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Spurs stun Nuggets, who fall into historic tie in the West
Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Devonte' Graham stuns Nuggets, who fall into historic tie in the West

To keep home-court advantage, all the Nuggets had to do was beat the 20-win Spurs. Devonte’ Graham didn’t let them.

Graham scored the last four points of the game, with his winning bucket happening with less than a second to go. It sunned the Denver Nuggets, who only had to win their last two games to lock up home-court advantage in the Western Conference playoffs. But Graham's floater dropped them into a three-way tie atop the West.

Denver had a 17-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but the short-handed Spurs — missing starters Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson — refused to quit. San Antonio went on a 14-2 run that was punctuated by a layup by Sandro Mamukelashvili, who finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Nikola Jokic, who scored 22 points and delivered 12 assists, had a chance to save the Nuggets, but he missed a game-icing jumper. Graham leaked out and scored over a retreating Jamal Murray.

Of course, the Spurs wouldn't have been close without a monster game from Victor Wembanyama, who had 34 points and 12 rebounds to go along with five assists. Perhaps due to the presence of Jokic, Wemby did his damage on the perimeter Friday, drilling five three-pointers.

The last game of the season will be huge for nearly every team in the Western Conference, but particularly the Nuggets, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder. There's never been a three-way tie at the top with one game left.

Essentially, playoff basketball is beginning a week early. The Nuggets went from first place to a potential third-place finish. Who would have guessed it would be because of Devonte' Graham?

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