Jokic-less Nuggets have no hope in uninspiring home loss to the Pelicans

The highlight of the game on Thursday night at Ball Arena between the Nuggets and the Pelicans was watching our own Derek Wolfe mess around with Rocky. While it’s always entertaining to see what happens with Wolfe and big cats, if mascot hunting is the best thing going, you picked a night where the best team in the west was doomed to play their worst.

And there it is!!!! Rocky with Wolfe!!!! Best thing of the night! Classic. @Derek_Wolfe95 @DenverSportsCom pic.twitter.com/FdX6HXtMAO

— Darren McKee (@DMacRadio) March 31, 2023

The camo-wearing mountain lion lived to tell the tale of his Wolfe encounter. His survival story was more than the Nuggets could claim in their 107-88 bird bath of basketball bludgeoning.

It simply was a bad night to have a bad night. With MVP candidate Nikola Jokic lounging on the bench in an olive-green suit, trying to recover from calf tightness/resting for the Suns tomorrow, the Nuggets needed a big-time performance from somebody. The response from the team in the absence of their leader was uninspiring.

“Well, Nikola didn’t play,” said Nuggets head Malone on what went wrong. “We couldn’t make a shot. We had a lot of guys who couldn’t make a shot. But I felt our guys competed. We cannot fault our guys for lack of effort and fight and I’m proud of them for that.”

Christian Braun put on a dynamic fourth-quarter show with three different monster slams that got the crowd to their feet. He was the lone bright spot. The breakthrough rookie has undoubtedly earned a permanent spot in a playoff rotation.

“Am I thinking about it? Yea, absolutely,” said Braun when asked about getting playoff minutes. “That’s my goal to come in and compete at the highest level. I think that’s when I play my best.”

As energized as Braun got the crowd, the night was built for the hero to be a max contract guy. It was disappointing to see the tank in the Ferrari was empty from the jump.

Michael Porter Jr. blew his big chance. The supposed superstar stepped in a steaming pile of Pelican poop. The usually dynamic scorer struggled to find his outside shot-making rhythm, as he clanked all seven of his three-point attempts. If MPJ felt like throwing up after his performance, there’s a good chance he would’ve missed that bucket too.

Filling the shoes of Jokic proved to be an impossible task. Thomas Bryant came off the witness protection program to get a start. In general, he flailed as he failed. Head coach Michael Malone played him for 14 mercy minutes. Bryant would finish with a sad four points and three rebounds.

“No idea. (I) can’t answer that,” curtly stated Malone when questioned what it would take to get Bryant in a rhythm. “Maybe ask him that.”

It wasn’t all on Bryant. Neither Zeke Nnaji nor Jeff Green rose to the Jokic-less occasion. All told, the three bigs combined for 11 points, 12 rebounds and two assists. It was just another example of the brilliance Jokic brings to the court and why, without question, he deserves the MVP.

Jamal Murray and Bruce Brown somewhat kept the team in the game. Murray went for 21 and Brown put up 19 off the bench.

“I just felt tired tonight,” said Brown. “I don’t know why.”

Perhaps having a benefit schmooze-fest gala wasn’t the best idea this late in the season. Both the Avs and Nuggets fell flat on their faces on consecutive nights at Ball Arena after Tuesday’s soirée.

The Nuggets shot just 14.3% from three. Their 88 points were their lowest-scoring output at home this season. They were a lousy 20 of 32 from the charity stripe. The Pelicans’ Brandon Ingram had a huge night with his second career triple double going for 31 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. If you needed some kind of bad precedent to be set, the Nuggets were catering to all whims and desires.

The truth is bad nights happen to good teams. The Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks lost by a stunning 41 points to Boston. At home. Start to finish, it was a competition nightmare twin bill for the nationally televised TNT broadcast.

Malone entered the press room hurriedly after the game. He needed to quickly dispense with the muggles in order to move onto consulting with his sports science folks about whether Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Murray and Jokic would even bother traveling to Phoenix.

Another night of potential misery awaits. Incredibly, things may actually get worse.

But hey, the night wasn’t all lost. The Rockies ruined San Diego’s home opener beating the Padres 7-2…

… so … there’s that?

***

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