SAN ANTONIO — DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic had 32 points and 16 rebounds and overcame six turnovers to lead the Denver Nuggets past the San Antonio Spurs 102-96.
Jokic followed up his 27-point, 13-rebound effort in Phoenix on Wednesday with another strong game. He added seven assists and three steals for Denver.
Keldon Johnson led the Spurs with 27 points, two shy of his career-high, and Derrick White had 16 points.
San Antonio will host the Milwaukee Bucks on the second game of a back-to-back Saturday night.
Here's a sample of what the teams said after the game:
SPURS
Gregg Popovich:
Dejounte Murray:
"Personally, I still think we still could have won the game how bad we played. Starting with myself. I'll always start with myself. There are always things you can do better."
Keldon Johnson:
"I think turnovers and little mental mistakes. Definitely things we can correct and get better at. We just made some stupid decisions. It happens in basketball. We're a young team.
It's a good experience. We'll just keep fighting."
NUGGETS
Head coach Michael Malone:
"I would agree though, I thought tonight compared to the game in Phoenix, that five-man second unit of Facundo [Campazzo], Austin [Rivers], P.J. [Dozier], Jeff [Green] and JaMychal [Green], they were really good tonight. You have two bigs that are so versatile, that can pick, pop, roll or whatever it may be."
Nikola Jokic:
"I was just playing normal. I never force anything. When you force stuff, bad things happen. So, I didn’t force anything. It was a good game for me. It’s a good thing we won the game. We need to play much better on the defensive end. We didn’t allow them, they kind of missed too. I need to be much better, defensively.”
Follow us on Twitter: @KENS5, @JeffGSpursKENS5