The Nuggets will likely be hard-pressed to acquire a rotation-worthy big man before the trade deadline — Robert Williams III, Jonas Valanciunas and Nikola Vucevic come to mind — unless they’re willing to part with young talent, which could compromise an already tenuous floor-spacing situation.

All gone by the wayside with a high-octane Jokic-led Denver offense that emphasizes punishing opposing defenses in every possible way while never giving them a break. At this rate, the NBA’s fourth-ranked scoring offense is downright impossible to gameplan for.

This game came down to the wire, as Nikola Jokic and Kyrie Irving seemingly went punch for punch in the fourth quarter. Irving finished with a game-high 43 points, but Jokic had the better all-around performance with a dominant line of 37 points,