Nikola Jokić scored 41 points on 16-of-20 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 116-107 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday to take a one-game lead in the race for the top seed in the Western Conference.
Jamal Murray added 20 points in 27 minutes and Michael Porter Jr. had 18 points with eight rebounds for the Nuggets, who split the four-game season series with the Wolves. Denver needs to finish ahead of Minnesota and Oklahoma City to earn the No. 1 seed for the second straight season.
The Nuggets parlayed the top seed last year into a 10-1 run at home in the playoffs on the way to their first NBA title.
Anthony Edwards scored 25 points but was a non-factor in the fourth quarter and Mike Conley added 19 for Minnesota, which had won four of five.
Denver closed the third quarter on a 9-1 run to take an 83-80 lead into the fourth. The Nuggets’ second until extended the margin to 91-87 before Jokic and Murray returned with 7 ½ minutes left, and Denver used a 10-0 spurt to pull away.
Mavericks clinch Southwest Division
Luka Dončić scored 29 points and Kyrie Irving had 25 as the Dallas Mavericks secured the Southwest Division title with a 111-92 win over the Miami Heat.
Doncic fell just shy of his 22nd triple-double of the season with nine rebounds and nine assists.
Derrick Jones Jr, P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford each scored 12 points for the Mavericks, who will face the Clippers in the first round of the playoffs. It will be the third opening-round matchup between those teams in the last four seasons.
Tyler Herro scored 21 points for Miami, which fell to 20-19 at home this season after going 24-17 on the road.
Portis leads Bucks without Antetokounmpo
Bobby Portis collected 30 points, nine rebounds and a career-high five steals and the Milwaukee Bucks overcame Giannis Antetokounmpo’s absence for a 117-99 win over the Orlando Magic.
Damian Lillard had 29 points and eight assists and Pat Beverley had 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Bucks, who played a night after Antetokounmpo suffered a strained left calf that will sideline him the final three games of the regular season.
Milwaukee is 1 ½ games ahead of the Knicks and two in front of Cleveland in the race for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Cole Anthony scored 23 points for Orlando, which has lost two straight and three of four.
Kerr demands improvements from Team USA as Olympic opener looms
United States coach Steve Kerr wants to see higher levels of intensity from his team as their Olympics campaign approaches.
Kerr was unhappy with the lacklustre displays from his side in their warm-ups against Germany and South Sudan.
Germany led 71-68 at the end of the third quarter before LeBron James conjured up 11 points in the final four minutes to give the USA a 92-88 win, while South Sudan were 20 seconds away from pulling off one of the biggest shocks in basketball history, before eventually falling to a 101-100 loss.
The USA face a dangerous Serbia side featuring reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic on Sunday, and Kerr is adamant that improvements are required if they are to win a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal.
He said: "It's got to be 40 minutes of force and attention and focus, and we can't let teams outplay us effort and energy-wise like we did the other night against Germany, like we did against South Sudan.
“We have another level. I think we have another two levels that we can get to, but it's a collaboration, always.
"We can show them, 'Let's do this, let's do that. Let's learn personnel.'
"We got to know the shooters, know the non-shooters, all that stuff. So that's where we can help them. Where they can help themselves is just effort and energy play after play, after play. This is different."
Kerr is a four-time NBA champion as a coach, and was part of the triumphant Olympics team in Tokyo in 2021, but the Golden State Warriors boss knows the experience of the Games will only be enhanced if the USA were to come out on top again.
"This should be one of the great experiences of our lives. But the best way to make it an incredible experience is to win a gold medal," he said.
After facing Serbia, the USA will once again go up against South Sudan, this time in a competitive format, before ending the group stage with a match against Puerto Rico.
Durant warns Team USA 'everybody is a contender' in Olympic basketball tournament
Kevin Durant has warned Team USA they will not have an easy ride through the basketball tournament at the Paris Olympic Games, declaring: "Everybody is a contender".
The United States will go in search of a fifth straight men's basketball gold in the French capital, where they open their Group C campaign against Serbia on Sunday.
After that meeting with Nikola Jokic and company, the star-studded USA team featuring Durant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and a host of other NBA stars take on South Sudan and Puerto Rico.
With Steve Kerr having so much talent at his disposal, the roster has been compared to that of the 1992 'Dream Team', who took gold in Barcelona behind the efforts of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen and other great names.
However, at a press conference ahead of Team USA's 2024 opener, Curry reminded reporters that the class of 1992 only faced nine other active NBA players.
Durant is expecting a much tougher assignment this year, responding to Curry by saying: "Everybody is a contender. Everyone is here for a reason.
"We're playing against 65 or 64 NBA players in Paris. So you know they're the best in the world."
Asked to identify the main players to watch from other nations, the Phoenix Suns forward said: "Giannis [Antetokounmpo] or Jokic."
While Durant adopted a cautious tone, Golden State Warriors star Curry was more bullish regarding the USA's gold medal hopes.
Quizzed on who he was most excited about facing, Curry simply said: "Whoever's in the gold medal game."
Knicks, head coach Thibodeau agree to three-year contract extension
The New York Knicks and head coach Tom Thibodeau have agreed to a three-year contract extension through the 2027-28 season.
New York went 50-32 last season to earn the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference before losing to the Indiana Pacers in the semi-finals of the play-offs.
The Knicks were also ousted in the East semis in 2022-23 and reached the play-offs during Thibodeau’s first season in 2021-22, when he won his second NBA Coach of the Year award.
Prior to 2021-22, New York’s previous post-season appearance came in 2013.
The Knicks have gone 175-143 over the last four seasons under Thibodeau, who earned his first NBA Coach of the Year award in 2011 as a rookie head coach with the Chicago Bulls.
The 66-year-old Thibodeau owns a 527-389 record in 12 seasons as a head coach with Chicago, the Minnesota Timberwolves and New York.
His teams have gone 38-47 in the post-season, and Thibodeau’s only appearance in the conference finals came in his rookie head coach season.
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