NBA highlights on Jan. 4: Jokic beats Warriors in Stephen Curry's way

The Denver Nuggets defeated the Golden State Warriors 130-127 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California, on Thursday, after overcoming an 18-point deficit in the second half.

The game was at a 127-127 draw when the Nuggets called a timeout with 3.6 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Coach Michael Malone decided to throw the inbound from the back court, which was unorthodox. Nikola Jokic received the ball, dribbled through the midcourt line facing the defense of Kevon Looney, and shot the ball out of his hands before the game clock expired.

The ball went right into the basket to make a game-winning buzzer-beater. It resembled the epic shot Stephen Curry made for the Warriors to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in overtime on February 28, 2016. Both were far from being a reasonable offensive call but took their teams to victory in uphill battles.

Thursday's game didn't begin with full intensity, especially on the defensive end. Jokic dropped back when the opponents launched screen plays in the first three quarters, allowing relatively wide shooting space for Curry, Klay Thompson and other Warriors to work in. Similarly, the Warriors didn't double-team Jokic during the same period, even if he had the ball in the low post and faced defenders who couldn't even slow him down.

As a result, the Warriors shot 13-for-28 from downtown to get 107 points in the first three quarters, including outscoring the opponents 44-24 in the third period. Curry, Thompson, Brandin Podziemski and Dario Saric combined to go 12-for-16 in jumpers in this quarter.

The Nuggets called a timeout after Podziemski made a layup to expand the Warriors lead to 18 points (121-103) at 7:24 in the fourth period, the biggest on Thursday night. Their defense looked completely different after that. Jokic began to close out to pressure ball-handlers when he guarded screen plays. The rest of the team invested more effort in keeping Curry from receiving the ball. Meanwhile, they all moved much more quickly on the court to deflect the Warriors' ball movement and shooting attempts.

The Warriors missed 13 of their 21 field goals (FGs) to get only 20 points in the fourth quarter and committed four turnovers, including the one by Curry in their final offensive possession. By contrast, the Nuggets went 11-for-18 from the field to score 36 points in this period as Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson kept charging the paint with their advantages in size, power and athleticism. The team made six of their eight shots below the free throw line and earned 11 free throws.

Gordon alone contributed 15 points for the Nuggets in the final period and shot 6-for-6 at the free throw line. His offensive aggression and finishing efficiency punished the Warriors for focusing on containing Jokic. They tried different defenders, ranging from Thompson to Wiggins to Saric to guard Gordon. None of them could stop him.

In the other game on Thursday, the Milwaukee Bucks beat the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, avoiding their third straight loss.

It was a contest between two unicorns, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks and Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs. Antetokounmpo shot 19-for-28 from the field to drop 44 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. He and Damian Lillard combined to get 25 of the team's 32 points in the fourth period. The Bucks beat the Spurs 60-54 in points in the paint.

Wembanyama was still playing with a time limit, but he still had 27 points, nine rebounds and five blocks for the Spurs in 26 minutes. He couldn't always stop Antetokounmpo from rattling the rim, but Wembanyama's presence under the hoop made every Buck think again before breaking into the Spurs' paint.