Nets woes continue in rough loss to Nikola Jokic, Nuggets to start road trip

DENVER — The shorthanded Nets already brought a losing streak into their most daunting road trip of the season.Their slump promises to get a little longer. The injury-riddled team fell, 124-105, to the Nuggets on Friday night at Ball Arena, a rough way to start a six-game Western swing. Denver superstar Nikola Jokic — who entered leading the NBA in scoring (31.5) and ranked second in assists (9.7) — was questionable after missing the prior two games with a non-COVID illness.

Naturally, he came back against the Nets and was every bit as dominant as expected, posting a triple-double with 35 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds. “He’s the game plan,” said coach Jordi Fernandez, a former Nuggets assistant.“Yeah.

So, obviously, a very good team.They’ve been together for a long time, very well coached.

And you know the ball is going to be in Nikola’s hands.He leads the league in post-ups, No.

2 in assists, No.1 in touches.

So that’s who he is. “Then he has great teammates around, a guy that can take over and dominate the game in Jamal [Murray], Michael [Porter Jr.is] shooting very well.

The whole team, they know what they’re doing.… So we’ve done our job, we’re prepared to play this team.

And it’s a good challenge for us because you don’t get to face the best player in the world every day.” The Nets got a team-high 22 points from Keon Johnson and 19 off the bench from Tyrese Martin.But with leading scorer Cam Thomas, shooter Cam Johnson and point guard D’Angelo Russell all hurt, they lacked firepower. “It’s been a tough year for them, but when you look at everything they’ve gone through this year — the trades, the players and all that — the most important thing for Jordi … is to establish a culture.

Then as you add pieces to that culture, then the wins will come,” Denver coach Mike Malone said. “That’s what I tried to do here in Year 1, 10 years ago.But before the wins are going to come, you’ve got to...