By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
A brilliant showing for the Denver Nuggets led to a win, 118-99, over the Dallas Mavericks in the American Airlines Center on Tuesday.
Combined with another win in Dallas on the latest edition of NBA Sundays, they improved to 24-15 in the 2024-25 Regular Season.
Besides Jamal Murray scoring 45 points, including 32 in the first half to set the pace, Nikola Jokic put in a triple-double before the end of the third quarter, adding to a league-high 15 triple-doubles this season. Behind 4/7 field goals, he dropped ten points to go with 14 rebounds and ten assists. The Joker also registered two steals in just under 29 minutes.
During the second quarter, the Serbian superstar reached 5,000 career assists, becoming the fastest player in league history to combine the milestone with 15,000 points and 7,500 rebounds in the Regular Season. He required 709 games. The previous record belonged to Larry Bird making it after 799 appearances.
🇷🇸😤 Nikola Jokic can’t stop making history in the NBA !
😯 The previous fastest player with those numbers was Larry Bird with 799 games!
🅰 Nikola Jokic also joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only centers in NBA history to record 5k AST. pic.twitter.com/NpFeQhDPqI
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) January 15, 2025
Fellow Europeans players did not join the action as Croatian Dario Saric stayed on the bench and Slovenian Vlatko Cancar (left knee surgery) remained on the injury list.
The Slovenian superstar of the Mavs, Luka Doncic (left calf strain) was sidelined as well, while German Maxi Kleber tallied ten points, three assists, and one rebound over 18 minutes.
The team coached by Jason Kidd falling to 22-18 was combined with yet another injury setback. Starting center Dereck Lively II was limited to 3:56 due to a right ankle sprain.