Nuggets make all sorts of wild history in win over Jazz

The Denver Nuggets have won two games in Salt Lake City in the same season for the first time ever and it came because of a whole lot of wild history from the Mile High City Crew.

The Nuggets were powered to a 132-121 win over the Utah Jazz by dueling triple-doubles from Nikola Jokic and Russell Westbrook. The three-time MVP went for a monster 36 points, 22 rebounds and 11 assists. While the big man’s numbers were huge, the former MVP guard’s were perfect at 16 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists with no missed shots and zero turnovers. Westbrook is just the second player in NBA history to record a perfect triple-double.

“This is a guy who’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer, one of the greatest point guards to ever play the game,” Michael Malone said postgame. “And what I admire so much about him, aside from the leadership and toughness that he brings every single day, is that he’s got no ego. He said, ‘I’m playing with that guy. I’m going to play through him. I’m going to make him better. And if I do that, that means I’m doing my job to help this team win.’ And he came here for one reason, that’s to help us win a championship, and he hates to lose. And that’s what I also love about him, is that he’s built the right way. And I’ll go to war with Russell Westbrook any day.”

Meanwhile, the pair became the 11th couple to record a triple-double in the same regular season game, which is maybe not all that surprising given Westbrook is the all-time leader in that stat-stuffing feat with 201 and Jokic trails just behind in third place with 143. And to make matters better they were joined by a double-double from Jamal Murray who added 20 points and 10 assists. The trio all going over 10 assists was just the fifth time in NBA history that has happened in the same contest and the first instance of it since 1992.

All the while another Nuggets mark was set on Monday with Christian Braun scoring 18 fastbreak points which is a franchise record. Braun scored 20 overall, adding three of the Nuggets 13 steals. Both Jokic and Westbrook had four steals each. Denver continues to lead the NBA in transition scoring thanks to some of those efforts in swipes.

Jokic’s 36 points against the Jazz also meant he became the 164th player in NBA history to achieve 15,000 career points. His shooting efficiency to finish 2024 also made history.

Nikola Jokic will finish the year 2024 shooting:

44% from three-point range
62% from two-point range

He’s the only player in NBA history to shoot at least 44% from three and 60% from two in a single year (min. 200 attempts). pic.twitter.com/T7ulAaxakM

— Jake Coyne (@TheStatSquatch) December 31, 2024

Jokic’s marks were also historic in another way. His high tallies have really only been achieved by himself, take a look below:

Since the merger, Nikola Jokić has as many 35-point, 20-rebound triple doubles (4) as the rest of the NBA combined.

Jokić 4
LeBron, Doncic, Cousins and Lee 1
(Lee was the only one of those 4 to do it in regulation)@nuggets

— Statzman (@RealStatzman) December 31, 2024

The Nuggets play again on New Year’s Day, hosting the Atlanta Hawks, they’ll enter 2025 as winners of two straight and tied for the sixth spot in the West at 18-13.