The Golden State Warriors led the Denver Nuggets by 18 points with under eight minutes remaining on Thursday on TNT. Golden State finally looked like it had found its stride against an elite opponent: Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were both shooting the lights out, youngsters Brandin Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga were contributing, and a team still waiting to get Draymond Green back was putting together one of its better all-around performances in a month.
Nikola Jokic stuns Warriors with buzzer-beating 3-point heave for the win
Nikola Jokic hit one of the best shots of his career to stun the Warriors at the buzzer.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Then the Nuggets onslaught happened. Denver stunned the Warriors, 130-127, with a furious rally capped by a miraculous shot from the best player on Earth. In a matchup of the last two NBA champions, Nikola Jokic and Nuggets showed the Warriors what a modern day super-power really looks like.
Jokic drilled a 39-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to give Denver the win. Jokic’s shot capped a 25-4 run to end the game, and give Denver its most improbable victory of the year. Watch Jokic’s shot here:
Jokic finished with 34 points, 10 assistgs, and nine rebounds in the win on 13-of-16 shooting from the floor. He made both of his three-point attempts, with the final one being one of the most memorable regular season moments of his legendary career.
What a disaster this loss is for Golden State. The Warriors fall to 16-18 on the year after an offensive dry spell killed their chances for a signature win. If the season ended today, the Warriors wouldn’t even quality for the play-in tournament. They would be handing over a lottery pick to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Jokic is the best player on the planet at the moment. They will play this clip during his Hall of Fame enshrinement one day.
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