Peyton Watson on the game-saving block of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander buzzer-beater

Peyton Watson called DeAndre Jordan into his locker room while the Nuggets waited. For a moment, coach Michael Malone would do the usual mini postgame speech. But in the meantime, Watson was still processing his sense of déjà vu.

Almost everything was the same. The lack of time off; the live ball battle 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 field at Ball Arena.

Just not the same arm. Not the same result either.

“About this time last year,” Watson recalled to Jordan, stating the obvious: “Shai scored a game-winning goal on me.”

On December 16, 2023, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s jump shot sneaked just over Watson’s outstretched left arm and found the net with 0.9 seconds left, giving the surging Thunder a 118-117 win in Denver. On November 6, 2024, Gilgeous-Alexander drove left and hit his man again. This time it hit the right arm of Watson, who was spinning in the weak-side auxiliary defense after picking up Chet Holmgren in the dunker spot.

Watson reached for the Ball Arena rafters to block SGA’s layup attempt at the buzzer, securing the Nuggets’ 124-122 win – their most impressive win of the season so far as they are no longer considered the juggernaut in this matchup . The loss was the first of the season for Oklahoma City.

“He threw it so far up there that I had no idea I was going to make it,” Watson said after arguably his best moment of his three-year career. “But I somehow timed it perfectly and had it under control. That was enough to change it.”

In his mind, the defensive heroics represented redemption for not doing enough to stop Gilgeous-Alexander’s game-winning goal 11 months ago – despite Gilgeous-Alexander being a first-team All-NBA point guard and Watson is a bench player on a rookie contract.

“I never stop thinking about it. I never stop thinking about it,” Watson said late Wednesday night. “I’m one of those people who is proud of myself: I’m not the type of person you can really rush into any situation late in the shooting time, at the end of the quarter or at the end of the game. …But this time he got the best of me. He is a great player. One of the league’s frontrunners for MVP. So he’s got all this for a reason, bro. He’s nice.”

But it was also salvation in a more immediate sense. The reason Oklahoma City even had the ability to force overtime? Watson had just missed both foul shots with 16 seconds left and had a chance to put the game on ice. “Super nerve-wracking,” he admitted afterwards. “Should have made my free throws.”

“But on the other hand, he doesn’t hang his head,” Malone said. “It’s not in his feelings. He plays on the edge against one of the favorites for MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. … That’s what you love about Peyton Watson.”

That Watson was on the floor even at the game’s climax was a testament to how unlikely a Denver comeback was. The 22-year-old striker had to replace the injured Aaron Gordon in the starting line-up. Russell Westbrook has already replaced the injured Jamal Murray. Just two weeks earlier, the Nuggets’ bench had gone a combined 7-for-28 as Oklahoma City botched its season opener. The depth was the difference.

The Nuggets overcame this potential talent gap in the rematch with sheer grit and perseverance. Watson blocked three shots. Christian Braun, still new to the regular lineup, slowed down Gilgeous-Alexander in the second half (3 of 10 field throws with four turnovers). Westbrook led all scorers (29 on 15 shots), although eight players logged more minutes than him. Julian Strawther made up for the poor shooting night with six assists and five rebounds.

And Malone trained to win like his life depended on it. His rotation only went deep eight times, ending with 10 minutes from Zeke Nnaji. In the second half, he turned on Michael Porter Jr.’s water by placing an emphasis on play-calling to take the pressure off the sniper with more off-ball screenings. He changed defensive tactics, occasionally pitting Watson against the lankier Holmgren while hiding Nikola Jokic from Alex Caruso. (Jokic deflected eight times and was far more effective defensively than he was the first night when Holmgren torched him.) Early in the game, he moved into a zone to keep Oklahoma City’s many drivers from hitting the rim .

“We installed that today,” said Braun.

And for the second straight time in the final period, Malone used a closing lineup that contradicted his instincts: not because it lacked a true point guard, but because it featured three players on rookie contracts.