SAN FRANCISCO — Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon hit a layup over Nikola Jokic with 3.6 seconds left in the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors to tie the game.
Jokic took three dribbles down the right side of the court and then fired a 39-foot 3-pointer over the head of Warriors center Kevon Looney.
From the vantage point of the Nuggets bench, it looked dead.
“As it went out of his hands, all the coaches in the back were saying, ‘That’s on the line. That’s going to go in,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
“I don’t know if it was my intuition or what, but I knew we weren’t going to OT. I knew Joker was going to hit that shot,” forward Peyton Watson said.
And he did. Jokic’s shot bounced off the glass and went in, sealing the Nuggets’ 130-127 victory over the Warriors. Even Jokic knew it was coming in.
“That was the last option with this game,” Jokic said. “I just took a shot. I think those shots are the easiest shots. You don’t have any other options. So, actually, when I felt it, I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to put it in the bank.'” You can see the ball fly and I just knew I was going to put it in the bank.”
That was the clinching shot in a 25-4 Nuggets run over the final 6:45 of the game, including a 13-0 run.
“The thing about Nicolas, I like the fact that he gets to his spot, sets up and just shoots his shot,” Gordon said. “He doesn’t let the defense change it at all. When he shoots his shot, there’s always a chance he can make it.”
Jokic finished with 34 points on 13-of-15 shooting, 10 assists and nine rebounds. Gordon added 30 points on 11-of-17 shooting and guard Jamal Murray had 25 points on 8-of-16 shooting.
But going into the fourth, Denver trailed by 18 after the Warriors outscored the Nuggets 44-24 in the third quarter.
The Nuggets said they expected Golden State to give them their best shot, especially after they scored 70 points in the first half, 42 of which came in the paint — the most the Warriors have allowed in a first half this season.
The Warriors’ third quarter was one of their best of the season. Their 75% shooting from the field was also their best in any quarter so far, and their +20 point differential was the second best in any quarter (+21 in the third against the Phoenix Suns on October 24).
Gordon said the Nuggets never hung their heads. In every timeout they were positive, pushing the mentality of one stop, one score, one stop, one score until they could get on the field.
Malone said he was very proud of that mentality and his team’s ability to withstand Golden State’s push.
“They came out in the third quarter very aggressive and we didn’t match that. They had us on our heels,” Malone said. “I said, ‘Okay, that’s enough.’ Our backs are against the ball. We’ve got to go now,” and then we became the striker. We became the team that stops, presses, attacks, became more physical.
“The more aggressive team will win… I felt like when the game was on the line, we were the more aggressive team.”
This is the seventh time this season the Warriors have led by 10 or more points and still lost. It’s their fourth time leading by at least 18 points.
“The defense was amazing in the fourth,” Jokic said. “We didn’t want to give up. We could have easily made excuses to lose this game. . . . But the guys didn’t put their heads down. We were really aggressive. They only scored four points. That’s really, really good defense, especially against in this group.”
Arguably, the most important defensive play of the night came just seconds before Jokic’s game-winning shot.
With 6.2 seconds left, Murray intercepted a pass attempt by Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
“Jamal read that situation so well,” Jokic said.
Malone tried to call a timeout immediately, but it wasn’t awarded until after Murray took a dribble. Thus, the Nuggets were forced to move the ball three-quarters of the way down the court.
Malone had three games in mind. First up was going to be Murray on the strong side. The second was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope flying past Jokic at half court. The third was Gordon hitting Jokic and hoping the two-time MVP and reigning Finals MVP could make something happen.
The latter is what happened. But there was no panic, especially from Jokic as he chased down his shot with less than four seconds to go to find it.
“I wish I could tell you [that’s how I drew it up]. But he’s just a great player making a great game,” Malone said. “Nikola lives for these moments. And it’s great and gratifying to see a player of his talent go out there and make the plays that he makes.”