Renck: Nuggets accept blame for loss. But Nikola Jokic’s stats tell sobering truth

Almost every question brought a confession.

The Nuggets, bodies sore, heads shaking, struggled with the chilling reality of their unraveling in a 105-102 Game 2 loss to the Clippers.

But not with whom to blame. Michael Porter Jr. walked around the locker room apologizing to teammates for his ill-advised outlet pass that led to a turnover and an injured left shoulder.

“I am sorry,” he told Aaron Gordon. “This game is on me.”

Gordon assured him correctly that it was not. This setback prompted a series of “Are you kidding me’s?”

The Nuggets clanked eight free throws. Gordon missed a dunk with 2:43 remaining, oddly “rushing it” because he was looking at the shot clock. No longer undefeated interim coach David Adelman declined to call a timeout when the Nuggets took over on their final possession, leading to a chaotic set.

Christian Braun misfired on a 26-footer to tie the score with 5 seconds left. And Nikola Jokic delivered a triple-double that was more finger-paint than Picasso, committing seven turnovers and firing up a shot three seconds after an offensive rebound in the fourth quarter, “misunderstanding” that Jamal Murray was telling him to reset the offense.

“We can all say (what Porter said). CB can blame himself for missing the 3. I can blame myself for turnovers,” Jokic explained long after midnight at his news conference. “We can all blame each other. We care, so that is good.”

A gut punch like this brings reflection. And it is uncomfortable.

The Nuggets are in bad shape as the series shifts to Los Angeles if Jokic is only good. Murray played through an illness that left him wearing long sleeves under his jersey, and scored 23 points. Porter emerged from witness protection, delivering 15 points and 15 boards.

And the Nuggets still lost.

It is because the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard outshined Jokic. He made 15 of 19 shots, scoring 39 points, looking like the 2019 version of himself.

“He was hotter than fish grease,” Gordon conceded.

Jokic was smoking, his red face pleading with the referees after tangles with Ivica Zubac. No star player gets fewer calls than the three-time MVP. But the uneven officiating was not the issue as much as the Clippers’ defense.

They are playing with tenacity, with sticky fingers. They forced 20 turnovers.

They are running bodies at Jokic, sometimes three at once. They drop into passing lanes when he puts the ball on the floor, limiting the easy looks. They incorporate zone concepts to take away back side cuts.

And Zubac is annoying, when he is not flopping, something Jokic has adopted in this series because it has been incentivized.

“I mean, he still had 26, (on) 50 percent shooting, but it’s all about making him work for everything,” Zubac said. “Make it hard, play physical, and just — we know we’re not going to stop him, so, just make it as tough as possible.”

Increasing the level of difficulty on Jokic requires his teammates to make it easier on him. In Game 1, Russell Westbrook finished with a flourish. With three victories needed over the final five games, that is not sustainable.

In Game 2, Jokic, while insisting the Clippers were not doing anything unusual, passed up open shots. He had six attempts in the first half. That calculus will not work against a Clippers team featuring two future Hall of Famers in Leonard and James Harden.

“We have to be patient and spaced,” Gordon explained. “If they are going to play Joker one-on-one we need him to score. And if they are going to send bodies to him, we need to be ready to shoot the ball and knock it down.”

This series is different from the three wins to close the season — more physical, uglier, less forgiving. The Clippers are urgent, angry. For long stretches, the Nuggets matched their intensity, including Murray’s one-arm, third quarter fork lift of Norman Powell that stopped short of a UFC takedown.

The friction was building throughout the game when Powell hounded Murray multiple times with no call. That dust-up should have been the catalyst, the crowd roaring in approval of Murray’s stand, while raining boos on Powell.

But there was nothing special about the ending, save for its weirdness. Iron hungry free throws. Bad passes. Missed assignments, Jokic looking vulnerable after logging 43 minutes.

The national narrative is that the Clippers should have felt better with their Saturday loss than the Nuggets with the win. The same, in reverse, could be said about Tuesday’s game.

But Los Angeles did not get lucky. The Clippers got into the Nuggets’ chest. They closed Jokic’s air-space. And key pieces traded places. Leonard had seven turnovers in Game 1. Jokic matched him on Saturday. Westbrook faded, while Powell bathed in the spotlight.

On a night where every little thing mattered, the Nuggets made big mistakes. Their bench remains one man (Westbrook) and two maybes (Peyton Watson and Jalen Pickett). The remnants of the cold war between Michael Malone and Calvin Booth continue to emit a foul odor over the former coach’s reluctance to use young players and the ex-GM’s inability to get him better ones.

We can remind ourselves that the playoffs are not a paved road, that these kinds of nights happen.

“I saw us do things we haven’t done since I have been here,” Gordon said. “If we clean that up, we will be OK.”

The temptation is to believe him.

But the truth remains: The Nuggets don’t have enough magic to overcome Jokic suffering through uncharacteristic moments.

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.