MIAMI _ This was another of those Miami Heat games with a late six-point lead.
Which this season have been a most uneven proposition.
This time the challenge was the Denver Nuggets and the triple-double of Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, on a night Dion Waiters provided a needed spark for the Heat.
And this time the lead could not hold up, with the Nuggets exiting Wednesday night with a 103-99 victory at AmericanAirlines Arena that dropped the Heat again under .500, at 19-20.
"We did enough things to put ourselves in position to win," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "They made more plays down the stretch, as simple as that."
It came down to a Denver timeout with 22 seconds to play, with the Nuggets getting a driving floater from Jokic, as he improved to 11 of 21 from the field.
The Heat then inbounded with 2.4 seconds to play, with Kelly Olynyk throwing an alley-oop attempt to Josh Richardson across the court and out of bounds.
"I think it was there," Spoelstra said. "You live with that."
Jokic closed with 29 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Waiters provided 15 points off the Heat bench, leading the Heat in scoring.
The Nuggets pushed to an 87-81 lead early in the fourth quarter, after the teams stood tied 76-76 going into the period.
The Heat then got 3-pointers from Waiters and Richardson as well as a driving layup by Dwyane Wade to move to an 89-87 lead with 6:40 to play.
An alley-oop from Wade to Bam Adebayo followed for a 91-87 lead with 6:19 to play, with a driving layup by Richardson making it a 93-87 advantage, to complete the 12-0 run.
From there ... not good.
Waiters then missed a pair of free throws and Paul Millsap made a pair to leave it tied 95-95.
The came an unfortunate turn of events for the Heat, with Millsap fouled on a made basket. Although he missed the ensuing free throw, that errant free throw accidentally was tipped in by the Heat's Justise Winslow, for a 99-95 Denver lead.
The Heat closed within 99-97 on an Adebayo basket, with a pair of Richardson misses following.
The Heat then gained possession off a jump ball with 34.7 seconds to play, down two, with Adebayo scoring inside to tie it 99-99 with those 22.9 seconds to play that led to Jokic's winning basket.
The Nuggets closed with 15 offensive rebounds.
"More than anything what hurt us were those second opportunities," Spoelstra said. "We kind of got beat at our own game."
