The Denver Nuggets, or more specifically, their stars, were not ready to play on Sunday.

The Nuggets lost their hard-fought game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night. On Sunday, they lost badly to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The end score of 121–109 doesn’t really show how poorly the teams played together, since the Nuggets dominated in extra time and made almost all of their shots after the game was already over.

On Sunday, Nikola Jokic had a hard time reliably making shots and free throws. Around him, people weren’t shooting well or leaving enough space, and the Serbian center was always squished on the court. In addition, he kept getting called for fouls for most of the game. His anger at the calls finally reached a peak when Tony Brothers called two clear offensive fouls in a row. Some Nuggets fans will remember that Brothers and Jokic didn’t get along very well in the past. I wouldn’t see it that way, even if Jokic felt offended by the lack of foul calls against him.

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Jokic finished the game with 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists. It would have been a good game if he hadn’t made some bad decisions and played terrible defense to avoid getting fouled. Jarrett Allen beat Jokic so badly in their meeting. Allen was a plus-42 tonight, and the Cavaliers dominated in his minutes. Allen played great defense against the Serbian big man and was a major threat in screen and roll against Jokic, who was on the ground.

Michael Porter Jr. got into a shooting groove and scored 21 points while making 5 of 9 three-point shots. Some of the shots were really great, and the Nuggets can definitely see Porter getting back on track as a morale booster.

Unfortunately, Porter’s defense was awful the entire game. He was attacked by the Cavaliers both with and without the ball. Porter still dislikes going through screens, so they circumvented him by using rapid shooters. After 27 minutes of play, Porter had a -31 record and found it difficult to have an impact outside of jump shots. Dean Wade blocked Porter when he attempted to break him down off the dribble, slowing down multiple Nuggets efforts.

The other Nuggets starters didn’t make much of an effect. It’s not good enough that Aaron Gordon is only making 50% of his free throws. Evan Mobley easily beat Gordon in their match tonight. Two of nine shots by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were from the field. Darius Garland, who he usually plays against, had 26 points and six assists and was the best player on the court.

For the Nuggets to win, a lot had to go right that night, but their stars didn’t do nearly enough. They weren’t good at defense, and that set the tone pretty much every time.

Luckily, the Nuggets bench had some good games. Christian Braun had a rough start, but he got into a rhythm and scored 13 points on 6 of 11 shots. He made his only three-point try from the right corner in front of the Nuggets bench.

Zeke Nnaji had a tough time defensively rebounding the ball in the first half. But the 22-year-old big man made an effect on the offensive glass, made some good readings on the pass, and hit a three-pointer from the right corner in the second half.

That’s what Jalen Pickett did for his teammates: he got into the middle of the court and threw the ball to shooters all over the place. Pickett himself made a couple of three-pointers, and he still has faith in his outside jump shot when the chance comes up. Although Pickett’s size made things worse on both ends of the court, it wasn’t a bad night for the 32nd overall pick in the draft. It was a good chance to learn.

The Nuggets lost in the end, and their bench still looks like a betting wheel because you never know who will play well that night. Christian Braun needs to step up and play like this every night if the Nuggets want to win a title, but it was good to see him have a string of good games.

Big things will happen if the Nuggets can’t find their fire tomorrow against the 2-12 Detroit Pistons. Jokic needs to show more leadership. Gordon needs to make some outside shots, and Porter needs to play the whole game.