NBA fans think the Nuggets made a huge mistake not calling timeout before possible game-tying 3 attempt

There’s no way this was the best the Nuggets could do.

Despite the Miami Heat’s status as postseason comeback kings, the Denver Nuggets had a chance to match their opponents’ clutch factor in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Once the Heat took a late 107-95 lead, the Nuggets went on a 13-4 run to give themselves a chance at a surprising win.

And when Jimmy Butler missed a long jump shot, Denver — which had two timeouts and just over 11 seconds on the clock — could’ve tied the matchup and sent it to overtime at 111 points apiece.

But rather than stop the action and call a timeout to draw up a quality play, Nuggets head coach Mike Malone trusted Jamal Murray to figure something out in free-flow chaos and play the hero for his team. Murray would get a good look but couldn’t bury the shot as the Heat hung on to tie the series.

And it’s this no-timeout decision that folks from the outside looking in are questioning:

There’s something to be said about having faith that Murray would make the right decision in the clutch without any additional input or structure. He’s one of the NBA’s premier shooters and was already in rhythm with two three-pointers in the final few minutes.

Plus, if you’re the Nuggets, you might want to avoid Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra getting a chance to set his elite half-court defense. This was precisely Malone’s logic, as he explained after the game:

“You take a timeout, you let them get set, you let them review whatever play they think that we’re going to run and there’s a great chance that we don’t get a quality shot like Jamal [Murray] got,” Malone said, “which was on line and from my perspective, looked like it had a great chance of going in. And we’ve seen Jamal [Murray] make shots like that before.”

I understand the logic. I do. But everything about that last sequence seemed so chaotic from a glance and all subsequent viewings. Even if you think it’s theoretically better to trust your best shooter in that situation, trusting someone like Nikola Jokic to create something (either for himself or someone else) out of a set play is a much better idea.