The Denver Nuggets on Monday were without the three indispensable cogs of last season’s championship run.
Somehow the Clippers, despite playing at full strength, were missing even more.
Unable to generate balanced scoring between their starting star trio of Paul George, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, unable to hold onto a double-digit lead three times, and unable to keep Nuggets understudies Reggie Jackson and DeAndre Jordan from looking like the stars they replaced, the Clippers lost 113-104 to the short-handed Nuggets.
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The circumstances of their struggle made this a head-scratching mystery as much as a standard-fare loss.