Inside the arena, you could feel it. The buzz from 20,000 fans\u2014mostly blue-clad Nuggets supporters, though a not insignificant black-and-silver wearing Spurs crowd\u2014built well before the 1 p.m. tip. They knew what they were there for. This was Russell vs. Chamberlain. Ali vs. Frazier. Magic vs. Bird. For Greek mythology fans, this was a real-life clash of the Titans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both coaches used pregame media availability to make closing arguments for their guy to win MVP. \u201cI think if anybody who watches basketball has any idea what\u2019s going on in the game of basketball knows that he should be up for the MVP,\u201d said Adelman, \u201cand should be one of the favorites to win.\u201d Down the hall, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson pointed to Wembanyama\u2019s recent run of superlative performances. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing I can say to add to his case,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cHe\u2019s had a heck of a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the game started, both stars delivered. On an early possession, Joki\u0107 backed Wembanyama down, flipping a short layup in off the backboard. Earlier, Adelman was asked about how Joki\u0107 prepares to face Wembanyama\u2019s length. \u201cEvery kind of shot you can imagine somebody practicing,\u201d said Adelman, \u201cthat guy practices it.\u201d It showed. Joki\u0107 knocked down midrange jumpers, lofted in floaters and scored on putbacks. He racked up 40 points in 44 minutes, chipping in 13 assists and eight rebounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe makes you pay for any subtle mistake or slippage,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cHe has all the tricks and the counters and the skills.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wembanyama is picking up a few of them. Wemby\u2019s final stat line: 34 points, 18 rebounds, seven assists. He had an early alley-oop dunk on Joki\u0107 in the first quarter. He attacked the paint like a 7′ 4″ point guard on one possession and pulled up for a transition three on the next. Nearly half of his points (16) came on free throws. On the defensive end, he swatted away five shots.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWembanyama,\u201d muttered Adelman. \u201cAmazing talent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This game mattered to both teams. San Antonio remains within reach of the top seed. Denver entered Saturday winners of seven straight and a game behind the suddenly injury-ravaged Lakers<\/a> for third. And they played like it. Aaron Gordon, still easing his way back from a hamstring injury, blew past his minutes restriction. No Nuggets starter played fewer than 39. Wembanyama, whose minutes have been carefully monitored all year, played a season-high 40.\u00a0<\/p>\n They needed every one of them. The Spurs led by four after three quarters. They built an 11-point lead in the fourth before the Nuggets clawed back to jump ahead by one. With six seconds left, Joki\u0107 found a cutting Gordon for a game-tying dunk. Wembanyama had the chance to win the game in regulation but his 12-foot runner rimmed off.\u00a0<\/p>\n In overtime, the two teams went back and forth. Joki\u0107 buried a jumper to give Denver a two-point lead. Julian Champagnie knocked down a three to put San Antonio back out front. In the final minute, Joki\u0107 took over. The fadeaway over Wembanyama gave the Nuggets a four-point lead. After a Spurs score, Joki\u0107 pushed in a seven-footer to stretch the lead back there. With three seconds Joki\u0107 stepped to the free throw line to ice the game away, as MVP chants echoed around him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was really enjoyable, really challenging,\u201d said Wembanyama. \u201cLooking forward to doing that again.\u201d<\/p>\n Said Adelman, \u201cI know [in] sports, pessimism is everywhere. I would pay to watch these two teams play.\u201d<\/p>\n Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama prepares to shoot the ball over Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images<\/p>\n Adelman \u2026 and everyone else. Joki\u0107 and Wembanyama feels like a generational conference rivalry. One the most dynamic offensive big men in NBA history. The other on a trajectory to become the most dominant defensive player the league has ever seen. They didn\u2019t match up on every possession on Saturday. Gordon drew the bulk of the Wembanyama minutes for Denver while the Spurs did some mixing and matching of their own. But they matched up enough to make everyone want to see more.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think the first time I played against him, I told you guys he was gonna change the league, change basketball,\u201d said Joki\u0107. \u201cI still obviously think that. He has an opportunity to be the most unique basketball player to ever play the game. Is it fun? Yes. It\u2019s fun against everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Said Wembanyama, \u201cI think it was an amazing game. Very fun. One of the most fun games. I wish we could\u2019ve closed it out. My conclusion of this game is that it was good for us. It\u2019s a real test against a team that\u2019s actually playing for something right now.\u201d<\/p>\n The two teams will meet again in a week for the season finale. Chances are the stakes for that one will be considerably lower. It doesn\u2019t matter. If Joki\u0107 and Wembanyama are playing, you watch. You know you will get your money\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n More NBA From Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n Listen to SI\u2019s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple<\/a> and Spotify<\/a>. Watch the show on SI\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014 Nikola Joki\u0107 appeared trapped. Check that: Joki\u0107 was trapped. With a minute left in overtime and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-583522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Spurs](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kndrq2bpm3kqxmgefc.jpg\" "\\"Spurs")
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