Nuggets falling back to earth after fourth loss in a row

One area the Nuggets excelled in last season was not letting rough patches snowball. Three games was the longest losing skid the 2017-18 Nuggets incurred, a point of pride for head coach Michael Malone.

This year’s incarnation of Malone’s team blasted off to a 9-1 start, but after a 109-99 defeat to the Houston Rockets on Tuesday at Pepsi Center, all the ground they gained on a tough Western Conference field is fading away. The loss, which dropped the Nuggets to 9-5, was their fourth in a row.

Denver trailed by 10 going into the fourth quarter after Houston outscored it 32-21 in the third. Torrey Craig, two nights after getting a DNP-CD against Milwaukee, provided a spark with a block, dunk and 3-pointer to start the final quarter. The Nuggets got the lead down to four, but James Harden (22 points), Chris Paul (21 points) and Clint Capela (24 points) were too much to overcome in the end.

Monte Morris paced Denver on a night when its starters were so so. Morris needed only 11 shots to score a team-high 19. He also handed out six assists compared to two turnovers. Morris entered the game with a 10:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, the highest mark in the NBA.

Denver shot 50 percent from the field but couldn’t stop Houston. Harden got into the lane seemingly at will, and Capela killed Denver rolling to the rim.

The Nuggets will try to halt this skid Thursday against the Atlanta Hawks, their last home game before embarking on a three-game road trip to New Orleans, Milwaukee and Minnesota.