Nuggets Pelicans

NEW ORLEANS — The upper deck of the Smoothie King Center was almost as sparse as the Nuggets’ and Pelicans’ active rosters for their first NBA Cup game.

New Orleans was without six players due to injuries, including forward Zion Williamson. Denver did for the first time this season without Nikola Jokic, who did not 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 had 29 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to hand the Nuggets (7-4) a playoff loss in the second annual tournament of the season. Their next NBA Cup game is next Tuesday in Memphis.

Jokic was ruled out Friday around noon after being listed as questionable Thursday.

“He’s good,” acting head coach David Adelman assured reporters. “Those are personal reasons for him. I’ll leave it at that.”

The Nuggets were unsure when Jokic would rejoin the team as of Friday night before tipoff.

“Hopefully soon,” Adelman said. “Things at home for somebody, that’s their business and when he feels he’s ready to come back, he’ll come back.”

As for Malone? He remained in Denver for his daughter Bridget’s high school volleyball match in the state tournament, which ends Saturday.

“I hope he watches his daughter play,” Adelman said when asked if he thought Malone would watch the Nuggets on his phone. “It’s really cool, and from being a coach’s son and growing up around this, and the things you miss as a father, it’s really cool that he’s there. It’s something you don’t want to miss. It’s a game. No matter what. It’s really important to her. It is really important to their family. So I’m glad he’s there.”

Adelman acknowledged that the most difficult aspect of filling Malone’s shoes was that “Nikola’s not here” and strove to replace the three-time MVP “with a lot of different lineups.” Saric, who was completely out of the rotation during Denver’s five-game home unbeaten streak, returned as the starter. Zeke Nnaji remained in the backup center role. Suddenly, Saric turned into Jokic, his exit from the game instantly resulting in disaster. Denver had started with a 16-9 lead. New Orleans responded 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 that can fill (Jokic’s) role, but they’re all very different kinds of players,” Adelman said before the game. “We can cut back with Peyton at the five. Dario can play. He’s more of a playmaker. DeAndre is more of a roller. We know what Zeke can do defensively.”

Nnaji was limited to less 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 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 some good scoring and joined 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 will only exacerbate one of the attributes they miss most about their MVP: rebounding.

The Pelicans killed Denver on the glass no matter what lineups Adelman tried. The rebound 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. His contributions were small but encouraging: a left-handed baby hook, a good read in the help defense to block a shot before the third-quarter buzzer, and a couple of boards.