Watching the Nuggets without Nikola Jokic is like taking down a bowl of cereal without milk.
There’s nothing appetizing about it.
Without their franchise cornerstone, the Nuggets sputtered against the visiting Pelicans, snapping their four-game winning streak with a 107-88 loss. Their offense was uncharacteristically ugly, with awful 3-point shooting, mounting turnovers in the fourth quarter and a cold streak from the free-throw line.
Asked where he felt the game went wrong, Nuggets coach Michael Malone was blunt.
“Well, Nikola didn’t play,” he said, before crediting his team for competing without their generational talent.
Jokic watched helplessly from the sidelines, as he sat with a calf injury.