Spurs' Victor Wembanyama outduels MVP Nikola Jokic in huge win vs Nuggets
01/04/2025 08:42 AM
In a match-up of the best big man in the NBA today vs. the player who’ll most likely hold that title soon – and hold it for a while – Victor Wembanyama beat Nikola Jokic in a 113-110 San Antonio Spurs victory vs. the Denver Nuggets.
The NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player scored 41 points, grabbed 18 rebounds, and dished out nine assists for the home team. Wemby countered with 35 points, 18 rebounds, 2 blocks and 4 assists. Though Jokic’s stats are slightly better, he played four more minutes than did the victorious French phenom while Wembanyama shot a better percentage and helped force the three-time MVP into a rare turnover on Denver’s last solid chance to win the game.
the play that sealed it! https://t.co/yloAbTJnSYpic.twitter.com/CsMYIx2cgs
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 4, 2025
“Multiple-time MVP, soon to be MVP again. Can’t ask for a better way to get better while learning a lot,” Wembanyama said following a win that improves the Spurs to 18-16 for the season.
Victor Wembanyama aspires to emulate Nikola Jokic
Wemby has long been very complimentary of the Serbian star, who’s been at the top of the league for the last half decade. Told following the San Antonio victory that Denver head coach Mike Malone had said prior that the Spurs use Wembanyama similar to the Nuggets use of their best player, the Spurs leading scorer embraced the comparison.
“Of course, I take it as a compliment because Jokic is one of the guys who’s expecting a double team every game, makes his teammates better,” Wemby continued. “That’s one hundred percent what I want to be.”
Many times last season, head coach Greg Popovich talked about how the organization had explored several ways in which to utilize the 7-foot-5 anomaly of a player. The coaching staff would show him video that highlighted the fundamentals of some of the game’s best ever players. Unbeknownst to Wembanyama, the Spurs coaches themselves were watching film of some of the greats in an effort to best deploy him. That included footage of Jokic.
“I did not know that,” the reigning Rookie of the Year,” shared. “I know they looked at a lot of film and had a bunch of ideas, but I did not know that specifically.”
Not Wemby’s first rodeo vs. Nuggets
As impressive as Wembanyama was in Denver, it’s not the first time he’s led the Silver and Black to a huge win vs. the Nuggets.
In their second to last game last season, a Spurs squad missing their second, third and fourth best players (Devin Vassell, Jeremy Socham and Keldon Johnson) beat the then defending NBA champions 121-120. In a result that knocked Denver out of contention for the Western Conference’s top seed, Wemby outscored Jokic 34 to 22 and out-rebounded him 12-7.
Given the day off the following afternoon in the second of a back-to-back, it would prove Wembanyama’s last game of a historic rookie season. On the other end, without home-court advantage, the Nuggets lost in the second round a year after going all the way.
Considering what we saw again on Friday in Colorado, it’s not a stretch to expect several more showdowns between the talented big men.
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