The Denver Nuggets dropped their first NBA Cup game to the Portland Trail Blazers 109-107 in controversial fashion.

With a minute to go, the Nuggets had an opportunity to win a clutch game despite losing a lead late in the fourth quarter.

Aaron Gordon hit a stepback mid-range jumper to put the Nuggets up 107-102 with 60 seconds to go. Six seconds later, Cam Johnson committed a foul that allowed Deni Avdija to convert an And-1 opportunity. Avdija made the free throw, then Christian Braun missed a wide open three on the next possession.

Then, the Blazers drove to the paint and drew another foul. David Adelman challenged the call, but the Nuggets lost, resulting in two more free throws and a tie game.

To add insult to injury, the Nuggets had an opportunity to win the game late when Toumani Camara wrapped up Nikola Jokic from behind on an inbound pass late in the shot clock on the ensuing possession, only for a jump ball to be called. Jokic tipped the ball to Aaron Gordon who had his shot blocked.

Finally, Jerami Grant caught the ball with three seconds left and got fouled by Aaron Gordon. It was a foul, but after the previous several possessions simply appeared icing on the cake. The Blazers made another two free throws, and the Nuggets didn’t have an opportunity to advance the ball because they lost their only timeout on a challenge. Gordon passed the ball the length of the floor to Nikola Jokic who had an opportunity to tie the game at the buzzer, but the ball rolled off the rim.

It’s a tough loss, one that the Nuggets can rightfully feel was taken right out from under them by controversial calls on the road. The Blazers are a great defensive team and deserve the benefit of the doubt on some of those plays…but the ball was literally taken out of Denver’s hands down the stretch.

Of course, if the Nuggets make the plays and don’t allow the gap to close, the game would be over with 60 seconds to go. The Nuggets turned the ball over three times in the final five minutes. Their defense was poor in the second and fourth quarters. Denver’s inability to get the ball to their best player hurt them on several occasions.

Jokic’s triple-double streak was broken after the first four games. He finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists on 7-of-10 from the field, 2-of-3 from three, and 5-of-7 from the free throw line. The Blazers denied him the ball down the stretch with their ball pressure against Denver’s perimeter players as well as fronting him in the post. 10 shot attempts probably isn’t enough for Jokic in a game like this one, and the Nuggets have to find ways to get him the ball in scoring position more frequently.

Jamal Murray played through a calf injury and performed reasonably well with 22 points, six rebounds, and three assists on 9-of-15 from the field. Murray continues to shoot a lower percentage from three though (1-of-4) and Denver needed more spacing from him on a night when they shot just 6-of-25 from three as a team.

Denver’s lack of floor spacing continues to be an issue. As a team, the Nuggets struggled to give their interior scorers much room tonight, constantly cutting into a crowd and trying to make themselves available at the rim as opposed to on the perimeter. Christian Braun was a culprit there. He had multiple record scratches (hesitating to take an open three) and probably needed to camp out behind the three-point line more consistently. The Nuggets need Jokic to have space in the middle of the floor to operate, but a congested paint is difficult to work against.

On the defensive end, Denver just didn’t execute the game plan well enough. Portland shot a low percentage from three (11-of-39 for 28.2%) but still managed 50 points in the paint despite the high number of threes and free throws. Denver forced just 12 turnovers against a subpar offensive team and couldn’t get the stops when it mattered. 31 free throws was also problematic.

There are a variety of reasons why things fell apart. What matters more is that they fell apart again. This was very reminiscent of the Nuggets’ loss to the Golden State Warriors on opening night, leading a game in the fourth quarter only to lack the execution at the end when it matters. The Nuggets failed for different reasons tonight, but they’re now 0-2 in clutch situations and have been horrible statistically on both ends during that time.

It’s only Game 5 of the season and the Nuggets are 3-2. They’re going to be fine; however, racking up enough of these losses will change their seeding in the future. If they lose a random tiebreaker late in the season, it’s not because of those games. It’s because of this one.