SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Russell Westbrook became the second player in NBA history to have a triple-double with zero turnovers and shoot 100% from the field and the free-throw line in the Denver Nuggets' 132-121 win over the Utah Jazz on Monday night.
Westbrook finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He shot 7 for 7 from the field and 2 for 2 from the free-throw line to join Domantas Sabonis in the history books.
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Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. (1) looks to shoot as Utah Jazz guard Johnny Juzang, left, defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Egan)
Denver Nuggets forward Spencer Jones. Left, tries to get by Utah Jazz forward Kyle Filipowski, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Egan)
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, second from right, shoots as Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler, left, forward Lauri Markkanen, second from left, and forward Brice Sensabaugh (28) defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Egan)
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, front right, becomes entangled with Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (23) as Jazz center Walker Kessler, back right, looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Egan)
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, top, tosses a pass over his shoulder as Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (24) defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Egan)
Nikola Jokic also had a triple-double with 36 points, 22 rebounds and 11 assists, and Jamal Murray had 10 assists to go along with 20 points.
Jordan Clarkson scored 24, and Collin Sexton had 22 for the Jazz.
Utah led 66-64 at the break, but Denver outscored the Jazz 34-23 in the third to build some separation.
Both teams were missing a starting forward. Denver's Aaron Gordon sat out with a right calf strain and Utah's John Collins missed his fourth straight game with a hip bruise.
Nuggets: Denver struggled again when Jokic was on the bench. Once he returned in the fourth quarter, he immediately hit a 3-pointer and found Westbrook for a dunk and his 10th assist a couple minutes later.
Jazz: Utah played four rookies — Kyle Filipowski, Isaiah Collier, Brice Sensabaugh and Cody Williams — with Clarkson for a key stretch in the fourth quarter and actually cut the Denver's lead to 109-107 on Filipowski's three-point play with 7:28 remaining.
Westbrook stole the ball from Sexton and dunked it on the other end to give Denver a 126-114 lead with 2:46 remaining.
The Jazz, who commit more turnovers than any team in the league, had 13 turnovers in the second half which led to 14 Denver points. Utah only had three in the first half.
The Jazz are at New York and the Nuggets host Atlanta on Wednesday.
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Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. (1) looks to shoot as Utah Jazz guard Johnny Juzang, left, defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Egan)
Denver Nuggets forward Spencer Jones. Left, tries to get by Utah Jazz forward Kyle Filipowski, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Egan)
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, second from right, shoots as Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler, left, forward Lauri Markkanen, second from left, and forward Brice Sensabaugh (28) defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Egan)
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, front right, becomes entangled with Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (23) as Jazz center Walker Kessler, back right, looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Egan)
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, top, tosses a pass over his shoulder as Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (24) defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Egan)
ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — NATO foreign ministers on Thursday debated an American demand to massively ramp up defense investment to 5% of gross domestic product over the next seven years, as the U.S. focuses on security challenges outside of Europe.
At talks in Antalya, Turkey, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that more investment and military equipment are needed to deal with the threat posed by Russia and terrorism, but also by China which has become the focus of U.S. concern.
“When it comes to the core defense spending, we need to do much, much more,” Rutte told reporters. He underlined that once the war in Ukraine is over, Russia could reconstitute its armed forces within three to five years.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio underlined that “the alliance is only as strong as its weakest link.” He insisted that the U.S. investment demand is about “spending money on the capabilities that are needed for the threats of the 21st century.”
The debate on defense spending is heating up ahead of a summit of U.S. President Donald Trump and his NATO counterparts in the Netherlands on June 24-25. It's a high-level gathering that will set the course for future European security, including that of Ukraine.
In 2023, as Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine entered its second year, NATO leaders agreed to spend at least 2% of GDP on national defense budgets. So far, 22 of the 32 member countries have done so.
The new spending plan under consideration is for all allies to aim for 3.5% of GDP on their defense budgets by 2032, plus an extra 1.5% on potentially defense-related things like infrastructure — roads, bridges, airports and seaports.
While the two figures add up to 5%, factoring in infrastructure and cybersecurity would change the basis on which NATO traditionally calculates defense spending. The seven-year time frame is also short by the alliance’s usual standards.
Rutte refused to confirm the numbers under consideration, but he acknowledged that it's important to include infrastructure in the equation, “for example to make sure that bridges, yes, are there for you and me to drive our cars but also if necessary to make sure that the bridge will hold a tank. So all these expenditures have to be taken into account.”
It’s difficult to see how many members would reach a new 3.5% goal. Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain are not even spending 2% yet, although Spain does expect to reach that goal in 2025, a year past the deadline.
The U.S. demand would require investment at an unprecedented scale, but Trump has cast doubt over whether the U.S. would defend allies that spend too little, and this remains an incentive to do more, even as European allies realize that they must match the threat posed by Russia.
Europe-wide, industry leaders and experts have pointed out challenges the continent must overcome to be a truly self-sufficient military power, chiefly its decades-long reliance on the U.S. as well as its fragmented defense industry.
“There is a lot at stake for us,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said. He urged his NATO partners to meet the investment goals faster than the 2032 target "because we see the tempo and the speed, how Russia generates its forces now as we speak.”
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said his country should reach 2.5% by 2027, and then 3% by the next U.K. elections planned for 2029.
“It’s hugely important that we recommit to Europe’s defense and that we step up alongside our U.S. partners in this challenging geopolitical moment where there are so many precious across the world, and particularly in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
As an organization, NATO plays no direct security role in Asia, and it remains unclear what demands the Trump administration might make of the allies as it turns its attention to China. The last NATO security operation outside the Euro-Atlantic area, its 18-year stay in Afghanistan, ended in chaos.
Cook reported from Brussels, and Fraser from Ankara, Turkey.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte talks to journalists as he arrives for a NATO's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy talks to journalists as he arrives for a NATO's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
NATO foreign ministers pose for a group photo during their informal meeting in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan talks to journalists as he arrives for a NATO's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, talks to British Foreign Secretary David Lammy during an informal meeting of NATO's foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte talks to journalists as he arrives for NATO's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a joint press statement with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Alexander Nemenov/Pool Photo via AP)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio departs a lunch between President Donald Trump and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
