Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone shared his frustration after they suffered a 120-125 loss against the Indiana Pacers. This was Nuggets’ fourth consecutive loss as they continued to veer off the track. 

In the last few games, the Nuggets haven’t been able to hold on to their lead, which has left Malone scratching his head. Against the Pacers, it was the same story as they were leading by nine points after the first quarter.

Nuggets’ talisman Nikola Jokic top-scored with 41 points on 18-33 shooting but his efforts went in vain. 

“I don’t know if I would say there’s been a hangover,” coach Michael Malone said. “We were up tonight. We got up by 13. We weren’t able to hold on. We were up in Golden State, weren’t able to hold on. So, I don’t know if it’s a hangover necessarily, but whatever it is we’ve got to find a way to get this out of our system.”

Meanwhile, the Nuggets are also without the services of point guard Jamal Murray, who is out of action due to a pulled right hamstring. Malone is hopeful that Murray will be back for the playoffs.

Denver is still in fourth place in the Western Conference standings and must come up with more consistent performances with only three games remaining in the regular season.

“We’ve lost four in a row, in a bad moment, so I think we’re a little bit down,” Jokic said. “But a win can always cheer us up or make us feel better about ourselves.”

Christian Braun, who scored a career-best 30 points against the Pacers, is optimistic that the team will bring their best in the postseason. 

“We get to the playoffs I know this team can compete with anybody,” Braun said. “We’ve got to go in there with momentum. We’ve got to go in there playing the right way. We’ve got to find a way to find some toughness.

“We’ve got to get back to who we are and we’ve got to find ourselves in these last three games. Like I said, it’s not over or anything like that. But we do got to get some momentum.”

Denver Nuggets will next face the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday.