The defending champions hit a bit of a speedbump. The usually free-flowing Denver Nuggets offense looked uncharacteristically “off” against the Cleveland Cavaliers. With Nikola Jokic struggling with foul trouble, Denver struggled heavily, leading to a brutal 121-109 loss to the Donovan Mitchell-less Cavs. After the game, Jokic spoke about how the team struggled and what ultimately doomed them in their game, per ESPN.

““They were better than us today,” Jokic said. “I thought we played a little stagnant and needed more movement. They were getting whatever they wanted on the offensive glass and in the lane. We're not rebounding as a team. Sometimes we don't box out and sometimes it's lucky bounces, but those are excuses.””

The Nuggets were outrebounded 47-33 in the game, which is never a good thing. A team can certainly overcome a bad rebounding game, but it requires everyone else to step up at a different time. That just wasn't the case for Denver. Additionally, they also trailed in the assists department. Despite the foul trouble, Jokic still tallied seven assists. Aaron Gordon and bench player Jalen Pickett were the only other ones with more than three.

Despite the loss, the Nuggets are still 9-4 for the season, even without Jamal Murray for the foreseeable future. There's still obviously time to fix these flaws. However, that rebounding is going to be a major concern if it keeps happening. We've seen many great teams be undone by terrible rebounding, after all. In addition, they'll need to figure out a way to keep the offense flowing even without Jokic.