Wizards secure season sweep as Jordan Poole sinks Nuggets with crazy last-second shot

The Nuggets dropped a brutal game at home on Saturday night against the team with the NBA’s worst record the Washington Wizards, 126-123. Denver controlled this game for most of the night, but the Wiz hung around, got hot down the stretch, and were able to steal the win on a wild, deep three by Jordan Poole with just 1.8 seconds left.

Sure, the Nuggets were on the second night of a back-to-back, but they were at home and had all of their rotation players in action outside of Aaron Gordon (who sat out to manage his recent calf injury). Plus, the Nuggets have been excellent on second nights of back-to-backs, going 12-1 in those situations before Saturday night’s disaster.

This is one of the worst losses of the season, rivaling their previous loss in Washington months ago. The Wizards are just 15-51 on the season, but two of those wins are against the Nuggets as they’ve now managed to sweep the season series.

Another pathetic defensive effort from the Nuggets

The Nuggets led this game with just seconds to play but allowed Kyshawn George to hit a wide-open corner three to give Washington a 123-121 lead with 10 seconds to play. Jamal Murray - who had just left the game with an ankle injury - responded with an elbow jumper to tie the game with just over 5 seconds left.

But then Poole ended the night, catching an inbounds pass and pulling up from beyond 30 feet, burying a deep three right in Russell Westbrook’s face. Nikola Jokic’s heave was off the mark and the Wizards escaped with the win after Denver led by as many as 16.

One night after Michael Malone threw away the stat sheet in disgust and called out his team’s effort and defense, the Nuggets were even worse. They allowed 126 points to the Wizards, getting lit up all over the court, mostly by young, unproven players.

The Wizards are not a good basketball team, but they played harder than Denver and outworked them on both ends. The Nuggets played with their food and went through the motions and it bit them in the end.

The defense and three-point shooting have been the biggest stories this season and that was the case again on Saturday night. They couldn't get stops all night, allowing 30+ points in every single quarter, and they got dominated from behind the three-point line.

The Wizards got up 45 threes and made 19 of them (42%), while the Nuggets made just 12 of 34 on the evening. This team just continues to give us evidence that these two issues will ultimately be their undoing.