MIAMI — saw the opportunity to make a good pass with the game on the line Sunday, but that wasn’t quite good enough.
“I was looking for the perfect pass,” Jokic said after the Nuggets’ 116-113 victory over the Heat that snapped a three-game losing streak. “The last one was perfect.”
The Nuggets led 114-13 with 10.2 seconds left as Jokic prepared to pass the ball into play. He surveyed for about four seconds before calling timeout. The Nuggets huddled, the referee handed the ball to Jokic again and … another timeout.
“I had somebody in the corner, but I didn’t want to throw it because I had one more timeout,” Jokic said.
As he lined up the third time, the pressure intensified. The Nuggets had no more timeouts. The third time had to be the charm.
On the third attempt, sprinted free into the backcourt and Jokic delivered the pass on target. Murray was fouled immediately. He calmly knocked down both attempts.
“I love those shots,” Murray said. “I went out there and calmed myself down. I know my teammates have trust in me.”
Weathering the storm.
The Nuggets were blitzed in the fourth quarter Friday when the Hornets began raining down 3-pointers — seven of them to be exact — in the fourth quarter of a comeback victory.
The Heat hit 10 3-pointers in the second half Sunday and five in the fourth quarter, but this time the Nuggets thwarted the onslaught. Instead of trying to match the outside success Miami enjoyed, the Nuggets kept attacking, outscoring the Heat 18-14 in the paint in the second half.
“I thought those threes were not as easy or maybe not as in the flow as they were against the Hornets,” Nuggets forward Danillo Gallinari said. “We were able to keep control of the game and respond to them on offense.”
Footnote. With the D-League season wrapping up, rookie guard joined the Nuggets in Miami. … (calf), (foot) and (knee) did not play Sunday.
