DENVER (AP) – Jamal Murray hit a go-ahead floater with 55.9 seconds remaining, Nikola Jokic broke Denver’s record for assists on the way to his 14th triple-double of the season, and the Nuggets rallied for a 122-118 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves yesterday.
Jokic finished with 31 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds as he navigated foul trouble.
The two-time reigning NBA MVP passed Alex English for the most assists in team history. Jokic has 3,686 career assists in 568 games – English recorded 3,679 over 837 games in a Denver uniform.
Jokic’s teammates made sure to appreciate the achievement.
“We clapped a little bit,” said Murray, who finished with 28 points. “That’s a lot of passes. That’s pretty impressive.”
English thought so, too.
“I knew that eventually my all time assist record would be broken. I’m honoured to see that it’s two time, I mean three time MVP of the NBA do it. Congrats big fella,” English posted on his Twitter account.
Never one to dwell too much on individual accolades, Jokic said he appreciated this particular mark.
“When you have a lot of assists, it just shows that you’re a good team player,” said Jokic, whose teammates plan to sign the ball for him. “That’s something I want to be. I want everybody to remember me as a guy who was a really good team player.”
Murray took over down the stretch to help the Western Conference-leading Nuggets win their 15th straight at home.
The Nuggets trailed 118-115 when Murray hit a three-pointer with 2:05 remaining to tie the game. Then, he nailed a driving floater to give Denver a lead it didn’t relinquish.
