They just fell short.
The Denver Nuggets lost to the LA Clippers, 102-100, on Thursday night. Denver is now 53-24 on the season, good for second place in the Western Conference standings.
"You never want to lose a game, but tonight wasn't necessarily about a lack of effort," said head coach Michael Malone. "It's just that we've gotta find a way to play for 48 minutes."
Nikola Jokić did all he could for Denver and put up 36 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists. This was the 129th triple-double in his career, and he's just 9 triple-doubles behind Magic Johnson for third place on the all-time leaderboard.
"Nikola is just never going to shy away from it, and you've gotta love that about him," said Malone.
Christian Braun had a nice night with 7 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists in 34 minutes.
"You trust him out there," said Malone. "He's got tremendous toughness."
Paul George paced the Clippers with 28 points on 10-of-21 shooting.
Denver's bench was outscored, 34-9, thanks to 23 combined points from Russell Westbrook and Norman Powell.
The first half was a Jokić masterclass. He put up a whopping 20 points on 9-of-20 shooting, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists. On offense, he repeatedly put Clippers center, Ivica Zubac, in awkward positions, forcing him to guard off-ball actions like pindown screens and repeatedly firing shots from the perimeter (where Zubac isn't particularly comfortable). Nikola's defense was great, too, both in the post and while guarding the pick-and-roll. LA led 53-49 at the break.
Denver's offense fell flat in the third quarter and scored just 21 total points. George, meanwhile, found a nice rhythm and carried LA with 9 points on 4-of-7 from the field. That takes us to the fourth quarter where Jokić was unbelievable and scored 12 points to go with 3 rebounds and 3 assists. However, the Clippers got to the free-throw line for 17 foul shots to build a 2-point lead, and with one last chance, a 31-foot heave from Jokić missed at the buzzer.