The Denver Nuggets opened up NBA Cup play on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers Friday night. It was a clunky game from start to finish and while the Nuggets led for most of it, they were unable to finish the job. Denver got the lead early and held it for most of the game but never were able to build a substantial advantage. That spelled doom in the fourth quarter as Deni Avdija and Jerami Grant kept the Blazers within striking distance and then capitalized on their opportunity late in the game. To add insult to injury, Nikola Jokic ended up one assist shy from setting an NBA record for most consecutive triple doubles to start a season. A disappointing night to be sure, the Nuggets fall in Portland 109-107.

Jamal Murray led the Nuggets offense to open up the game but neither team was getting a ton of production on offense. Portland kept the game close by playing good defense but they struggled to score points. The Nuggets couldn’t take advantage of cold shooting on the Blazers side which was the case all quarter long. There seemed to be a lid on the basket once the lead hit eight points for Denver. To make the first even more disjointed, right before the quarter ended there were technical difficulties with the clock and scoreboard which took several minutes to resolve and took all energy out of the arena. When play finally resumed some seventeen minutes later, the quarter ended shortly after with the Nuggets leading 26-18.

Denver briefly got ahead by double digits to start the second but couldn’t stop the Blazers from hitting outside shots. Murray kept Portland at bay for a couple minutes but after another Blazers three pulled them within three David Adelman took a timeout. Jokic came back in and the Nuggets briefly stopped the bleeding to keep their lead around six with Murray again leading their offense. It went from bad to worse for Denver though and an 8-0 run from Portland tied the game. Aaron Gordon got a couple buckets in a row and settled things down for a moment, but Denver kept shooting themselves in the foot and giving up second chance points. As the half winded down the story continued to be the Nuggets getting a couple good possessions to get up by about a half dozen and then playing sloppy to let Portland counter. The half closed with Denver up just 57-53.

The starters regained control in the open of the second half, pushing the Nuggets back up by a half dozen. They stalled out there though and Avdija was asserting himself on offense. The Nuggets clung to their lead until about the midway point of the quarter and then the Blazers took the advantage. The teams traded threes and the lead for a couple minutes while the benches started to check in. That sparked a run for the Nuggets and they started to take control of the game again. They got up eight with Jokic leading the way. He continued to dominate the game as the third quarter came to an end. After three Denver led 81-71.

The bench group held serve to open the fourth quarter but it was clear that the Blazers weren’t going away. Denver held a lead around six while Jokic got some rest but they weren’t exactly playing their best basketball. Just before the halfway point of the quarter Nikola checked back in. He couldn’t spark a run for Denver and Portland went on a mini-run of their own to pull back within two. They extended their run out to 13-4 and got the lead back on a Jrue Holiday three with just under four minutes to play. Joker asserted himself again and worked his way through triple teams to get to the free throw line and get the lead back for the Nuggets. Murray hit a big step back shot right at the two-minute mark to put the Nuggets up five. They still had that lead with under a minute to go after Gordon hit a midrange jumper but Avdija converted an and-1 on the other end. Grant tied it with just under thirty seconds left setting up a dramatic finish. The Nuggets couldn’t get a shot off after a questionable jump ball call (Jokic appeared to get hacked pretty hard) and then Gordon fouled Grant with 1.4 seconds left. Jerami buried both free throws and despite a decent look for Jokic at the buzzer he missed to the right and the Nuggets lose 109-107.