Nuggets hit wall, suffer worst loss of season to weak Wizards

The Denver Nuggets have been swept by the worst team in the NBA, the Washington Wizards—losing for a second time to that crew this season on Saturday 126-123 thanks to a Jordan Poole game-winner.

Denver finished a stretch of five games in seven nights by dropping a third, this one to the Wizards, who entered the night at 14-51. The Nuggets appear to have hit a wall, drained by two emotional games in Oklahoma City last weekend that they split, followed by another beat down from the Wolves on Wednesday and an unnecessarily clutch win against the Lakers backups. And now it’s a four-game road trip for the Nuggets, who are in a three-way tie with Houston and Memphis for second in the West while Los Angeles lurks right behind, also with 25 losses but fewer games played.

The Wizards hung around all evening but made multiple comebacks in the second half, outscoring the Nuggets by 12 after the break. And it was Poole throwing much of that party in the fourth quarter. He had 14 points on four-of-five threes in that frame, including the final one and a cut for a finish to just before that tie the game to end with 19.

“Tie game, obviously, so he should probably maybe pressure the ball a little bit more, be up into his airspace a little bit. But again, I got to go back and watch it to have a better answer,” Nuggets head coach said of Russell Westbrook’s defense, which allowed Poole to have a pretty easy look despite it being from 35 feet.

JORDAN POOLE WINS IT FROM WAY DOWNTOWN 🤯😱🚨 pic.twitter.com/OtymzdFekX

— NBA (@NBA) March 16, 2025

The Wizards were led by rookie Alex Sarr’s career-best 34 (previous high was 22) with six rebounds and five assists. It was the 14th-straight game the Nuggets, whose defense is struggling, allowed their rivals to score at least 110 points.

“We got lucky to beat a team that was severely limited in terms of their normal rotation last night, and then tonight, we didn’t get lucky,” Malone said. “So if you’re going to be a relevant team. We have to start playing some defense. We have to stop turning the ball over. We have to start rebounding. It’s game 6,7 and I’ve been saying the same things the whole year.”

The Nuggets were out-rebounded and threw more turnovers. More importantly maybe was the bench only providing eight points to the Wizards’ 28.

“I do know that if we’re going to be a team that is serious about making the postseason and being a team that can win around winning another round, if we don’t, if we don’t start defending for four quarters, we’re never going to get that opportunity,” Malone keyed in on his focus before talking about the rotation a second later. “Our bench production hasn’t been great the whole season, and that’s not just on them. That’s also on me to try to help those guys a little bit.”

Nikola Jokic followed up his first game against the Wizards, a career-high 56 points, with another scoring barrage in a loss to them. He tallied 40 points on 30 shots with 13 rebounds and nine helpers. Jamal Murray rolled his ankle at the end of the game but still came through to hit a clutch shot again, part of a 24-point night with seven assists, six rebounds and four steals. Both Michael Porter Jr and Russell Westbrook got into the 20s as well. Aaron Gordon sat, resting his multiple injuries.

Now the Nuggets head to Golden State and Los Angeles on Monday and Wednesday for battles against two of the stronger teams since the All-Star Break—all the while Denver has faltered.