The Denver Nuggets once again found themselves on the end of an embarrassing loss. Poor defense and too many opportunities for the Portland Trail Blazers ended up creating a lead that was just barely too large for Denver to overcome. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray had solid nights but Portland’s backcourt of Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe had the answer. The game ended up going right down to the buzzer. Unfortunately for Denver, it was the Blazers getting the final basket and just their ninth win of the season.

It was a defensive game to start out with each team hitting only one field goal in the first two minutes. The Nuggets were a bit sloppy with the ball which gave the Blazers an early lead but Christian Braun was almost single handedly keeping the Nuggets in it. The pace picked up, the Nuggets struggled on the offensive glass and Portland kept going shot for shot with Denver. After a timeout Denver started getting stops and Michael Porter Jr. started hitting shots which got them a decent lead. The Blazers rallied to keep within striking distance with the quarter winding down. The Nuggets got enough baskets to keep Portland at arms length and after one they led 35-30.

Portland opened the second with an 8-0 run before Murray finally rattled home a mid range jumper. That gave them the lead before Denver knocked down some threes to push back. They stayed just barely in front of the Blazers with their bench unit, but trailed by one when Jokic checked back in. DeAndre Ayton started to get hot and Portland went on another run to extend their lead to a half dozen. Jokic rallied and kept it from getting worse but the Nuggets squandered some opportunities to close the gap in the second half of the quarter. Portland meanwhile couldn’t miss. They pushed their lead up to double digits with about two minutes to go but Jokic started bombing threes and kept Denver in it. He led a massive rally along with Westbrook to close out the quarter and storm back. At halftime it was all tied at 66.

Denver was sloppy to start the third and once again gave up a lead to the Blazers. Murray took his turn coming to the rescue. He had a huge dunk and followed it up with a transition three to tie the game. Denver’s offense started to stall out again while the Blazers started hitting shots again and like a broken record the Nuggets let them build up another lead. It got up to double digits around the five minute mark while Portland continued to just knock down threes. The Nuggets got some baskets going down the stretch of the third but the Blazers were unconscious. The lead grew past fifteen in the final minutes. Deni Avidja was killing Denver throughout the quarter while Denver got no scoring outside of anyone other than Murray and Jokic. Simons capped a terrible quarter for Denver with a buzzer beater three to give Portland a 104-87 lead.

The Nuggets looked like a completely different team to open the fourth. They ran the court with energy and knocked down some threes to get the lead back down to single digits. Denver’s Murray + bench unit gave them some great minutes and continued to whittle away at the lead. They went on a 16-2 run to pull within three with just over seven minutes to go. Their run stalled out there and Portland answered with a 6-0 run of their own. They held a nine point lead through the middle of the quarter but Denver wasn’t letting them pull away completely. The Nuggets were desperately needing to get stops as the clock was becoming a factor. They got back within three with two minutes remaining to set up one last shot at a victory. A step back three from Murray, a block by Russel Westbrook and a Porter transition dunk got Denver the lead in the final minute. Portland tied it and it went back and forth in the final 30 seconds. Simons took Westbrook one on one on the final possession and got to the basket with ease and finished the layup at buzzer to hand Denver a 126-124 loss.