The Denver Nuggets have lost three in a row after falling to the New Orleans Pelicans 113-105 at home on Friday night. New Orleans applied too much pressure in the paint and outscored the Nuggets 58-32.

“All three meetings we never defend the paint at all,” Michael Malone said. “I also felt in that fourth quarter we had seven turnovers to nine points in the fourth quarter… obviously does not help your offense. And Herbert Jones really dominated us especially in that fourth quarter.”

Rookie Herbert Jones, who was 35th overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft, went a perfect 6-6 from the field to score 18 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter. Brandon Ingram was also a problem and scored 23 points and dished out 12 assists while Jaxson Hayes scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Reigning MVP Nikola Jokic put up another impressive stat line with 25 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. Monte Morris finished the night with 19 points. The Nuggets were without Aaron Gordon due to a hamstring injury, but he is expected to be back on Sunday.

“I definitely think it’s a bad loss,” Morris said. “We’re supposed to watch this team. We beat them twice. It’s just tough. A tough night, we had some good looks down the stretch that rattled in and out but to me it shouldn’t have even been that close if we were all the way locked in. I don’t think we were all the way locked in.”

After winning four in a row on the road, this isn’t how the Nuggets wanted to start their three-game home stand especially against a team they’ve beat twice already this season. They face the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, one of the teams they beat on this most recent road trip and they know how much of a challenge this matchup will be.

The Nuggets came out shooting 50% from the 3-point line in the first quarter but they struggled to defend the paint allowing the Pelicans to score 12 points inside. There were nine lead changes and they were tied eight times in the quarter. Nikola Jokic finished with nine points, four rebounds and three assists for Denver while both Jaxson Hayes and Devonte’ Graham finished with six for New Orleans. Denver took a 29-27 lead.

The Nuggets took as much as a six-point lead in the second quarter behind Davon Reed’s six points. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers. Zeke Nnaji also had six in the quarter but the Nuggets continued to get outscored in the paint 16-4 and allowed the Pelicans to get back into the game. Brandon Ingram was a force down low scoring eight points and Jaxson Hayes added another six. Denver took a 52-51 lead at the half. There were no Nuggets players in double figures heading into halftime.

The Pelicans opened the third quarter scoring four straight points to take a 55-52 lead. The Nuggets responded and tied it up at 57. Denver was able to create some space with a four-point lead after a Morris 3, but Ingram and Hayes continued attacking the paint and combined for 21 points. Ingram later tied it up at 82 to close the quarter. New Orleans shot 65% from the field in the third.

New Orleans went on a 6-2 run to start the fourth which led to an immediate timeout for Denver. Jokic scored 10 points in the quarter and hit a couple triples to tie it back up 97 but Jones started to take over the quarter for the Pelicans putting up 18 of his 25 points, 10 of which came in the last five minutes of the game. He went perfect from the field and helped close the game out on a 12-8 run to win it 113-105.

Denver sits in sixth place in the Western Conference standings with a 28-24 record. It has six more games before heading into the All-Star break.