Jokic's game winner bails Nuggets out against Mavericks

With less than a month remaining in the regular season, the Denver Nuggets are staring down the home stretch. They have a solid cushion to nab a top-2 seed but can’t afford any stumbles with the Houston Rockets gaining ground — especially stumbles to team as poor on the road as the Dallas Mavericks, the opponent that rolled into Pepsi Center on Thursday.

Going into the nationally televised game, the Mavericks were just 6-27 on the road. They’d lost six in a row overall. Through three quarters, the Nuggets, save for Paul Millsap, played like a win was a foregone conclusion. But they found some life late as Nikola Jokic hit a buzzer-beating floater to push Denver past Dallas 100-99.

Jokic didn’t convert a field goal through three quarters. He hit four shots in the final 12 minutes, though, including the most important one of the night. He scored nine of his 11 points in the final period.

Paul Millsap carried the load for most of the game. The 34-year-old scored Denver’s first eight points of the game. He finished with 33, his highest scoring output since he came to Denver. He hit 14 of 19 shots.

Denver trailed by 10 points going into the fourth, but it retook the lead lead late and had a chance to increase its lead with less than a minute to go. But Gary Harris dribbled the ball off his leg, and on Dallas’ next possession, Luka Doncic went right down the middle for a dunk to put his team ahead by one. Then Jokic bailed Denver out with the game winner.

The Nuggets improved to 45-22. They have a 3 1/2-game cushion over the Rockets for the 2 seed, and are 1 game behind the Western Conference-leading Warriors.