![\"Nuggets](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP25336176024858-1024x683.jpg\")
Denver Nuggets guard Peyton Watson reacts after dunking against the Dallas Mavericks in the second half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)<\/p>\nDALLAS \u2014 It looked like the Grinch looted Peyton Watson\u2019s locker two days before Christmas.<\/p>\n
Watson watched his first opportunity at a game-winning buzzer beater in the NBA circumnavigate the cup before it spun off the rim and sealed the Nuggets\u2019 131-130 loss to the Mavericks on Tuesday at American Airlines Center. The fourth-year wing sensed the ball was coming his way given the way the Mavericks had been sending a crowd to Nikola Jokic when he got the ball in the middle of the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like I knew the ball was coming. I felt like I knew the shot was coming,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n
The Nuggets host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Christmas night, Watson\u2019s first chance at redemption. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that everybody on our team, our coaching staff and Nikola trust me to shoot that shot \u2013- (to) take and make it. There\u2019s a silver lining to everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When reality set in, Watson crumpled onto the court with his teammates ready to celebrate a walk-off win on the biggest shot of his young career. After leaving the court, he sat despondently in front of his locker before showering and addressing media. In the meantime, Cam Johnson, who dealt with his own frustration after exiting with a right knee bone bruise, walked gingerly toward Watson to offer encouragement. Tim Hardaway Jr. also had a message for his 23-year-old teammate just as he was about to discuss the game with a frown occupying what\u2019s typically a merry smile with enough wattage to light a tree.<\/p>\n
\u201cFix your face, dog,\u201d Hardaway said as Watson was about to start his media availability.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re all right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Denver Nuggets guard Peyton Watson reacts after dunking against the Dallas Mavericks in the second half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)<\/p>\n
Hardaway, in his 13th NBA season, has been there before. Watson doesn\u2019t have as much experience in the field, certainly not on this stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cNext time, it comes to you, just be ready to knock it down. It won\u2019t be the first; it won\u2019t be the last,\u201d Hardaway said. \u201cYou might as well let it happen now, because it might come back to you when we need it most.\u201d<\/p>\n
The last time Watson remembered being in that situation was in high school. Back then, Watson was a McDonald\u2019s All-American at Long Beach (Calif.) Poly High School who was widely regarded as a top-10 recruit in the country and headed to nearby UCLA for a one-and-done college career. He didn\u2019t play much for the Bruins but packed enough potential for the Nuggets to select him with the last pick of the first round in the 2022 draft. His minutes as a rookie were limited, but he was part of Denver\u2019s championship squad in his first professional season. <\/p>\n
His role has grown since, and he\u2019s never shown more promise than this season when he\u2019s capably joined Denver\u2019s starting lineup with Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon sidelined for the last month. Neither Braun nor Gordon are expected back before Denver embarks on a seven-game road trip that follows Denver\u2019s Christmas night at Ball Arena.<\/p>\n
A corner 3 taken by Watson, the exact shot he missed with the game on the line, has been one of the most efficient shots in the entire NBA this season. He\u2019s shooting 40% from 3-point range and has become especially lethal from the corners. He vowed to keep working on his shot to make the most of his next opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeyton\u2019s shooting 50-plus (percent) from the corners this season. It\u2019s not like Peyton\u2019s a non-threat. So, I feel for him. He had a weird night with foul trouble,\u201d Nuggets coach David Adelman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he fought Anthony Davis at the end. \u2026 I really thought that ball was going in when it left his hands, so it was a disappointing loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jokic liked those odds enough to pass up a contested floater \u2014 a shot he\u2019s made innumerable times at a similar rate \u2014 to give Watson a chance at the biggest moment of his young career. The good news is there is enough time for Watson and the Nuggets to reclaim their joy from the basketball gods. With a win Thursday, the Nuggets can secure the season tiebreaker from a Timberwolves team that\u2019s no stranger to playing the Grinch in Denver.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means everything to me. Me and \u2018Jok,\u2019 obviously, have been playing together for a little bit. His trust, game in and game out, means the world to me,\u201d Watson said. \u201cI\u2019m sad I couldn\u2019t convert today. I\u2019m disappointed I couldn\u2019t convert, but at the end of the day, we got a lot more games to go. This is an experience for me that I\u2019m going to take forward with me and just be focused on making the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2014 It looked like the Grinch looted Peyton Watson\u2019s locker two days before Christmas. Watson watched his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-370927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}