All good things must come to an end eventually. That adage rang true for the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, as they saw their 12-game road winning streak snapped at the hands of the youthful Dallas Mavericks and rookie No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg. 

Flagg, 19, put together an elite performance, scoring a game-high 33 points on 14-of-21 shooting while making an efficient 4-of-6 attempts from 3-point range. Flagg nearly notched a triple-double as well, finishing with nine rebounds and nine assists. Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 31 points on 12-of-21 shooting, while Nikola Jokic added 29 on 12-of-22 shooting.

The Nuggets had a chance to win the game at the buzzer. A fully-covered Jokic passed out to a wide-open Peyton Watson, but Watson’s shot rimmed out as time expired and the Nuggets went home a loser for the second time in three games overall. 

“I felt like I knew the ball was coming,” Watson said. “There had been a few plays in a row where they were trying to crowd the pocket. So, I felt like I knew the ball was coming.

I knew the shot was coming. I felt like it was going in. It just went in and out. I think that everybody on our team, our coaching staff and Nikola, trust me to shoot that shot and make it.”

The silver lining for Watson, despite falling short in that moment, was that it revealed the trust that Jokic has in him. It’s no secret that Jokic is considered the best player in the world in today’s era of basketball, so to earn his trust in that situation is no small deal. Next time, Watson just hopes he can be the hero when his number is inevitably called again. 

“I mean, it means everything to me,” Watson said. “Me and (Jokic) obviously have been playing together for a little bit. And his trust game in and game out means the world to me. I'm sad I couldn't convert today. I'm disappointed. But at the end of the day, we have a lot more games. This is an experience that I'm going to take with me and  be focused on making the next one.”

It must also mean a lot that Jokic didn’t regret his decision to pass the ball to Watson in the game’s deciding moment.

“I think it was a good shot,” Jokic said. “It didn't go in. I think it was the right play to do and I would do it again.”