The Nuggets were 30 seconds and 93 feet away from a marquee victory in Houston last week.
Leading the Rockets 124-123 in the final 20 seconds, Jameer Nelson headed up the court while preparing to engineer a play the Nuggets hoped would seal a victory they desperately needed. Roughly 30 dribbles, no passes and an airball later, the Nuggets had come up empty and the ball landed in the hands of Houston megastar James Harden, who then dribbled the length of the floor in less than five seconds for an uncontested, game-winning layup.
The description of the sequence isn’t to knock Nelson.