NEW ORLEANS — The upper deck of Smoothie King Center was almost as sparse as the Nuggets’ and Pelicans’ active rosters for their first NBA Cup game.
New Orleans was missing six players to injuries, including star forward Zion Williamson. Denver was fending for the first time this season without Nikola Jokic, who didn’t travel with the team due to personal reasons, not to mention Aaron Gordon and coach Michael Malone.
Jamal Murray’s 16 points, eight assists, six rebounds and two steals weren’t enough to overcome the absence of Jokic in a 101-94 loss to the Pelicans on Friday night.
New Orleans snapped a six-game losing streak by ending Denver’s five-game winning streak. Brandon Ingram went for 29 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to give the Nuggets (7-4) a group-stage loss in the second annual in-season tournament. Their next NBA Cup game is next Tuesday in Memphis.
Jokic was ruled out Friday around noon after being listed as questionable on Thursday.
“He’s good,” acting head coach David Adelman assured reporters. “It’s personal reasons for him. I’ll leave it at that.”
The Nuggets were unsure when Jokic would re-join the team as of Friday evening before the opening tip.
“Hopefully soon,” Adelman said. “Things at home for somebody, that’s their business, and when he feels like he’s ready to come back, he’ll come back.”
As for Malone? He stayed back in Denver for his daughter Bridget’s high school volleyball game in the state tournament, which ends Saturday.
“I hope he’s watching his daughter play,” Adelman said when asked if he thought Malone would watch the Nuggets on his phone. “That’s really cool, and from being a coach’s son and growing up around this, and the things you miss as a dad, really cool that he’s there. That’s something you don’t want to miss. It’s one game. Whatever. That’s really important to her. It’s really important to their family. So I’m glad he’s there.”
Adelman recognized the most difficult aspect of filling Malone’s shoes was that “Nikola’s not here” and endeavored to replace the three-time MVP “with a lot of different lineups.” Saric, who was out of the rotation entirely during Denver’s undefeated five-game homestand, returned as a starter. Zeke Nnaji remained in the backup center role. Suddenly, Saric transformed into Jokic, in that his exit from the game immediately resulted in disaster. Denver had started with a 16-9 lead. New Orleans answered with an 11-2 run that started when Saric picked up his second foul and went to the bench.
“We have a lot of guys who can fill (Jokic’s) role, but they’re all very different kinds of players,” Adelman said pregame. “We can downsize with Peyton at the five. Dario can play. He’s more of a playmaker. DeAndre’s more of a roller. We know what Zeke can do defensively.”
Nnaji was limited to fewer than six minutes in the first half because Denver was a minus-15 with him on the floor. For a stretch of the second quarter, Adelman instead tried out one of the ultra-small lineups that he had alluded to and that Malone had introduced last week, with Watson at the five.
The 6-7 wing showed off some good scoring chops, joining Michael Porter Jr. as the only Nuggets in double figures at halftime. But if the Nuggets want to use him as a center in future games without Jokic, it’ll only exacerbate one of the characteristics they miss most about their MVP: rebounding.
The Pelicans killed Denver on the glass, regardless of what lineups Adelman tried. The rebounding advantage was 58-45. Offensive rebounds were worse: 17-5.
Adelman introduced Vlatko Cancar in the second half, hours after Cancar was cleared to play. He has been dealing with a sprained ankle this season, unrelated to the torn left ACL that sidelined him all of last year. The contribution from him was small but encouraging: a baby hook with the left hand, a good read in help defense to block a shot before the third-quarter buzzer, and a pair of boards.
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Porter led the Nuggets with 24 points but only four after halftime. Christian Braun added 15 points and five steals.
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