Peyton Watson called DeAndre Jordan over to his locker-room cubicle while the Nuggets were waiting. Momentarily, coach Michael Malone would enter for the usual postgame mini-speech routine. But Watson was still processing his feeling of deja vu in the meantime.
Almost everything was the same. The lack of a timeout; the live-ball scramble to get back on defense. The opponent. The player holding the ball. The direction he went to create a shot.
It was even the same end of the court at Ball Arena.
Just not the same arm. Nor the same result.
“Around this time last year,” Watson recalled to Jordan, stating the obvious, “Shai hit a game-winner on me.”
On Dec. 16, 2023, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s jump shot barely snuck over the outstretched left arm of Watson and found the bottom of the net with 0.9 seconds left, giving the Thunder a 118-117 win in Denver. On Nov. 6, 2024, Gilgeous-Alexander drove left and beat his man again. But this time, he encountered the right arm of Watson, who rotated over in weak-side help defense after picking up Chet Holmgren in the dunker spot.
Watson’s block at the buzzer preserved a 124-122 Nuggets win — their most impressive of the season so far because it was also Oklahoma City’s first loss.
“He flipped it up there so high, I had no idea I was going to be able to get to it,” he said. “But I kind of just timed it up perfect and got my fingertips on it. That was enough to alter it.”
In his mind, the game-saving defensive play was redemption for giving up Gilgeous-Alexander’s game-winner 11 months ago — even though Gilgeous-Alexander is a first-team All-NBA point guard and Watson is a bench player on a rookie deal.
“I never stop thinking about it. I never, ever stop thinking about it,” Watson said after the win. “I’m one of those guys who prides myself on: Any late-shot-clock, end-of-quarter, end-of-game situation, I’m not the guy to really go at. … But he got the best of me that time. He’s an amazing player. One of the frontrunners in the league for MVP. So he’s all that for a reason, bro. He’s nice.”
But it was also redemption in a more immediate sense. The reason Oklahoma City had an opportunity to force overtime with a layup in the first place? Watson had just fumbled both foul shots with 16 seconds left and a chance to ice the game. “Super nerve-racking,” he admitted afterward. “Should have made my free throws.”
“But on the other end, doesn’t drop his head,” Malone said. “Isn’t in his feelings. “He makes a play at the rim against one of the favorites for MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. … That’s what you love about Peyton Watson.”
“Even if you make a mistake,” Nikola Jokic said, “you can do a good thing and redeem yourself.”
That Watson was even on the floor for the climax of the game was a testament to how improbable Denver’s comeback was. The 22-year-old forward was forced to replace an injured Aaron Gordon in the starting lineup. Russell Westbrook was already replacing an injured Jamal Murray. Only two weeks earlier, the Nuggets’ bench had combined to shoot 7-for-28 as Oklahoma City spoiled their season opener. Depth was the difference.
This time, the Nuggets overcame that potential talent gap with sheer grit and resilience. Watson blocked three shots. Christian Braun, still new to the usual starting lineup, clamped Gilgeous-Alexander in the second half (3 of 10 from the field with four turnovers). Westbrook led all scorers (29) even though eight players logged more minutes than he did. Julian Strawther made up for a poor shooting night by amassing six assists and five rebounds.
And Malone coached for a win as if his life depended on it. His rotation went only eight deep, stopping at 10 minutes of Zeke Nnaji. He got Michael Porter Jr. more involved during the second half by calling plays to free him up using off-ball screens. He mixed up defensive tactics, occasionally cross-matching Watson against the larger Holmgren while hiding Nikola Jokic on Alex Caruso. He went to a zone early in the game to deter Oklahoma City’s many drivers from pummeling the rim.
“We put that in, uh, today,” Braun said.
And for the second consecutive game in clutch time, Malone used a closing lineup without a point guard and with three players on rookie contracts.
“Again, I looked out there (and) I said, ‘Man, that group was playing so well,’” he explained. “I was going to get Russ back in, but man.”
Westbrook still checked back in for his defense at the tail end. Malone said the 35-year-old has been a “rock star” at that end, even on nights when his offense has been insufficient. On Monday, Westbrook glued himself to RJ Barrett and provided a game-saving contest of a 3-point attempt at the buzzer. A young teammate had his back this time when Gilgeous-Alexander got by as time dwindled.
“Every game means a lot to me. … I’m not waiting until the playoffs to take it as serious as possible,” said Watson, who was removed from the rotation during the second round of the playoffs last season. “Every game is important to me, and getting this experience, these late-game experiences — this was a playoff atmosphere tonight.”
