The Nuggets flipped their fate after an ugly 1-6 start, winning eight of their next 11 in impressive fashion. But as they attempt to chase their way back toward contention, the troubles haven’t disappeared.
With a chance Tuesday night to take a big step toward Northwest Division-leading Portland, the Nuggets blew a big lead and lost in the final seconds.
“That was hard to swallow,” Denver coach Brian Shaw said. “I thought our guys fought the entire game. It seemed like we controlled it for the most part. To lose it the way we did at the end …”
The Nuggets led by as many as 14 points in the 105-103 loss. And when the Trail Blazers took a 98-97 lead with 3:15 remaining, it was their first since early in the game.
The game, though, came down to four late possessions — and Shaw took the blame.
“We turned it over on two of the last three possessions,” he said, “and that ultimately cost us.”
With the score tied at 103 with 25 seconds remaining, Ty Lawson struggled to find a passing lane, and his errant toss was stolen by Damian Lillard.
It was Denver’s last good offensive chance.
“Ty was kind of exploring. Once the play broke down, I should have called a timeout and got us into something different,” Shaw said. “We were careless with the ball on a couple turnovers near the end.
“In those situations, you want to at least be able to get a shot at the goal.”
On Portland’s game-winning play, Shaw said the Nuggets were prepared for LaMarcus Aldridge’s high-post pass to Robin Lopez. But they failed to execute with backup center J.J. Hickson defending instead of Timofey Mozgov. Lopez got the post position for an easy lay-in.
“We were prepared for it,” Shaw said. “They just executed it better than we defended it.”
The Nuggets return to action Friday night at Washington.
Nick Groke: ngroke@denverpost.com or
