3 takeaways as Wemby-led Spurs fall to Jokic’s Nuggets in OT thriller

DENVER — The Spurs arrived in Denver this week hoping for the type of playoff tune-up that had largely eluded them during an 11-game winning streak.

The Nuggets were glad to oblige.

Nikola Jokic had 40 points and 13 assists as Denver rallied for a 136-134 overtime victory at Ball Arena.

In a game that served as a possible preview of the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, with a pair of MVP candidates in Jokic and the Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama going toe-to-toe, the Nuggets overcame a 13-point deficit to win their eighth game in a row.

Wembanyama held up his end of the bargain with 34 points, 18 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Denver got 21 points from Christian Braun and an efficient 15 points and 10 assists from Jamal Murray.

MORE SPURS: How Victor Wembanyama creates NBA-wide sense of urgency from Doncic to Giannis

The Spurs saw their season’s longest winning streak snapped despite 20 points and nine assists from Stephon Castle and 18 points apiece from Julian Champagnie and Devin Vassell.

The loss all but mathematically assures the Spurs will remain in the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference, unable to catch Oklahoma City.

The victory, the Nuggets’ 50th of the season, pushed Denver within half a game of the hobbled Los Angeles Lakers in third.

If the Nuggets are able to overtake the Lakers, it could create a collision course with the Spurs in the second round of the playoffs.

The teams play one more time in the regular season, an April 12 finale at the Frost Bank Center.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s loss, which denied the Spurs their first shot at 60 wins this season:

Saturday marked the first time this season Wembanyama and Jokic shared the floor together.

The chess match that ensued was like Garry Kasparov vs. Bobby Fischer.

Jokic would figure out a way to get a hook shot off over Wembanyama. Wembanyama would adjust and block it the next time. Jokic would find a counter. Wembanyama would find a counter to the counter.

Jokic ended up calling checkmate, hitting a high-arching “Sombor Shuffle” fadeaway shot over Wembanyama to give Denver a 133-129 edge with a minute to go in OT.

The two All-Star centers are morphing into must-see TV whenever they are on the floor together.

A seven-game series of this might be the leading cause of heart attacks in the San Antonio and Denver metro areas come May.

Despite a dip in scoring numbers, De’Aaron Fox has been all the Spurs have wanted and more this season.

Saturday, however, was not his best game of the season.

Fox finished 7 of 19 from the floor for 14 points, and committed a pair of turnovers.

One of the NBA’s most notable clutch players, Fox was also responsible for a pair of crushing offensive possessions late.

One came with the Spurs ahead by two and 8 seconds to go with the shot clock winding down. Fox couldn’t find daylight to the basket, briefly ended up losing track of the ball and had to fire up a deep contested 3-pointer at the shot clock horn that missed everything.

Later in OT, the Spurs had a 2-on-1 fast break going for the tie, but Fox misconnected with Vassell on an alley-oop attempt. Fox corralled the rebound, but missed a short open jumper.

Jokic followed with a floater to push Denver’s lead back to four with 9.8 seconds to go.

Fox has been good for the Spurs this season. He will need to be better in the playoffs.

Champagnie came into the game needing six 3-pointers to break the Spurs’ single-season 3-point record.

He needed overtime, but he got it.

Having gone 5 for 7 from beyond the arc through regulation, Champagnie swished his first look of OT to give him 192 for the season.

That inched him atop the Spurs’ 3-point leaderboard ahead of Danny Green, who made 191 in 2014-15.

The timing of Champagnie’s record-breaker is interesting enough.

Monday, he will play his first game as the Spurs’ newly crowned 3-point king against Philadelphia, the team that waived him in February 2022 and paved his way to come to San Antonio.