up in the four or five, I think we can still be going in the right direction, if that makes sense. But having home court will be great for routine. It makes that week easier for everybody. Calms you down.”
There’s also this: the Nuggets winning Saturday significantly increased the odds that their final two opponents — OKC and San Antonio — won’t be playing for much by the time Denver faces them. The Thunder, at 61-16, may have clinched the No. 1 seed by midweek. The Spurs, locked into the two, could be resting guys by April 12 in San Antonio.
What’s next for the Nuggets?
It’s unlikely Peyton Watson plays in the Nuggets’ last four games of the season, but it’s worth watching his status — and Spencer Jones’ — as Denver hits the final stretch. The Nuggets are home Monday, Wednesday and Friday this coming week, hosting the Thunder in a game that may not be of consequence to OKC by the time it tips. The season ends in San Antonio a week from Sunday, again in a game that may not be of importance to the two-seeded Spurs.
For Denver, the path is simple: win out and the three seed is theirs for the taking. Even if it doesn’t materialize, Adelman’s message is clear.
“This is a great win,” he said. “So was Utah. And I get tired of everybody missing that — these wins all count the same. We have 50. This one didn’t count as six, it just counted as one.”
Counted as one, sure. But for a team rounding into form with the playoffs two weeks away — eight straight wins, the longest active streak in the NBA, their best victory of the season against one of the league’s elite in comeback fashion — it felt like a whole lot more than that.
