The Nuggets Lost To The Wizards Thanks To The Worst 3-On-1 Fastbreak Ever

The Denver Nuggets haven’t been able to get out of second gear this season despite the sensational play of Nikola Jokic, and on Thursday they lost to the Washington Wizards for the second time this month, falling to 17-15. The Wizards have been very good of late, winning six of their last seven, but even so, this isn’t a team that Denver would believe should be capable of picking up a season series sweep against them.

And yet, despite some shaky execution late offensively by the Wizards, they were able to pull out a 112-110 win thanks to what can only be described as the worst 4-on-1 fastbreak in NBA history. Washington missed their final shot attempt and Nikola Jokic was able to tip the rebound out to Jamal Murray to start what should’ve been a fastbreak to tie the game, at the very least. Bradley Beal was the only Wizard between Murray, Facu Campazzo, Michael Porter Jr., Will Barton, and the rim.

What happened from there was, truly, stunning to watch.

Somehow, out of that incredible opportunity, the Wizards could only manage a three-point heave from Campazzo, who was 1-of-6 prior to that moment from three on the night. Murray pulls up at the three-point line, possibly thinking that he’d get one of his teammates to cut to the rim and put Beal in a situation to make a hard decision: give up a pull-up three that could give Denver a win or give up an open layup that would send the game to overtime.

Instead, Campazzo, MPJ and the trailing Barton all stop at various points on the three-point line as well, leaving Murray with no outs when Beal jumps out on him and a trailing Rui Hachimura arrives as well. The result is a skip pass to Campazzo who launches a contested three that barely catches iron. After the game, Murray took responsibility for the blown opportunity, but in all honesty, it’s far from his fault alone.

If just one of his teammates cuts to the rim, Denver gets a much better shot, but he also could’ve gone downhill to attack Beal and then kick it out to Porter Jr. in the corner. Everyone involved erred and the result is one of the most stunning missed executions of what should’ve been an easy scoring opportunity of the season.

Murray said postgame he should’ve just shot the ball and that he thought Porter would cut, but it was just a misunderstanding at the worst time.