Rock bottom for the 2024-25 Denver Nuggets was in Washington. Caught in a malaise too early in the season for it to be acceptable, they fell to 11-10 on Dec. 7 after wasting Nikola Jokic’s career-high 56 points and freeing the Wizards from a 16-game losing streak.
Since then, the Nuggets have rounded into form as one of the best teams in the NBA, albeit a flawed one. But lethargy has been nagging at them again this week, in defeat and in victory. Enter the Wizards, transfigured at the trade deadline but still among the league’s most eager-to-lose organizations.
Jordan Poole’s deep 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds remaining on Sunday handed Washington a 126-123 win and a jarring season sweep of Denver.
In the same week, the Nuggets (43-25) pulled off a 13-point road win against the best team in the West and lost at home to the worst team in the East.
Poole launched the game-winner from 35 feet deep on a side-out play. Russell Westbrook was defending him back a step to prevent the drive. Nuggets coach Michael Malone said he needs to watch it again but suggested Westbrook could have pressured the ball and occupied Poole’s air space more, knowing the fourth quarter he was having. Poole scored 14 of his 19 points in the final frame.
Still, it was a low-percentage shot regardless of how it was guarded. That Poole buried it should perhaps resonate more so as bad karma for the Nuggets, who were almost entirely sluggish at the defensive end throughout the night.
“If you can just get one stop tonight, you win the game,” Malone said. “We’re up with a minute to go, we’re up with 20 seconds to go, tie game with however many seconds to go.”
Five lead changes occurred in the last two minutes, capped off by Kyshawn George’s wide open 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining to give Washington a 123-121 lead. Michael Porter Jr. was tracking George as he looped around to the weak-side corner, presenting the Nuggets forward with a choice. Porter prioritized rookie Alex Sarr on the wing, wanting to take away the pick-and-pop 3-point opportunity one pass away from a double-teamed Poole. But with Jamal Murray in the opposite corner, Denver didn’t have anybody defending the back side, so Poole fired directly to George.
“Sarr had it going,” Porter said, “so we decided to rotate to him.”
Murray answered with a game-tying jumper from the right elbow with 5.3 seconds to go, setting up Poole’s heroics.
In a flash, the Nuggets fell back into a three-way tie with Memphis and Houston, accentuating the razor-thin margin separating second place and a more pedestrian playoff seed.
This time, Jokic went for 40 points, as well as 13 rebounds and nine assists. Murray went to the locker room grimacing and limping in the fourth quarter, then jogged directly out to the scorer’s table three minutes later, seemingly telling Malone he felt good enough to continue during live play.
The point guard had appeared to twist his right ankle. He finished the night with 24 points, six rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Denver won his minutes by 19 points and nobody else’s minutes by more than six.
Russell Westbrook added 22 points and 11 assists. Denver compiled 40 helpers as a team, 25 of them in a dazzling offensive first half.
As usual, offense wasn’t a problem. But defense was often an abomination.
“The personnel is somewhat different,” Malone said of the Wizards pregame, “but hopefully the sting of that loss (will impact us). … What are we battling? We’re battling schedule.”
Whether the Nuggets’ defense deserved the benefit of the doubt in its fifth game in the last seven days is in the eye of the beholder. Either way, all five Wizards starters scored in double figures, led by a 32-point outburst from Sarr. They shot 42.2% from the 3-point line, making 19 on the night.
Denver is headed west on a tough four-game road trip now, starting with a date with the trade-altered Warriors on Monday.
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Originally Published: March 15, 2025 at 9:34 PM MDT
