On Tuesday evening, the Denver Nuggets dropped back into the loss column with a narrow road loss at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks. The Nuggets had a chance to win this game late, down by one point with seven seconds to go, and Jamal Murray predictably dropped the ball off to superstar Nikola Jokic in the post to go to work.
However, to many fans' surprise, instead of going up for a shot, Jokic opted to pass the ball into the opposite corner to Peyton Watson, not known as a three-point shooter. Watson's attempt at the buzzer spun in and out, and many were left puzzled that Jokic made such a decision.
However, after the game, Jokic defended his choice to play for the open shot.
“I think it’s the right play to do, and I would do it again,” he said, per Vinny Benedetto of the Denver Gazette on X, formerly Twitter.
Similar to LeBron James, Jokic has at times been criticized for passing up too many shots in crunch time in favor of a seemingly “better” look for one of his teammates.
This happened recently for James, who saw his double-digit points streak come to an end when he opted to pass the ball to Rui Hachimura in a game against the Toronto Raptors, which ended up working, as Hachimura sunk the game-winner.
However, unlike Hachimura, Watson is typically a player that opposing defenses are comfortable leaving open from beyond the arc, which made Jokic's decision to pass to him in that spot all the more puzzling.
Still, the Nuggets are in a good place overall, currently sitting at 21-8 on the season. They will next take the floor on Christmas night for a home game against Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves. That game is set to tip off at 10:30 pm ET.
