Nuggets continue to search for answers on defense as Denver falls in Brooklyn

Treveon Graham caught a pass from Shabazz Napier on the left wing early in Wednesday night’s fourth quarter, turned and faced the basket, looking a bit surprised that no Nuggets defender had rotated out to guard him at the three-point line. Graham rose and fired, and his triple splashed through the net as Denver bungled another switch on the perimeter.

It was Graham’s fourth three of the night, tying his career high as the 25-year-old finished with 16 points on a clean 6-9 shooting. He raced back on defense as Nikola Jokic and Torrey Craig turned towards one another looking for answers.

The Nets sunk 19 of their 34 threes on the night and shot better than 50 percent from the field, running past, through and around the Nuggets at Barclay’s Center on their way to a 135-130 victory. It was another poor defensive performance from Denver, who had just given up 129 points Monday night in Detroit.

The Nuggets raced out to a 35-30 lead after the first quarter but fell behind in the second quarter in a similar fashion to their loss to the Pistons. Denver got outscored 42-25 in the second period and 36-27 in the third quarter.

A bench unit headlined by rookie Jarred Vanderbilt, who logged the first significant minutes of his NBA career Wednesday, sparked some life into the Nuggets who trailed by 21 points late in the third quarter. After a quick 9-0 run, Denver eventually rallied to trail by just 10 points with three minutes to go in regulation and trimmed Brooklyn’s advantage to six points with under a minute remaining. Vanderbilt hauled in seven rebounds (two offensive) in his eight minutes of action.

But contrary to their 25-point second-half comeback in Memphis last month, the Nuggets didn’t leave themselves enough time in their latest come-from-behind bid.

Nikola Jokic finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, collecting his 10th triple-double of the season and the 26th of his career. Jokic is two triple-doubles behind Michael Jordan on the all-time triple-double leaderboard. Mason Plumlee, who was drafted by the Nets in 2013, scored a season-high 24 points to go with six rebounds and four blocks. Malik Beasley and Monte Morris chipped in 17 and 18 points respectively. Morris also finished with five rebounds and five assists. Jamal Murray, who returned from an ankle injury which had sidelined the Nuggets’ starting point guard for the last six games, played 32 minutes and registered 19 points and 11 rebounds.

D’Angelo Russell added 27 points and 11 assists for the Nets.

Overall, the Nuggets failed to contain their men 1-on-1 and bungled too many defensive rotations. It was another below-average night defensively from Denver, which has had too many of those over the last few months. The Nuggets were sloppy on both ends of the floor too, turning the ball over 13 times, which lead to 20 Brooklyn points.

This is the Nuggets’ first two-game losing streak since Christmas.

Denver wraps up its four-game road trip Friday in Philadelphia.