Everything can change drastically in a matter of seconds — 2.1 seconds to be precise. Jordan Poole and the Washington Wizards produced a loud silence at the Ball Arena. The former Warriors star nailed a 35-foot triple to improve the team’s March exploits. But for the Denver Nuggets, it was a stunning result to take back. They led by 16 points during the game against the team that had won just 14 of their 65 games thus far. And not even a Nikola Jokic exhibition could protect the 2023 champions from escaping an upset.

Now, this complicates matters for the team. They had a chance to claim the second need by a margin of a single win. Instead, the Nuggets are now tied with the Houston Rockets and the Memphis Grizzlies. But if you ask the Joker, no matter what their record shows, he doesn’t think they have been that great a team this year. “I think we are lucky that we are third or whatever we are standing. We are not playing good,” he said after the frustrating loss. This was the first time in 30 games that the Nuggets lost when leading by 16 or more points during a game. The high number of turnovers and an ineffective bench contributed to the Wizards slicing the lead with every quarter.

Yet to Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets just aren’t playing like a team that would have high hopes for the postseason. “I’m not surprised. We had a, we had a good stretch, let’s say like 10-15 games that we played good. But I think lately even the games that we won I think we didn’t play good and uh in playoffs I think that’s not acceptable,” he pointed out to the media.

After starting February with a 9-0 record, the Nuggets have been rocky at best. Since March, they have split their 10 games. Yet, the warnings were written clearly even in wins. Even a depleted Lakers team nearly blew them open last night. The stumbling Suns team pushed them into overtime before the Nuggets pulled through.

Hence, Nikola Jokic feeling they aren’t playing at the required standard isn’t a far cry from reality. And Michael Malone may know exactly what’s going wrong.

A great offense doesn’t matter if you can’t stop one

Looking at the game, you could name several reasons the Denver Nuggets lost this game. Their bench scored under 10 points. But their bench has ranked 27th in scoring. Maybe it’s because they recorded 17 turnovers tonight. However, the Nuggets don’t necessarily lose games when turning the ball over.

That’s because offense has always been their bread and butter. Nikola Jokic runs the game and he has skilled scoring talents around him who can capitalize on his in-game genius. But offense can only do so much. The Nuggets lost because they failed to honor the other side of the floor. Their defense was non-existent.

“19 made threes, 13 offensive rebounds, 126 points. I mean we’re just fooling ourselves if we’re thinking we can just show up and not play any defense. I mean since the All-Star break I think maybe 26th or 27th in defensive rating,” head coach Michael Malone said with great disappointment.

You look at the way the Nuggets are built or rather what they lost. Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope formed a compact perimeter defense combination that hugely benefitted the Nuggets over the past few seasons. But after their departure, the team didn’t get any matching replacements. Likewise, after ranking 8th last year, the Nuggets are 22nd in defensive rating this season.

It’s not completely impossible to win games with an offense as diverse and multi-talented as the Nuggets. But scoring loads of points isn’t meaningful if they allow the same. In the postseason, when physicality is heightened, offenses can fail at times. The only way to get out of that impasse is by playing defense.

Across the two conferences, the Nuggets are the only top-3 seed without at least a top-15 defense. It leaves them vulnerable during high-pressure moments. And in order to make their offense truly effective, Malone and the Nuggets need to repair their defensive weaknesses.