Nuggets Film Room: Nikola Jokic and Wilson Chandler nearly connect on the play of the year

By now you probably know that Nikola Jokic has a flair for the dramatic. Whether it’s the no-look passes in transition, behind-the-back dribbles through the defense, or the over-the-head flicks to cutters, Jokic loves the flashy assists but will make the right play more often than not.

But with one minute to go until halftime in the Denver Nuggets’ 129-111 win over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night, the 6-foot-10 big man unleashed a Jokic special — one he probably wishes he could take back.

With Emmanuel Mudiay pushing the ball on the break, Jokic gets ahead of the defense and finds himself running alongside Wilson Chandler with only one defender between him and the hoop. A two-on-one fastbreak in the NBA might be one of the highest-percentage plays in today’s game and defenders more often than not give themselves up, won’t even take a foul and concede the layup.

Fortunately for DeMar DeRozan, he didn’t have to make that choice. Jokic goes for the behind-the-back alley-oop but overshoots Chandler.

“I saw him and thought he was going to jump,” Jokic said with a smile in the locker room. “But he didn’t even jump.”

So who deserves the blame for Jokic’s gaffe?

Jokic quickly raises his hand after the pass — the NBA equivalent of saying ‘my bad’ but Chandler was more than willing to take the blame afterward.

“Yeah, it was my fault,” he said from his locker a few feet down from Jokic.

Luckily, the pass didn’t cost Jokic or the Nuggets. Denver’s big man controlled Wednesday night’s matchup despite only scoring eight points. Jokic had 15 rebounds, ten assists and dictated the pace of the game for the full 31 minutes that he played.

For all the flashy passes, Jokic will make one or two silly decision like this per game that surely give Nuggets’ coach Michael Malone fits. But that’s what you get with The Joker.

“It’s kind of a bad play but whatever,” Jokic said. “I needed to try it.”