No Lob City vintage magic this time for the Nuggets.
Nine days after going into Los Angeles and beating the Clippers without Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray or Aaron Gordon, the Nuggets lost 111-102 with all three in the lineup Wednesday.
Denver (14-8) hosts the Rockets on Friday in another rescheduled game for teams eliminated from the in-season tournament.
A Jokic low point
Usually, when Nikola Jokic’s rest minutes are shaky for the Nuggets and the game is closer than they’d like, the two-time MVP re-enters the game and everything fixes itself.
Not this time. Jokic missed more shots than he had ever missed in a single game in his NBA career, finishing 9-for-32 from the field including a stretch of nine consecutive misses in the second quarter, also matching a career-worst streak.
His night spiraled in spite of a promising start in the one area where he has struggled this season: the perimeter. His first two attempts of the game were made 3-pointers, seemingly getting him back on track (he entered the game at a career-low 30.1% beyond the arc).
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Ultimately, Jokic still registered his ninth triple-double of 2023-24 by picking up his 10th assist late in the game, but this was arguably his worst — or at minimum his least efficient — game in years.
“For him (Jokic ) to take 32 shots and only get two free throws and they both came in the fourth quarter doesn’t add up,” Michael Malone said. “He took a lot of shots he normally makes. I’ve never seen him go 9-of-32 before.”
The Nuggets shot nine free throws in the contest to the Clippers 25.
“We just weren’t good enough,” Malone said.
“I wasn’t good enough tonight. And we as a team weren’t good enough tonight”
Denver has not played since Saturday night, when they spent a night traveling through Los Angeles. After missing the most of last month’s action due to a hamstring ailment, Jamal Murray made a full recovery from an ankle injury. It was also Aaron Gordon’s second game back from an injury, meaning that this was the Nuggets’ first fully healthy game since their seventh game of the season.