The Denver Nuggets looked like a team that had no idea what to do by the middle of the fourth quarter.

The Nuggets lost 128-109 to the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night, their second loss in a row on this road trip and second blowout in a row. Nikola Jokic didn’t play, and for the second straight game, the Nuggets were discombobulated on offense and inept on defense without him.

Even though Jamal Murray made his return, the Nuggets still didn’t look right on either end of the floor. after a solid start that saw the Nuggets jump out to an early double-digit lead, giving up a few offensive rebounds erased the great work Denver did. Whenever the Nuggets actually played mistake free and detail-oriented basketball, they extended their lead.

Unfortunately, that went out the door in the second half. Denver lost the final 24 minutes 74-50 and could never recapture the lead because they kept handing the Blazers momentum shattering plays. The Blazers accumulated at least five And-1 opportunities tonight, grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, and forced 20 Nuggets turnovers. Russell Westbrook had nine of them himself, playing out of control far too often and committing several painful mistakes.

Westbrook wasn’t the only one to make mistakes, of course. His were simply the loudest among a long list of loud mistakes. Almost every Nugget gave up something or other tonight, and the worst part was, the hustle wasn’t there when it mattered. Denver had opportunities in this one had they locked in, but they simply couldn’t. That’s not a great sign for a Nuggets squad that supposedly has championship aspirations.

Aaron Gordon was once again solid with 23 points and four assists. Westbrook had 15 points on 5-of-6 from the field in the first half but was 1-of-7 in the second half and finished with the aforementioned nine turnovers. Jamal Murray had just 10 points and looked uncomfortable in his return. Christian Braun was efficient offensively but ineffective defensively.

Ditto for Michael Porter Jr., who had 17 points but was part of a group that gave up 36 points to his counterpart, Deni Avdija, which was a career-high. I wrote about Avdija in the keys to the game in this morning’s preview. Porter was minus-19 in the points department to Avdija, minus three in rebounds, minus four in assists, minus two in steals, and minus one in blocks. Simply put, Avdija thoroughly outplayed Porter. It’s been a while since Porter won his individual matchup.

Overall, the Nuggets aren’t in a great place. It’s March basketball, so how much it matters is unclear, but it certainly doesn’t look or feel good.

Frazzled and Uncertain

The win over the Golden State Warriors a few days ago feels like a distant memory. An ugly loss to the Los Angeles Lakers followed by a poor performance against the Blazers have highlighted just how far away from “championship caliber” the Nuggets appear to be.

Jokic’s injuries were apparently more severe than he had been letting on, and at this stage of the season, it’s far more important to get healthy than to earn wins. The Nuggets have won *almost* enough games to be perfectly fine in a strong Western Conference. Their Magic Number for a playoff spot is currently 8 over the seventh seed Los Angeles Clippers so Denver’s still very, very likely to be a playoff team and not a Play-In team.

Still, it would be nice to see Denver play with a bit more connectivity and belief over these last three games. They earned a nice win vs Golden State but got waxed vs the Lakers and Blazers. Both times, the story was the same: poor offensive and defensive execution on the details.

Championship teams are often detail-oriented. They earn wins on the margins, finding opportunities to steal two points here, three points there, out-hustling the opposition to the tune of a big win in a shorthanded situation. Denver did that once on this trip. Whether they can do it again on the final game remains to be seen.

Who do the Nuggets have on Sunday? Oh, just the Houston Rockets, who have won nine games in a row and are known for their hustle and grit. Good luck.

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