The court vision of Jokic paid off for the Nuggets.
The Golden State Warriors were down by one point with 14 seconds remaining after Jordan Poole stole the ball and laid it back in.
Jokic admitted after the game that he was a risk by inbounding the ball with a crosscourt heave.
Jokic was more than willing to take it after he saw a swarm of Warriors jerseys.
Jokic's men had to be open.
He threw the ball to a wide-open Bruce Brown who dunked it. The win was sealed with a couple of free throws a few seconds later.
Draymond Green said the Warriors did not sleep on Jokic's pass. Normally, the Warriors want their center back underneath the other basket, but in this case they wanted the center to be Green.
Our guards are new to this position. The basket is not protected by guards, Green said. I could have said that. I should have said that we need to make sure we have a man back.
Jokic finished the game with a triple-double, his 77th career triple-double. Jokic is the second center in NBA history to have a triple-double.
Jokic scored or assisted on 50 Denver points, but it was his passing that made a difference.
"We've been together for eight years now and I don't think we're going to change anything," he said. He has made the big play, the right play and a game-changing type of play many times. He has an IQ that's off the charts. A lot of other people are playing checkers and he is playing chess.
The Nuggets scored 24 points off Jokic's passes on 10- of-15 shooting, including 4-of-7 from 3. Three of his assists came in transition.
Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope benefited the most from his passes.
Brown shot 4-of-4, including the winning dunk, off Jokic's passes.
The Nuggets welcomed eight new players, including Caldwell-Pope and Brown, and reintegrated Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr before the game.
Jokic has been challenged to take his leadership to the next level by being vocal and teaching.
Jokic grabbed the whiteboard during timeouts to explain to his teammates where he wants them to go.
From afar, they probably admired Jokic's passing from playing against him. You're with him, but it's different to watch it. You have to be prepared because he makes the game so easy.
After scoring 70 points and up 18 on Golden State in the first half, the Nuggets allowed the Warriors to get within eight with about five minutes left.
Stephen Curry had 34 points on 10-of-22 shooting, while Andrew Wiggins had 23 points and eight rebound, and Draymond Green had 13 points and nine assists.
Denver scored 9-4 in the clutch to win the game.
The second quarter was one of the best of the year. There are a lot of things that need to be cleaned up. It's a great victory. We can enjoy it for about two and a half hours on the plane and then we have our home opener.
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