DENVER: Nikola Jokic took an inbounds pass with 1.7 seconds left in the third quarter, turned and let fly with a 66-foot heave that got all net at the other end. He casually walked over to his bench as his teammates mobbed him and the sold-out arena erupted.
“I thought it had a chance, and then boom,” Russell Westbrook said. “The best part of it was no reaction from him. Which I love.”
It appeared to be a footnote in what looked like a Denver Nuggets blowout win Thursday night. Denver led Sacramento 110-85 at that point but had to hold off a late rally to pull out a 132-123 victory over the Kings, its fourth straight.
Jokic finished with 35 points, 22 rebounds and a season-high 17 assists, and the shot from three-quarters court stood out among his 12 field goals.
“Not surprising,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “He’s a guy that has this uncanny ability.”
Jokic took the low-percentage shot but saw his 3-point average rise. He made 2 of 3 from behind the arc and is now shooting 47.9 percent from deep.
“When you play you want to make every shot,” he said. “I took it to make it and I did make it. It’s a lucky shot, not really a high-percentage shot, but I took it to make it. It’s three points. It’s going to help us.”
Jokic’s shot highlighted his fifth straight triple-double, all before the end of the third quarter, and his 20th of the season, the most in the NBA this season.
He also has an uncanny ability to put up historic numbers. He is now averaging a triple-double for the season — 30.2 points, 13.4 rebounds and 10 assists — and two weeks ago he and Westbrook became the first teammates to both record triple-doubles in same game multiple times.
Thursday night he hit another milestone.
According to the NBA, Jokic joins Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history to record a game with at least 35 points, 20 rebounds and 15 assists.
“I think this the best basketball I’ve ever played,” Jokic said. “I’m feeling good out there, I’m in shape, the ball is going in. I think I’m playing really good.”
Jokic earned another All-Star spot for the event next month in San Francisco. It is the seventh straight time he has been named to the All-Star game and it’s the fifth in a row as a starter.
“Just to be on the floor with the best players in the league is an honor,” he said.
Nikola Jokic hits 66-foot heave to highlight his 5th straight triple-double
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Nikola Jokic hits 66-foot heave to highlight his 5th straight triple-double
- Jokic finished with 35 points, 22 rebounds and a season-high 17 assists against Sacramento
- Jokic’s shot highlighted his fifth straight triple-double, all before the end of the third quarter
Drake Maye aims to do what Tom Brady couldn’t with the Patriots: win a playoff game in Denver
FOXBOROUGH, Mass.: Drake Maye has a chance to accomplish something not even Tom Brady did with the Patriots.
Maye is hoping to beat the Broncos in the AFC championship game in Denver on Sunday and lead New England to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2018. The Patriots have never won a playoff game in Denver — losing all four tries, with Brady going 0-3.
“Just the AFC championship, the chance to go to the Super Bowl. That’d be huge,” Maye said. “Another road environment that’s had success in the past. … I know it would be a big-time win.”
The Patriots advanced to their 14th AFC championship game in the last 25 years on Sunday when they beat the Houston Texans 28-16 in Foxborough. Denver beat Buffalo 33-30 to reach the conference title game.
New England and Denver both finished 14-3 in the regular season, but the Broncos won the tiebreaker for home-field advantage because they had a better record against common opponents: Denver beat the Raiders twice this season but the Patriots lost to them.
That loss — to the worst team in the NFL in the first game of the Mike Vrabel era — sent New England into one of the most inhospitable environments in the league. In addition to the high-energy crowd, the Patriots will also have to contend with a low-oxygen environment that they won’t have a chance to acclimate to.
“Kind of what we’ve been doing on the road all season long,” said Maye, who has guided the Patriots to an 8-0 road record this season. “They’ve got a great team, so we’re going to have a tough challenge. But I’m looking forward to getting out there. And getting a chance to possibly celebrate on an away field would be pretty special.”
The last team to go undefeated on the road with a new head coach was the San Francisco 49ers under George Seifert in 1989; they won the Super Bowl.
“Coach has always been saying, ‘Road warriors,’” Maye said. “So, we’re trying to find that one more time and finish out strong what we’ve done this year.”
The Broncos are 18-5 in home playoff games all-time. But they’ll will be without starting quarterback Bo Nix, who broke his ankle near the end of the divisional round victory over Buffalo. Instead, the offense will be led by former Patriot Jarrett Stidham, who hasn’t thrown a pass since 2023.
That’s why New England opened as a 5½-point favorite — the biggest road favorite ever in a conference championship game. The line has since moved to Denver plus-4½.
“We always feel as though no matter what anyone else has to say, we still have something to prove,” said cornerback Marcus Jones, who returned an interception for a touchdown against Houston. “We’re trying to always prove ourselves right and not trying to prove other people wrong. That’s kind of the philosophy we’ve had for a long time.”
Win or lose, the Patriots could have trouble getting back to New England: A major snowstorm is expected to dump a foot or more of snow on the area.
Vrabel said the team is prepared if it can’t leave Denver on Sunday night.
“We have multiple plans of what could go on based on the weather. something that they’re familiar with here,” he said. “I mean, there’s things I can control, that I can’t control.”
