The Denver Nuggets lost 110-100 to the Phoenix Suns on Christmas night.

This will be a shorter recap given the holiday. Here are the important points:

Jamal Murray returned to the starting lineup after a one-game hiatus due to an ankle sprain. He did not look good, scoring just 13 points in 39 minutes. Murray attempted just ten shots and struggled to generate any separation.

The Nuggets didn’t know how to incorporate Murray in his hampered state, and the plus-minus reflects that. They were minus-16 in Murray’s 39 minutes and plus-6 in the nine minutes he didn’t play.

Those minutes primarily featured Nikola Jokic, Russell Westbrook, and Michael Porter Jr., who all had good elements but all struggled in the second half. Jokic finished the game with 25 points and 15 rebounds, but he had just two assists. Westbrook played better than Murray, getting downhill and drawing defenders to him. He also had 17 points but finished with just two assists compared to four turnovers himself. Porter, fresh off a “don’t trade me” game, finished with 22 points himself compared to five turnovers. He struggled to hold onto the basketball on drives.

The Nuggets didn’t make their outside jumpers tonight off Jokic kick-out passes, and the absence of Aaron Gordon certainly hurt them. Gordon exited the game with right calf tightness, an ominous sign after the starting power forward missed several games in November with a calf injury early in the season. Denver shot 8-of-29 as a team and didn’t shoot the ball with confidence in any sense of the word.

Tonight also highlighted some recent struggles from Christian Braun, who finished with just five points and three assists. The shooting guard attempted just two three-pointers and appears extremely tentative taking shots from the perimeter. In addition, he’s struggling in his perimeter stopper role against quicker guards like Bradley Beal.

On the other end, Beal and Kevin Durant each produced 27 points. Durant was inefficient in his offensive game, but Beal was mostly dynamic, getting to different spots on the floor where Jokic couldn’t help out Braun and others in space. Beal abused the right side of the floor, snaking screens, using dribble hand-offs over and over, and escaping Braun on the move.

Tyus Jones also added an efficient 17 points on nine shots. He had a turnover on the baseline and I couldn’t believe it because he so rarely turns the ball over. The rest of the Suns had just six turnovers as a squad. The Nuggets didn’t apply any pressure in their perimeter defense, allowed offensive rebounds, and simply didn’t play good basketball.

Coal in the Stocking

Sometimes, bad losses happen. It’s Christmas, so it probably feels worse for a lot of fans, but this is a pretty standard loss. Denver didn’t bring their best stuff on national television, didn’t shoot the ball well, and simply didn’t have the energy/discipline to stay locked in defensively despite those issues.

It’s a lot of pressure to put on Jokic, who looked incredibly frustrated out there. The Nuggets were mostly fine in the first half and trailed by just two points despite not playing well. The game was lost in the third quarter when the offense fell apart. Murray didn’t apply any pressure as a scorer. Porter committed some turnovers, as did Westbrook. Braun looked incredibly flawed/in his own head. Jokic struggled to get the ball in any position to score, let alone in a position with an advantage. The Nuggets were stumbling around out there at one point and simply made too many mistakes.

It was a bit of a flop to end an incredible slate of NBA games this year. The Nuggets let the league down on this one unfortunately. It’s not a big deal, but it does continue to apply some pressure to the “get Jokic some help” narrative that Kendrick Perkins was yelling about on the ESPN halftime show.

Overall, not the way many Nuggets fans wanted this one to go. It happens though. Denver will bounce back. Murray will play better. The team will be more precise at some point.

It is notable though that every time the Nuggets seemingly turn a corner as a team, they take three steps back and force fans to consider difficult questions again.

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