Frustration, regret and a lack of execution: inside Denver's crushing "un-Nugget-like" loss to the Lakers

The Nuggets’ locker room was filled with a bevy of emotions following Denver’s 120-116 overtime defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers, including disappointment, regret and frustration.

Most of that frustration centered around Wednesday’s overtime period when the Nuggets’ scored just five points to the Lakers’ nine and converted on only two of their eight field goal attempts. Denver turned the ball over twice during the extra five minutes and failed to get into its offense in a timely manner. It led to uncharacteristic possessions for a Nuggets team that was shooting 45.1% in clutch situations this season, the sixth-best mark in the league, before Wednesday night which led to low-quality looks.

The Nuggets scored on two of their first three overtime possessions — a Jamal Murray cutting layup and a Gary Harris 3-pointer — but didn’t score again. A succinct Michael Malone was pointed in his postgame comments.

“I just felt down the stretch (Jamal) and Nikola have to be better in terms of running the offense, getting the right shot,” Malone said in response to a question about Murray’s night. “If we generate a switch we don’t want to challenge Dwight Howard 1-on-1 at the rim. The ball’s got to go to Nikola with the switch and then play behind it.”

This seems to be the overtime sequence Malone was referencing.

For most of Wednesday’s 53 minutes, Murray was fantastic. He finished with 32 points on 13-25 shooting to go with 10 assists, the second most Murray has handed out in a game this season. Murray scored from the rim, mid-range and beyond the 3-point arc. He continued his string of marvelous offensive performances since returning from a 10-game absence due to an ankle injury.

Murray played his heart out and battled through what looked like numerous injuries. He appeared to suffer another tweak to a bothersome ankle in the first half and then absorbed a hit to the neck in the second.

“You look at Jamal’s line. Forty four minutes, 32 points, 10 assists only two turnovers. It’s an incredible game against the best team in the West,” Malone said. “Everything we did tonight, even if it wasn’t up to our standards, we did it extremely hard and I can’t fault anybody in that locker room for their effort tonight. We brought it.”

For the most part you can’t fault Jokic’s effort either. Denver’s All-Star center tallied 22 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists and three steals in 37 minutes against a stout Lakers front line of Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee.

Jokic has been an Ironman for Denver over the last month. Since Jan. 15 — the date of Murray’s latest ankle injury that sidelined him for the next several weeks — nobody in league has logged more minutes than Jokic (h/t Adam Mares). The Nuggets are 11-5 over that stretch with wins over the Rockets, Jazz (twice) and Bucks. Denver has played four sets of back-to-backs over the last month too, all of which have come while the Nuggets haven’t had their opening night starting five available.

Afterward Jokic shouldered the blame for the loss.

“It was a close game. We just didn’t execute in the last minutes,” Jokic said. “I made a lot of terrible mistakes. Every decision was bad. I need to be better with decision-making.”

One decision which will surely keep Jokic up late into Thursday morning was his choice not to shoot — either a 3 or a runner from the elbow — and instead search out Jerami Grant in the corner late in overtime. It was Jokic’s third turnover of the night and his most costly with the Nuggets trailing by three points with under 30 seconds remaining.

Jokic brushed off a question about if fatigue played a factor in his mistakes down the stretch.

“I don’t know. I was just maybe not aggressive,” he said. “I think I just need to look to score a little bit more or just try to shoot it.”

When asked about why Denver’s offense died late in the game, Jokic gave this assessment.

“I don’t know. Maybe we need to play a little bit more free,” he said. “Don’t wait until coach calls the play, just go and try to make for your teammates.”

The Nuggets have eight days to think about this loss with the All-Star break finally here. And unlike most of its defeats this season, Denver didn’t give off the vibe of a team that’s going to crumple the boxscore from its third overtime loss of the year and move on quickly once Thursday morning hit.

The Nuggets wanted this one…bad. So did the Lakers.

LeBron James was a freight train Wednesday, going through around and right by the Nuggets when he could. He finished with 32 points, 12 rebounds and 14 assists. Anthony Davis, who historically has scored well against Denver, tallied 33 points, 10 rebounds and sunk a pair of crippling triples — two of his three makes from beyond the arc in the game — in overtime.

Avery Bradley went as far as to call it “really important,” according to Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group, to beat the currently second-seeded Nuggets for a second time this season at Pepsi Center.