3 Takeaways From Nuggets’ Deflating NBA Cup Loss vs. Trail Blazers

The Denver Nuggets couldn’t get it done for their first NBA Cup game of the year vs. the Portland Trail Blazers on Halloween night, falling in narrow fashion 107-109 as a result of some critical last-second unravelings, and thus, leaves the Nuggets 3-2 as they head back to Denver for an extensive four-game home stand.

Here’s three key takeaways from the Nuggets’ latest loss in Portland.

The end result of this one came down to one critical play in the final seconds of fourth quarter action.

With the game tied up 107-107 with 1.4 seconds to go, Aaron Gordon would commit a critical shooting foul on Blazers’ forward Jerami Grant to allow Portland to get to the line for two shots to take the lead, which Grant would end up sinking on both attempts.

Nikola Jokic had a great look for a buzzer-beater at the free-throw line for a chance to send this one to overtime, but ultimately, the Nuggets’ late-game execution is what wound up shooting themselves in the foot and became the difference between jumping to 4-1 and dropping to now 3-2 on the year.

The Nuggets didn’t struggle with fouling consistently throughout the night, and ended up shooting the same amount of free throws as the Trail Blazers, too. But Gordon’s hands found themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time, and allowed Grant and the Blazers to take the edge when it mattered most.

Far from the greatest performance for either of Cameron Johnson or Christian Braun in this one.

Johnson is seemingly still finding his groove in the Nuggets’ offense, posting just nine points on 3/7 shooting, while Braun had just five points on his 2/6 shooting, also giving up four turnovers and committing five fouls on his part.

For the Nuggets to be at their best on a consistent basis, those beyond Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray have to come and perform, especially their wing duo of Braun and Johnson in a year that each has an opportunity to take a big leap in their growth.

The star duo of Jokic and Murray did their part with 43 combined points on the night on 64% shooting from the field, but as we all know, there are five players on each side to account for. The wing duo of Braun and Johnson have to do their part for the Nuggets to hit their aspired ceiling, especially against teams like Portland who match up with multiple versatile and lengthy pieces at the wing in their lineup.

Heading into the night, Nikola Jokic was on the cusp of NBA history, having the chance to be the first-ever player to log a triple-double in the first five games of the regular season, surpassing Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson with four, if he was able to do so once again against Portland.

But those hopes proved to be too good to be true, as Jokic came up just short of his fifth triple-double on the season with 21 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists––one assist shy of reaching the aspired mark to etch himself further into the NBA history books.

A game-altering foul from the Nuggets in the final seconds and a missed game-tying shot by Jokic certainly didn’t make matters any better to end the night for Denver or their MVP-level big man. He’ll have to wait until this time next year for his chance to earn that opportunity at five-straight triple-doubles to open the season, and it’ll be hard to count out doing so once that time comes.

For now, the campaign for MVP number four is on for the Joker. The top-tier scoring hasn’t quite rolled around just yet, but he’s certainly making a big impact for Denver through five games.