The Denver Nuggets expect to be contenders for the Western Conference title.

They have a winning record and often have looked the part of a contender. But they have had a few games in which they have lost to some of the worst teams in the NBA.

It happened Thursday in a 126-124 loss at Portland. They’ll try to not let it happen again when they visit the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.

Denver fell behind the Blazers by 17 points entering the fourth quarter, then roared back to briefly take the lead before coming up short as Portland won for the first time in December.

“Why does it take being down 17 points to start the fourth quarter to play hard?” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said he asked his team. “That shouldn’t be the impetus behind playing hard. We should be playing hard because we want to be a great team, we want to win as many games as possible.”

The loss to the Blazers, which came on a buzzer-beating layup by Anfernee Simons, ended a three-game winning streak. The most recent defeat before that was a 122-113 loss at the NBA-worst Washington Wizards on Dec. 7.

“These are the type of games — games like this, games like the one we had in Washington,” Malone said, “that come back to bite you.”

Denver nearly got bit in the opening contest of this three-game road trip when it fell behind Sacramento by 10 with four minutes remaining before rallying for a 130-129 victory.

“In this league, you can’t play two quarters,” Malone said. “That’s what we’ve been doing lately and that’s not good enough.”

The Pelicans beat the Nuggets 101-94 on Nov. 15 in New Orleans. That ended a six-game losing streak for New Orleans, which has won just one time in the 16 games since then after a 104-93 loss to the visiting New York Knicks on Saturday night.

“I don’t think anyone is shying away from adversity that’s hit,” Pelicans forward Herbert Jones said. “It’s tough. I feel like we’re competing and playing hard. The results are just not where we want them to be.”

Malone lamented his team’s inability to play more than two good quarters in the last two games, and a habit of playing fewer than four good quarters has plagued the Pelicans all season.

They led the Knicks by as many as 13 points in the second quarter and held a 49-45 halftime lead before being outscored 33-26 in the third quarter and 26-18 in the fourth.

Trey Murphy III led the Pelicans with 26 points, his second-highest scoring output of the season – he scored 28 two nights earlier in a 133-113 loss at Houston. But just two teammates scored in double figures against the Knicks. Dejounte Murray’s 14 points were more than two points below his average and CJ McCollum’s 13 were nearly eight below his average.

“We don’t like losing,” Murphy said. “It’s not fun losing, so we’re going to try to do what we can to get some wins on the table. It starts game by game and quarter by quarter.”

–Field Level Media