Nikola Jokic recorded his 199th career regular-season triple-double and Jamal Murray poured in 42 points as a short-handed Denver team erased a 23-point deficit — and an eight-point hole with 97 seconds left — to beat New Orleans in overtime at Ball Arena.
The Jokic 199th triple-double will be remembered less for the milestone itself than for the hole it was dug out of. Nikola Jokic finished with 35 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, Jamal Murray scored 42, and the Denver Nuggets rallied from 23 points down to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 141-135 in overtime on Saturday night at Ball Arena — a game Denver led for the first quarter, then did not lead again until the first minute of overtime.
New Orleans raced to a 53-30 lead midway through the second quarter, shooting 65.9 percent in the first half, and still led by 19 entering the fourth. The Pelicans were up 124-116 with 1:37 left in regulation before Jokic and Murray hit three-pointers and Aaron Gordon dunked to cut it to two. Murray, fouled on a three-point attempt, made two of three free throws with 16 seconds left to tie it at 126 and force overtime. Jokic scored eight of his 35 in the extra period, his free throws gave Denver its first lead since the first quarter, and rookie Trevon Brazile — who scored seven of his 17 points in overtime, including a corner three that made it 133-129 with 1:25 left — helped close it out in his home debut.
Why this matters
The number underneath the comeback is the one that will outlive this game. One hundred and ninety-nine regular-season triple-doubles puts Jokic second in NBA history, behind only the just-retired Russell Westbrook's 209 — and the seasons column is what makes the chase remarkable. Westbrook needed 18 seasons to reach 209. Jokic has reached 199 in his 12th. Ten more ties the record; eleven breaks it. On simple arithmetic, a record that looked generational when Westbrook set it is now a matter of when, not if, it falls — possibly this season — and it will fall to a center, a position that for most of basketball history was not supposed to be able to do this at all.
There is a second story in the box score, and it is about depth. Denver won this game without four players — Cameron Johnson (sprained ankle), Julian Strawther (knee sprain), Spencer Jones (hamstring) and rookie Alpha Diallo (sprained wrist) — and needed a rookie, Brazile, to make the decisive shot of overtime. Christian Braun added 15 points and DeMar DeRozan 12. Contenders in October are usually identified by how they win the games their rotation says they should lose; a 23-point comeback with a depleted bench is exactly that kind of evidence, this early in the season.
How the comeback actually happened
It happened in layers, and the first layer nearly failed. With Jokic and Murray on the bench early in the fourth, Denver cut a 19-point deficit to 112-101 on a Brazile three with 9:04 left — then watched New Orleans push it back to 16, at 118-102. The second run was the real one: a 9-0 burst capped by a Brazile putback dunk made it 118-111, and after the Pelicans steadied to 124-116, Denver's two stars took the last 97 seconds personally — a Jokic three, a Murray three, a Gordon dunk, and Murray's tying free throws. New Orleans, which had led for roughly three quarters, never led in overtime.
The Pelicans' side of it
For New Orleans, this is the kind of loss that defines a young team's early season. Trey Murphy III led the Pelicans with 26 points, Dejounte Murray had 22, and Zion Williamson and Derik Queen contributed 17 each, with Saddiq Bey adding 14 and Jeremiah Fears 10. But the Pelicans have now dropped their first three games under first-year head coach Jamahl Mosley, and two of the themes are already uncomfortable: a 23-point lead and a 19-point fourth-quarter lead were not enough, on a night when the team shot nearly 66 percent for a half. There was at least one piece of good news — center Yves Missi's knee injury, suffered Friday night in Utah, is a contusion and not something more severe.
What the numbers imply
Put the milestone in context. Westbrook's 209 triple-doubles came across 18 seasons; Jokic's 199 have come in 12, which means he is producing them at roughly one-and-a-half times the career rate of the man who owns the record. The gap is ten. Even at a conservative pace — Jokic has averaged well into double figures in triple-doubles per season across his prime — the record changes hands this season or next, and when it does, the all-time list will be topped by a player drafted 41st overall, in the second round, out of Sombor, Serbia. The comeback math matters too: teams trailing by eight inside the final 100 seconds of regulation win only a small single-digit share of the time league-wide. Denver needed three specific plays — two threes and a dunk — plus a fouled three-point shooter to survive, and got all of them.
Who gains, who loses
Denver gains twice: a win its injury list said it should not have, and a home debut to remember for Brazile, whose overtime corner three will be replayed every time his name is introduced this season. Murray gains a reminder game — 42 points as the co-author of a comeback is the version of Murray Denver's title hopes are built on. The losers are equally clear. New Orleans loses a road win it held for three quarters and falls to 0-3 under a new coach, with the rematch — the Pelicans host Denver on Wednesday night — arriving fast. And Westbrook's record, for years treated as untouchable, loses a little more of its aura with every Jokic line like this one.
What happens next
The Nuggets host Golden State on Monday night; the Pelicans get their immediate rematch when they host Denver on Wednesday. The longer appointment is the record watch itself: every Denver game from here is a Jokic tracking exercise — 199 down, ten to tie, eleven to own it outright. If his recent seasons are any guide, the only real question is whether the record falls before or after the new year, and whether Westbrook is in the building when it does.
Sources: Reuters / Field Level Media (game report: 141-135 OT final, Jokic 35/15/10 and 199 career regular-season triple-doubles, Murray 42, the 124-116 deficit with 1:37 left and the tying sequence, Denver's four absences); Reuters NBA roundup (199 triple-doubles in 12 seasons, second to just-retired Russell Westbrook's 209 in 18 seasons); Associated Press via theScore and TSN (Jokic's eight overtime points, Brazile's home debut, the Pelicans' 0-3 start under Jamahl Mosley, the Yves Missi contusion update, and the Monday/Wednesday next fixtures). Related on Signal Post News: Lakers beat Warriors on opening week, Celtics beat the Knicks behind Tatum's 36 and the 76ers' 29-point comeback against Cleveland.