Nuggets hit rock bottom in embarrassing loss to NBA’s worst team

Forgetting winning—the Washington Wizards haven’t even lost by fewer than eight since before Halloween and yet—they broke a 16-game losing streak by pummeling the Denver Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday, who were led by a career-high 56 from three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.

While the Nuggets (11-10) were without Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon as the team heads to Atlanta for a back-to-back on Sunday, an embarrassing defeat is an understatement. The Wizards (3-18) are by far the worst team in the NBA right now and got punked by one of Jokic’s all-time performances but it wasn’t enough because his teammates were dreadful.

Not only did Murray not play, he didn’t even show up on the bench to support. Gordon, who has played just three games since a recent injury at least showed to the bench. So it was onto Michael Porter Jr. to step up, he had a career-high six assists but where his team needed help was shooting. MPJ didn’t hit a three, going 5-of-14 with 11 points and five rebounds. Instead, it was sophomore Julian Strawther providing some kick, scoring 18, swatting two shots and being a plus-six. But Strawther’s two triples and Jokic’s three makes were the only ones Denver connected on as the rest of the crew went 0-for-14 from deep. Contrast that with the Wizards, who went 16-of-41 when from downtown and Denver was in deep trouble.

Peyton Watson, Christian Braun and Russell Westbrook couldn’t contain Jordan Poole, who cooked for 39 points on a career-best nine makes. Poole proved the Nuggets reoccurring issue of guarding perimeter players post Kentavious Caldwell-Pope should be sounding every alarm in Denver. As should just how bad Denver’s cast around the MVP is. Without KCP, the fewer shots and makes from deep are making the Nuggets recipe for a win non-existent. Demonstrated by the fact that Jokic knew he needed to give everything against the awful Wiz team just for the Nuggets to have a chance. He had never taken 38 shots or scored 56 points in a game and still, the Nuggets took the loss.

“Nikola had a great individual performance offensively but you can’t wait in this league. I don’t care if a team is 20-3 like Cleveland or has lost 16 in a row like Washington, if you try to wait to start playing hard in this league, what happened tonight is exactly what’s going to happen,” Michael Malone said postgame. “I’m doing a really poor job with this team. For us to be 11-10 at this point, and losing to a team that the last five games is averaging 100 points a game, they put up 122 on us, and I’m embarrassed by that”

The Nuggets even made a late 11-4 charge, cutting the score but they weren’t able to pull off an eighth comeback this season from down 10. Jokic, who had 23 points and eight rebounds in the third quarter, didn’t have much left in the tank for the fourth while at times being triple-teamed. Jokic also had a team-high 16 rebounds and tossed eight helpers.

“We have film sessions where you hold guys accountable, you address the issues, and they keep being repeated. That’s where I take the blame for being 11-10, I’ve done a poor job as a coach preparing this team not only to win but to go out there and execute,” Malone said. “I have no problem owning that.

As of now, the Nuggets can’t stop guards, and can’t prevent threes. On the other end, they don’t shoot or hit threes while lacking any real ball pressure from guards. The team struggles to make their free throws and isn’t getting near enough rebounds. And of course, most of the roster isn’t skilled enough or isn’t playing well. Besides all of that, everything is groovy, and that everything is literally just Jokic at this point.

Jokic knows the Nuggets are flawed. The NBA knows exactly how to beat Denver. And because of Calvin Booth’s consecutive dud offseasons, the Mile High City Crew is without real external options to solve their deep issues.

After battling and losing to the NBA-best Cavs on Tuesday, the Nuggets three-game trip wraps up with the Hawks in less than 24 hours.

“We play a team tomorrow night in Atlanta that has won six games in a row,” Malone said. “That’s one thing about the NBA, no one feels sorry for you, and we have to all realize that we all have to start participating in our own recovery because no one’s going to give you an olive branch.”