LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Nikola Jokic joined rare National Basketball Association company on Sunday with a 40-point, 27-rebound, 10-assist triple-double for the Denver Nuggets in a 119-115 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
Jokic showed all the skills that saw him scoop the last two NBA Most Valuable Player awards and became the first player to record at least 40 points, 25 rebounds and 10 assists in a game since the great Wilt Chamberlain in 1968.
“What he does is just amazing every night,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone, whose team needed everything Jokic gave them to get past the tenacious Hornets.
Denver led by 10 after his three-pointer with 6:45 to play, but the Hornets were just two back after P.J. Washington’s dunk with 13.5 remaining.
Jokic made a pair of free throws to seal the win and cap his 81st career triple-double.
Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant and Golden State’s Jordan Poole had big nights, too, both scoring 43 points to lead their teams to impressive wins.
The Nets erased a 17-point halftime deficit to beat the Pistons, 124-121, in Detroit while the reigning champion Warriors earned just their third road win of the season with a 126-110 victory over the Raptors in Toronto.
Durant said defense was key to the Nets’ sixth straight victory.
Trailing 71-54 at halftime, the Nets outscored the Pistons 44-25, in the third quarter and held on for the win.
Durant scored 26 points in the third period alone. Kyrie Irving added 38 points for the Nets, whose seven-point lead was cut to one by Bojan Bogdanovic’s running three-pointer with 40.1 seconds to play.
Irving made two free throws to push the lead back to three, but a basket by Detroit’s Alec Burks pulled the Pistons back within one before Durant made two free throws to clinch it.
Durant said physical defense was the key to the Nets’ comeback.
“We upped the pressure, upped the physicality and were able to get back in the game,” he said.
“I was able to get some good looks off of the screens, and I was really able to just lock into the game plan on defense.”
“That usually gets me going on offense.”
