LOS ANGELES: Donovan Mitchell scored 28 points and the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers drilled a season-high 22 three-pointers in a 126-114 NBA victory over Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets on Thursday.
Darius Garland added 24 points and Caris LeVert contributed 21 off the bench as the Cavs withstood a triple-double from NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic to improve to 13-1 at home and 20-3 overall.
Cleveland made 22 three-pointers off 48 attempts as Denver connected with six of their 24 attempts from beyond the arc.
The Nuggets made it close in the first half with a strong showing in the paint, where they would out-score the Cavs 76-40.
Jokic scored 27 points with 20 rebounds and 11 assists for the 139th triple-double of his career, moving past legendary Earvin “Magic” Johnson (138) for third-most all-time.
Russell Westbrook tops the list with 200 career triple-doubles — reaching double digits in three key statistical categories — and Oscar Robertson is second with 181.
The exploits of Serbian star Jokic, who earned a third MVP award last season, helped the Nuggets claw back from an 18-point second-half deficit and cut the lead to nine with less than four minutes to play.
But LeVert and Mitchell answered with three-pointers and the Cavs cruised home.
“It took everybody,” Mitchell said. “Jokic is MVP for a reason, he makes that team phenomenal.”
Jokic called his rise up the triple-double list “a great thing,” but said it’s more something to look back on “after you finish your career.”
After watching his team fall to 11-9, Nuggets coach Michael Malone said he was more concerned about getting the 2023 NBA champions on a firm upward trajectory.
“I love Nikola, I really do, and I’m fortunate to coach him and he’s one of the best to ever do it,” Malone said. “But I’m just so much more concerned about my team right now.”
In Washington, Luka Doncic also climbed on the all-time triple-double list, scoring 21 points with 10 rebounds and 10 assists as the Dallas Mavericks piled more misery on the Wizards with a 137-101 victory.
With his 78th career triple-double the 25-year-old Slovenian star tied Wilt Chamberlain and James Harden for seventh place.
Dallas guard Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 25 points and the Mavs handed the Wizards a 16th straight defeat— matching the team’s longest-ever losing streak.
The Mavs, in contrast, have won six straight and 10 of their last 11.
Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put on a show in his hometown, scoring 30 points to lead the Western Conference-leading Thunder to a crushing 129-92 victory over the Raptors in Toronto.
The Thunder notched a sixth win in their last seven games to push their record to 17-5.
Oklahoma City’s suffocating defensive effort included 14 steals and 11 blocked shots and they turned 19 Toronto turnovers into 28 points.
In San Francisco, Jonathan Kuminga scored a career-high 33 points to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 99-93 victory over the Houston Rockets in a preview of their NBA Cup quarterfinal next week.
Andrew Wiggins added 23 points and nine rebounds for Golden State, who snapped a five-game losing streak despite missing stars Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
In New York, a big third quarter saw the Knicks beat the Charlotte Hornets 125-101 to push their winning streak to four games.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 27 points and grabbed 16 rebounds and OG Anunoby scored 15 of his 25 points in the third, when the Knicks outscored the Hornets 38-16 to take control for good.
Brandon Miller scored 26 points to lead the Hornets, who led by as many as 13 in the first quarter and were down by just three at halftime but spiraled to a seventh straight defeat.
