Nuggets news: Nikola Jokic thinks team can live with Jamal Murray's good look that missed its target

The Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs played in a back-and-forth affair in Game 1, and Nikola Jokic is fine with Jamal Murray's shot.

The Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs played in a back-and-forth affair in Game 1 of their Western Conference matchup on Saturday night, with the contest coming right down to the waning seconds.

The Nuggets had trailed 97-92 with just over two minutes to play, but cut the deficit to one on a Jamal Murray jumper with about 90 seconds to play. After multiple defensive stops by both teams, the Nuggets had a side out possession with just over 13 seconds to play.

Denver guard Gary Harris inbounded to Jamal Murray, who immediately worked off a screen from Nikola Jokic and shook free for an uncontested elbow jumper.

But Murray's effort clattered off the rim, and the game was effectively over from there. The Spurs wrapped things up with free throws to pull off the upset in the series opener.

Despite an inefficient 8 of 24 shooting performance from Murray, his head coach and teammates spoke to Mike Singer of The Denver Post and stood behind his assertiveness in taking the go-ahead shot down the stretch:

“A shot that he’s made 1000 times, and he’ll make it again,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone.

“He was wide open, I think it’s a great shot for us,” said Jokic, who finished with a triple-double in his playoff debut. “He didn’t make it. I’m good with that. At least he was wide open. It was uncontested. We’re good. We’re going to live with that.”

While Jokic led the team in scoring during the regular season, Murray is the best shot creator and playmaker for this Denver team, and the Nuggets will certainly need him to recover in a hurry as they hope to rebound from a tough loss.