Nikola Jokic buzzer-beater stuns Warriors in 130-127 loss to Nuggets
The Warriors blew an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter

>Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic (15) celebrates with teammates his
three-point basket on a buzzer-beater 130-127 against the Golden State
Warriors in the fourth quarter of a NBA game at Chase Center in San
Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News
Group)
Jason Mastrodonato is a sports reporter for the Bay Area News Group.
By JASON MASTRODONATO | jmastrodonato@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area
News Group
PUBLISHED: January 4, 2024 at 9:37 p.m. | UPDATED: January 5, 2024 at
1:24 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2024/01/04/nikola-jokic-buzzer-beater-stuns-warriors-in-130-127-loss-to-nuggets/

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SAN FRANCISCO — As soon as Nikola Jokic unleashed a last-second shot
from just inside the line at midcourt, Klay Thompson looked up and
thought to himself, “No way.”

It happened again.

The Warriors blew an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter and Jokic
drained a long-range 3-pointer at the buzzer as the NBA champion Denver
Nuggets captured a 130-127 win at Chase Center on Thursday night.

“We got too cool out there,” Thompson said.

And another one slipped away.

“It’s frustrating because you play the what-if game and we could be
21-13 right now,” said Steph Curry, whose Warriors instead fell to
16-18. “There’d be a different vibe around the team. Even with the team
we are now, we know we can compete. It’s just a situation where you’re
out here with the look of despair on your face because you’re trying to
figure out how it happened.”

With 6:51 to play, the Warriors were leading 123-105 and Curry was
11-for-18 with 28 points. The Warriors offense had been fast-paced and
sharp, spacing the floor and passing the ball like a hot potato until it
fell into the hands of an open shooter.

Now holding a big lead, Curry wanted to slow it down.

“We were trying to milk the clock,” he said.

But with the Nuggets setting their defense, the Warriors’ possessions
became clunky and slow. They let the shotclock expire twice. They
couldn’t penetrate or find clean looks.

“The offense just forced the ball into Steph’s hands and relied on him
to take it home for us,” Brandin Podziemski said.

The Warriors made just one of their last 11 field goal attempts. Curry
finished by missing five consecutive jumpers.

“Then the basketball gods took over from there with Jokic’s shot,” Curry
said. “Tough way to finish with the way we played the whole game.”

Curry had his chance.

With the game tied, 127-127, Curry began a possession with 26 seconds
left and looked to waste time again. He held the ball until there were
14 seconds left, then started moving around the perimeter. But he
couldn’t find an opening. He looked across the court and flung a wild
pass that went straight into the hands of the Nuggets’ Jamal Murray.

Denver called a timeout with 3.1 seconds left. Nuggets coach Michael
Malone drew up a play. Jokic wasn’t supposed to get the ball, he said.
The 7-foot center was the third option.

But Jokic easily broke free of Kevon Looney and the pass went straight
to him. He darted past the half-court line like he knew exactly where
he’d take his final shot. He set his feet and let one go from 39 feet.

“As soon as I saw him load up his feet, the way the momentum was going
in that game, it had a good chance of going in,” Podziemski said.

>Golden State Warriors' Brandin Podziemski (2) celebrates with Golden
State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) and Golden State Warriors' Klay
Thompson (11) after he scored on a steal against the Denver Nuggets in
the fourth quarter of a NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco,
Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

Jokic hit the shot, opened his arms and let out a scream. He stomped his
feet across the floor and leaped into his teammates’ arms.

Curry was so stunned he stood still on the court for at least 15
seconds, staring at the spot where Jokic made his mark.

“That last possession, that turnover, I want back,” he said.

>Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) drives past Denver Nuggets'
Nikola Jokic (15) in the second quarter of a NBA game at Chase Center in
San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area
News Group)

He usually waits until he gets home to rewatch his night’s work, but
Curry couldn’t wait this time.

Before he got to the podium for his postgame press conference, Curry sat
down with his phone, opened the video file sent to him by a staff member
and started watching the final six minutes.

He wanted to relive the nightmare. He wanted to understand it.

And then he explained it, how the Warriors gave up a commanding lead and
watched what could’ve been a signature win transform into a potentially
season-defining loss.

Again.

“When you’re struggling to identify who you are as a team, and what your
identity is and how you win games, and you play a team that knows who
they are like Denver — the three games we played them it’s come down to
the wire every single time, but they have a chemistry that they know,
whether they make or miss shots, they know what they’re trying to do,”
Curry said. “We haven’t established that. So when things go wrong
there’s a little bit of looking around.

“It’s in our control to figure that out. But there have been too many
situations like tonight, where we play a heck of a game with nothing to
show for it.”

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Jokic finished with 34 points while going 13-for-16 from the floor and
2-for-2 from three-point range. The MVP candidate also dished out 10
assists and added nine rebounds.

The Warriors scored 44 points in the third quarter, their
highest-scoring quarter of the season, but it didn’t matter. A memorable
win became the fourth time in a month that the Warriors lost a game they
once led by at least 18 points.

“We probably lost four or five we should’ve won and maybe won one or two
we shouldn’t have, but these are gut punches,” said head coach Steve Kerr.

The Warriors were crushed, but said they aren’t hopeless. Not yet.

“We have not figured out who we are,” Curry said. “We prove it on a
nightly basis. But there’s still belief we can.

“Nights like tonight are really loud with how far we are from the team
we want to be, from being a competitive team trying to beat the best in
the league. Hold onto that hope. But be honest from how far we are where
we want to be.”

>[pics:]
Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) makes a shot in front of
Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic (15) in the second quarter of a NBA game at
Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray
Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) makes a shot in front of
Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic (15) in the second quarter of a NBA game at
Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray
Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson (11) dribbles past Denver Nuggets'
Christian Braun (0) in the second quarter of a NBA game at Chase Center
in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay
Area News Group)
Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson (11) dribbles past Denver Nuggets’
Christian Braun (0) in the second quarter of a NBA game at Chase Center
in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay
Area News Group)
Golden State Warriors' Jonathan Kuminga (00) dunks in front of Denver
Nuggets' Nikola Jokic (15) in the first quarter of a NBA game at Chase
Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray
Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga (00) dunks in front of Denver
Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic (15) in the first quarter of a NBA game at Chase
Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray
Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) lays up a shot against Denver
Nuggets in the second quarter of a NBA game at Chase Center in San
Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News
Group)
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) lays up a shot against Denver
Nuggets in the second quarter of a NBA game at Chase Center in San
Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News
Group)
Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) low-fives Golden State
Warriors' Klay Thompson (11) after making three back to back baskets
against the Denver Nuggets in the second quarter of a NBA game at Chase
Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray
Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) low-fives Golden State
Warriors’ Klay Thompson (11) after making three back to back baskets
against the Denver Nuggets in the second quarter of a NBA game at Chase
Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray
Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic (15) lays up a shot to tied the game
127-127 against the Golden State Warriors in the fourth quarter of a NBA
game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4,
2024. Jokic scored the wining basket on a buzzer-beater. (Ray Chavez/Bay
Area News Group)
Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic (15) lays up a shot to tied the game
127-127 against the Golden State Warriors in the fourth quarter of a NBA
game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4,
2024. Jokic scored the wining basket on a buzzer-beater. (Ray Chavez/Bay
Area News Group)
Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic (15) celebrates his three-point basket on a
buzzer-beater 130-127 against the Golden State Warriors in the fourth
quarter of a NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on
Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic (15) celebrates his three-point basket on a
buzzer-beater 130-127 against the Golden State Warriors in the fourth
quarter of a NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on
Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) reacts as he walks off the
court after Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic (15) scored a three-point
basket on buzzer-beater in the fourth quarter of a NBA game at Chase
Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. The Nuggets
win 130-127. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) reacts as he walks off the
court after Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic (15) scored a three-point
basket on buzzer-beater in the fourth quarter of a NBA game at Chase
Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. The Nuggets
win 130-127. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)