Instant takeaways as the Nuggets fell to 0-1 in NBA Cup play with a 109-107 group stage loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night at Moda Center in Portland.

—End-of-game nightmares

The Denver Nuggets are a couple of plays away from being 5-0. Instead, they’re 3-2 with a pair of heartbreakers on the road.

They’ll be haunted by the sequence of calls at the end of this one. After Christian Braun missed a 3-point attempt that would’ve given them a five-point lead (he had another shaky night offensively), he picked up a foul trying to defend Jerami Grant’s missed layup in transition. David Adelman used his challenge to no avail, and the former Nugget made his free throws to tie the game with 27 seconds left.

At the other end, Cam Johnson drove for a go-ahead layup attempt and was blocked by Toumani Camara, but a second defender crashed into Johnson as he tried to land. He disputed the no-call to the officials, but Denver was out of timeouts and needed to set up a baseline out-of-bounds play with 6.9 seconds to go. Jokic caught the inbound pass as Camara tried to reach around his back to grab the ball. He was rewarded with a jump-ball call, leaving Jokic in disbelief at the lack of a foul call.

The result was a 24-second violation and a buzzer-beater opportunity for Portland. Aaron Gordon got hit with a late whistle for reaching in on Grant, who again buried his foul shots to win it.

—Joker’s triple-double streak fizzles

Jokic fell one assist short of breaking the all-time record for consecutive triple-doubles to start a season. His streak ended at four with 21 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists despite perhaps his best overall two-way performance of the season so far. His defensive engagement and rim protection were excellent, and he had two blocks to show for it.

But the Nuggets couldn’t get him the ball in crunch time. Portland played small, double-teamed him and fronted him in the post. The weak-side shooter was often open, but the Blazers’ pressure was suffocating enough that Denver’s ball-handlers had a difficult time seeing the court and moving it to the second side.

As a result, Jokic wasn’t able to catch in ideal spots and make plays for teammates. He stayed stuck at nine assists for the last several minutes of the night.

A few of his helpers had been a result of his recognition that Portland was sending bodies to crash the glass for offensive rebound opportunities. His counter was often to hunt the home run outlet pass. A couple of them worked to great effect for easy buckets on a night when scoring didn’t come easy, including one absolute prayer to Peyton Watson with enough hang time to make a punter proud.

—Awkward first half

The Blazers might not be a top-10 team in the West, but they can defend. Camara, Jrue Holiday and company made Denver’s half-court offense look mortal for the first time this season. The Nuggets had to work to get into their sets against Portland’s hyper-athletic lineups.

It didn’t help that a clock malfunction late in the first quarter caused a 17-minute delay, taking them out of what little rhythm they had established in the first place. Jamal Murray’s shot-making carried the first-half offense. Despite being listed as questionable with left calf tightness on the pregame injury report, he mustered 16 of his 22 points before halftime. He was the team’s only double-digit scorer at the break, yet even he looked worn down at both ends later in the game as Portland picked him up in the backcourt and hounded him.

But Denver’s defense traveled. Adelman and Jared Dudley started the game in zone, which they hadn’t done yet this season, and it immediately bothered the Blazers. They were held to 18 points in the first frame against a Nuggets defense that usually allows upwards of 30.

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