Nuggets, Nikola Jokic in unfamiliar territory with 4-game home losing streak

The last time the Nuggets lost four consecutive games in Denver Barack Obama was the president and Nikola Jokic was the rookie who got drafted during a Taco Bell commercial Dec through Jan One year later the Jokic era truly began in earnest when he became an NBA starter on Dec One decade later the Nuggets lost their fourth straight home challenge for the first time of the Jokic era It doesn t feel good he stated to lose in front of our crowd The feeling is unfamiliar to him Uncomfortable It s also more complicated than the utter dejection of a slump The - Nuggets even after their mystifying - loss to the Mavericks on Monday remain narrowly on pace to break the franchise wins record of They remain third in the league in net rating Simultaneously in fact they ve won seven straight road games entering a three-game trip that begins Wednesday p m MT at Indiana I guess the only positive about tonight is we re going back on the road first-year coach David Adelman disclosed after a disappointing night against Dallas which included a blown -point lead a smattering of boos from within Ball Arena and an ankle injury to Jamal Murray He was not able to finish the match making it three starters out for Denver by the end I don t know how he s doing I know he tried to play because that s Jamal Jamal is tough Adelman stated If he sits himself because of the pain you know it hurts I m hoping it just was something that happened tonight and he can get restoration the next two days and we can see him come back The longest home losing streak of Jokic s career and Michael Malone s tenure was five about a month before that four-gamer Denver s starters in the fifth consecutive loss Dec were Emmanuel Mudiay Danilo Gallinari Kenneth Faried JJ Dickson and Randy Foye Jokic went for four points and one assist off the bench Denver fans will have to wait two weeks to find out if the - Nuggets can match the record with a fifth loss Their next home match isn t until Dec against a dangerous Houston Rockets gang Aaron Gordon hamstring and Christian Braun ankle will still be on the shelf It seems like we ve played well in other people s gyms Adelman commented We ve gotta figure out what we re doing here Because we have not played well in Denver They ll have to start with what they re not doing here playing defense The lowest amount Denver has allowed during the home slump is to Sacramento The Nuggets have a defensive rating across the four games combined points per possessions worse than the worst home-court defensive squad in the league this season Washington The Mavericks arrived at Ball Arena ranked dead last in offense only to shoot from -point range and result points in the paint Ryan Nembhard who s on a two-way contract and therefore isn t on their developing -man roster started at point guard He amassed points and assists on of shooting We feel that the battle is easier than it is and it s gonna stay that way explained Nuggets forward Spencer Jones another two-way athlete who s been forced into the starting lineup by injuries We take the foot off the gas a little too early and we do that kind of often It s just that mindset of staying focused throughout the meeting because we know we re so talented And it s great to have that confidence But sometimes that can turn into arrogance Adelman keeps pinpointing physicality The Nuggets spent training camp and the preseason declaring their goal to be more handsy and aggressive defensively this season to force the referees to call fouls like Oklahoma City does so effectively Adelman thinks they ve implemented that in small stretches but only that Denver committed only fouls as a group on Monday as he was quick to note in his postgame comments That says you re not putting your hands on people and they re running free Adelman announced And they did This organization has obviously really struggled to shoot the ball this year and they had a night where they make threes But you couple that with our inability to get into people and get into the ball Jokic also emphasized that philosophy to The Denver Post after a home loss last Friday only to play a lackluster defensive contest himself against Dallas Why exactly is the aggressive mindset proving so tough to put into practice Well change is hard I think because we never did it in the past I think none of our players did that Jokic revealed I think Braun is the one allegedly doing it the the greater part and Spencer now But the rest of us are not doing that Peyton Watson a little bit Adelman was allergic to excuses Monday but the schedule isn t helping the Nuggets either They re essentially in the middle of a month-long road trip right now that includes their home games all four of their losses at Ball Arena have been quick stop-ins surrounded by flights to and from other cities In the last two weeks they ve gone from Houston to Denver to Memphis to Denver to Phoenix to Denver to Indianapolis Definitely weird I ve never had a schedule like this before reported Bruce Brown who played through illness Monday But it s the NBA We ve gotta take care of home In spite of the same obstacles outside of Denver the flights the restlessness of road life the Nuggets have a defensive rating during their seven-game road win streak This is a club that has averaged a road record of - over the last three seasons In the last month it has defeated talented Western Conference opponents including the Rockets Timberwolves and Suns in hostile territory also while missing multiple starters in each of those games Consider Jokic bewildered I really don t know why It just happens to be like that it seems like he stated I really don t know the answer The unit has invariably been great at home so there s that expectation that we ll pull through Jones theorized So maybe you lose a little bit of focus there That expectation is derived from scientifically accepted statistics that indicates Denver possesses a more potent home-court home-field and home-ice advantage than any other U S city There s a reason Nuggets society address announcer Kyle Speller introduces every visiting company with the elevation at which they play in Houston s incident two weeks from now a whopping feet above sea level Altitude is supposed to be impenetrable against tourist teams One day in Colorado isn t meant to be enough to acclimate Related Articles Anthony Davis has points as Mavericks beat Nuggets - Julian Strawther back injury Nuggets guard still not participating in basketball programs Nuggets journal MPJ having a ball in Brooklyn deal rumors and other NBA topics Nuggets at Suns takeaways Denver rolling on the road but struggling in turnover battle Grading The Week Nuggets Jamal Murray sure looks like NBA All-Star to us Losing four in a row at Ball Arena is a foreign concept Especially with Jokic at full power The year before he came over from Serbia the Nuggets suffered a -game home losing streak that cost coach Brian Shaw his job They snapped the skid a meager hours after he was fired This scenario is nowhere near as bleak of program It s likely an outlier for a talented crew going through the motions of a long season feeling the absences of its injured That doesn t make it any less of a disappointment I m not going to come in here any night and sit down and talk about guys that are out Adelman reported We have enough here to be more consistent defensively