Nuggets, Nikola Jokic and David Adelman failed in the clutch during Game 2

DENVER — The Denver Nuggets have been one of the NBA’s best clutch teams with Nikola Jokic leading the charge, but in Game 2 against the Los Angeles Clippers, the three-time MVP and his team came up short, losing 105-102.

There was a play in the first minute of the fourth quarter that should have been a sign that something was off. Peyton Watson brilliantly did his job in stopping a Clippers pick and roll, leading to a steal and a fast break. But Russell Westbrook gave it right back, resulting in an open Clippers dunk. It began a chaotic fourth quarter, where the Nuggets hustled and made some huge shots, but every player in navy made even bigger mistakes.

If one play decides a season, changes the legacy of many, or the outlook of a franchise, the last 12 minutes on Monday were full of them.

“We had chances to ice the game, win the game, stretch the lead even before the end,” Jamal Murray said. “This loss feels like it was on us, given the opportunities we missed — everybody.”

When NBA teams hold home court in the first two games of a best-of-seven series, they win 92% of the time. When they split the first two, that figure drops to 62%. Losing by just three, meaning any possession could have changed the outcome, effectively shifted the Nuggets’ playoff outlook by 30%, according to historical data. The Nuggets themselves had won eight of their last nine playoff games decided by a possession, pointing to just how off things were in Denver late in Game 2.

The chaos began midway through the fourth quarter when the Nuggets wasted a possession, but a putback by Michael Porter Jr. gave the Nuggets a 92-91 lead. It was one of the forward’s 15 rebounds as Denver went a staggering plus-18 on the glass against the NBA’s best rebounding team.

After missing just one shot in the game, the Nuggets had finally cooled Kawhi Leonard off for a moment. But Aaron Gordon left him wide open on a pick and roll to slow Ivica Zubac after Nikola Jokic trapped James Harden. Zu found Leonard, who splashed back to put the Clippers on top, one of the 18 times the lead changed.

The next trip down the floor, Norman Powell ran Russell Westbrook into a screen and out of the play for an easy floater, two of his seven fourth-quarter points after starting the game 2-for-10..

Jokic got to the line but split his free throws, one of his four misses from the stripe Monday.

Down 96-93, a play that perfectly captured the Nuggets’ season unfolded. Jokic worked a post-up with little space and didn’t like it, so he re-posted. When he did this, Christian Braun cut into the lane from the strong side, bringing the two-time Defensive Player of the Year Leonard right next to the ball. Claw played the lane, so too did Kris Dunn, forcing a steal. Somehow, a loose ball pin-balled back to Jokic off his steal, and he found Porter for a wide-open three and the tie. It also gave Jokic a triple-double. The play reflected everything wrong with the Nuggets’ roster — and everything right about how hard they still play, showed how much Jokic needs to work, and for the breaks that need to go perfectly for Denver to have a shot.

Porter kept making hustle plays, collecting a Powell miss moments later. And then scooping up an offensive rebound on the following trip after Jokic looked off a wide-open three to take a much tougher two over Leonard. Even still, Porter only split his pair, part of the Nuggets’ brutal 64% shooting night at the stripe.

Then it was Murray’s turn to make a hustle play, tipping a ball out of bounds, but somehow it ended with an AND-1 opportunity for Zubac as he got a layup off the inbound play.

And then it was Murray’s turn to struggle with execution, twice throwing bad passes before the ball got to wide-open Gordon in the lane with nobody else in the paint. His dunk would take the lead for the Nuggets with 2:43 to play. One of the league’s best finishers clanked it. Worse, the Nuggets had three men under the basket and the dunk attempt went out of bounds in a game they were killing it on the glass.

“Little things, AG had time to dunk it in,” Porter said, who threw three of the team’s 20 turnovers. “Turnovers killed us.”

So Leonard went Terminator, and Murray had to hit a massive three.

That led to the play of the night with 100 seconds left and the game tied at 100. Braun and Porter doubled Kawhi into one of his four misses. The rebound bounced out to Porter. He quickly threw the ball up, looking for Gordon, but instantly regretted the decision. He tried to get the loose ball back by diving on the floor. Porter bashed his left shoulder and stayed on the ground. Meanwhile, the Clippers got the ball and found Norman Powell, who cashed a wing three to take a lead the Clippers would never relinquish.

“I felt like it was on me for that turnover,” Porter said after the game, taking the blame for the loss. “I feel like if I had just, I thought, you know, I thought I had two guys streaking down, so I was trying to get it out and advance it up, but I didn’t, so then I turned it over. I just felt like that was the biggest turnover game. Every game is so serious in the playoffs, I had to tell my guys my fault; that was my mistake.”

The Nuggets were still in it, and Jokic barely missed an AND-1 to tie it back up. He hit both his free throws, leading to a must-stop.

Jokic trapped Harden by the Clippers’ bench, and the former MVP forearmed the big man to the ground. Some called it a flop, but Jokic seemed shaken by it, and it’s still an elbow from a guy weighing 220 pounds. Los Angeles called a timeout to draw up a play, but it seemed like a moment rookie David Adelman could have opted for a challenge that he never wound up using. The Clippers got it to Kawahi for an easy elbow jumper.

The Nuggets were in desperation mode now. Jokic got caught in the air on offense and threw a brutal turnover to Leonard. The Clippers couldn’t score, giving the Nuggets the ball with the clock running down three with 11 seconds left.

The Nuggets never called their last timeout.

“In transition, I thought we had a chance to get an open 3. Numbers were going the other way,” Adelman said. “Traditionally, they foul up 3. I thought we would get the best opportunity (in transition).”

Instead, Braun got a wide-open three off the catch but hesitated. He side-stepped and was still open, but he bricked. Jokic got the rebound and panicked. He ran to the three-point line and tossed up an ill-fated heave with almost three seconds left. It was the second time in the fourth quarter that Jokic lost track of the clock.

“Off the offensive rebound, my first instinct was to call a timeout,” Adelman said. “Then, the ball came to Nikola, and I did not think we could get him a good catch, if they’re going to foul. If I call the timeout, we have none left after that, so it’s a tough situation… looking back, I’d have to see what the situation was on CB’s catch and once he didn’t shoot it that’s the one thing I look back on that maybe I should’ve called it there.”

Adelman also said he was trying to get his best three-point shooter, Porter, back out there, but couldn’t, something he could have done with a timeout. He also played Jokic the entire fourth quarter, never giving the big man a break, maybe leading to some of his mental mistakes late.

“I think it was good, in those situations if you can advance the ball, because if you call a timeout, they have a foul to give,” Jokic said. “We didn’t have a lot of time, and maybe I should have given it to Jamal; he had momentum, but in those situations, it’s really hard to think about.”

The Nuggets tossed away an awesome rebounding game, following their fantastic comeback effort in Game 1. Now they’re tied 1-1, and they can only blame themselves.

While Porter was the one apologizing, he was among the group of Jokic, Murray, Gordon, Braun, Westbrook and Adelman who all probably would like a mulligan on the fourth quarter.