Last night, the Denver Nuggets faced down their first test of the season without their best player, and they failed.

Nikola Jokic missed the first NBA Cup game of the season for the Denver Nuggets, and the team struggled to score without him out there, putting up just 94 points. Jamal Murray was tasked with the most responsibility, but he had just 16 points on 16 shots and rarely looked comfortable against the Pelicans trapping defense. Michael Porter Jr. had 20 points in the first half but just four points in the second half as the Pelicans looked to take him away.

Should it be a surprise that the Nuggets lost without their best player despite the Pelicans also missing their best player and five other starter/rotation players to boot?

Probably not.

On the latest episode of Pickaxe and Roll, Ryan Blackburn recaps the Denver Nuggets 101-94 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA Cup. It didn’t matter that the Pelicans were missing Zion Williamson and five other rotation players, or that they had lost six games in a row. The Nuggets were missing Nikola Jokic, and that was clearly enough. Ryan discusses Jamal Murray struggling to step up, Denver’s center issues, and how Denver lost last night.

Pickaxe and Roll is a Nuggets podcast streamed live on YouTube every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 10am MT. You can catch episodes live by subscribing to the Mile High Sports YouTube channel and turning on Bell Notifications.

If you can’t catch Pickaxe and Roll live, listen to the audio version on the BLEAV Podcast Network, or download this podcast episode wherever you get podcasts.