Nuggets Suffer Heavy Loss to Hornets, Adelman Criticizes Officiating

The Nuggets‘ winning streak without several starters came to an abrupt end Sunday night. Denver fell 110-87 to the Hornets at Ball Arena, in a game where the Colorado team quickly gave up after falling behind by 18 points in the first quarter.

A Decisive Loss Despite Absences

The Nuggets (29-14) now have a record of 7 wins and 4 losses without injured Nikola Jokic. For this game, the team was also without Aaron Gordon, rested for the second consecutive game, as well as Christian Braun, Cam Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas.

« It’s forgotten. There wasn’t much we could do, » said Jamal Murray after the game. « We felt like we were too small. Outnumbered. The whole game… We’re going to rest up and refocus to play a very good L.A. team. »

Murray finished the game with 16 points in 25 minutes, while Peyton Watson added 11 points and 3 blocks in 28 minutes. The rising forward played despite some physical concerns with his knee and elbow.

Young Hornets’ Offensive Efficiency Makes the Difference

Charlotte, also playing on a back-to-back after facing Golden State, dominated thanks to Brandon Miller (23 points) and Kon Knueppel (14 points). The latter, former teammate of Cooper Flagg at Duke, is standing out in the Rookie of the Year race.

« Incredible. And he plays like he’s 28 years old, » commented Nuggets coach David Adelman about Knueppel. « Offensively, he takes his time. He’s just quick enough to get where he wants. And he’s super smart in the paint. »

The Nuggets were dominated 62-32 in the paint and lost the rebounding battle 61-36. The team shot 40.5% from the field and only 21% from 3-point range against a Charlotte team ranked second in offensive efficiency over the last 15 games.

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Adelman Denounces Officiating

The most tense moment of the evening occurred at the start of the second quarter. Hornets coach Charles Lee made a last-second substitution between Ryan Kalkbrenner and Moussa Diabate, but the referees did not allow Adelman to respond with a corresponding substitution.

« This is something the league needs to think about, » criticized Adelman. « They were literally doing hockey subs both ways. So was I. And then they decided to put the ball in play while I was still making my changes. »

Adelman had to use a timeout after just five seconds of play to express his dissatisfaction to referee Josh Tiven, who let him speak without calling a technical foul.

David Adelman tries to sub in a player before the 2nd quarter begins, being ignored, and he gets on the floor, calling a timeout just 5 seconds into the 2nd quarter.

He also have some words with the referee pic.twitter.com/OfzjyxGFoa

— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) January 19, 2026