![\"Nikola](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2266561148-e1773612831453.jpg\")
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Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets reacts to a foul during the second half of a game against the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n
The Denver Nuggets<\/a> nearly secured a statement road victory Saturday night.<\/p>\n Instead, the NBA acknowledged Sunday that a missed call in the final seconds helped the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> erase Denver\u2019s lead and ultimately win 127\u2013125 in overtime.<\/p>\n In its Last Two Minute Report, the league confirmed that a critical foul called against Nuggets forward Spencer Jones<\/a> should not have been whistled.<\/p>\n With 9.2 seconds remaining in regulation and Denver leading 116\u2013113, Jones stripped the ball from Austin Reaves<\/a> immediately after the inbound pass.<\/p>\n Officials ruled the play a foul.<\/p>\n But the NBA<\/a> later determined it was a clean defensive play.<\/p>\n \u201cJones extends his right hand and cleanly dislodges the ball away from Reaves,\u201d the league wrote<\/a> in the review.<\/p>\n Call Changed End of Regulation<\/p>\n Instead of awarding Denver possession after the strip, Reaves went to the free-throw line.<\/p>\n The sequence that followed dramatically altered the game.<\/p>\n Reaves made the first free throw before the Nuggets intentionally fouled again to prevent a tying three-pointer.<\/p>\n Moments later, Reaves executed a difficult maneuver \u2014 intentionally missing the second free throw, grabbing the rebound and floating in the tying basket with 1.9 seconds left.<\/p>\n The shot stunned Denver and forced overtime.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought if I threw it fast enough, Jokic wouldn\u2019t have time to react,\u201d Reaves said.<\/p>\n Nuggets Recognize Difficulty of Play<\/p>\n Even with the officiating error acknowledged, Denver players still acknowledged the difficulty of the play itself.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a skilled player,\u201d said Aaron Gordon<\/a>. \u201cTip your cap.\u201d<\/p>\n Nuggets coach David Adelman described the execution as rare.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s one in a hundred in the NBA,\u201d Adelman said.<\/p>\n Nikola Joki\u0107<\/a> said the rebound bounce was critical.<\/p>\n \u201cHe got a perfect bounce,\u201d Joki\u0107 said. \u201cHe made the floater.\u201d<\/p>\n Don\u010di\u0107 Delivers Lakers Win<\/p>\n The extra period belonged to Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/a>.<\/p>\n Don\u010di\u0107 hit a 17-foot fall-away jumper with 0.5 seconds remaining in overtime, sealing the victory.<\/p>\n The Lakers star finished with 30 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds, recording his eighth triple-double of the season.<\/p>\n Despite the loss, Joki\u0107 delivered another standout performance with 24 points, 16 rebounds and 14 assists, recording his 27th triple-double of the season. Aaron Gordon paced the Nuggets with 27 points, and Tim Hardaway<\/a> Jr. contributed 20.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Jamal Murray<\/a> endured a difficult night offensively, finishing with five points, six rebounds and six assists while shooting 1-of-14 from the field before fouling out 31 seconds into overtime.<\/p>\n Nuggets\u2019 Loss Impacts Western Conference Race<\/p>\n The defeat carried significant consequences for Denver\u2019s position in the standings.<\/p>\n The Nuggets dropped to 41\u201327, leaving them 1.5 games behind the Lakers, who improved to 42\u201325 and moved into third place in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n With the playoff race tightening, the game could loom large in determining seeding.<\/p>\n Officiating Error Lingers<\/p>\n The NBA\u2019s acknowledgment of the missed call adds an unavoidable question to the final result.<\/p>\n Had Jones\u2019 strip been ruled correctly, Denver likely would have had possession with a chance to close out the game.<\/p>\n Instead, the Lakers seized the opportunity created by the whistle and completed a comeback that may carry major postseason implications.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAlder Almo<\/a> is a sports journalist covering the NBA for Heavy.com. He has more than 20 years of experience in local and international media, including broadcast, print and digital. He previously covered the Knicks for Empire Sports Media and the NBA for Off the Glass. Alder is from the Philippines and is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey. More about Alder Almo<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Nuggets\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets reacts to a foul during the second half of a game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-542847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542847","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=542847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}