Five takeaways from the Clippers’ 106-102 loss to the Denver Nuggets

The Clippers, playing without their three top scorers — Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and J.J. Redick — dropped their third straight game Monday night, matching a season high for consecutive losses. Here are five things we learned from their 106-102 loss to the Denver Nuggets:

1. It’s not wise to leave Nikola Jokic, Denver’s 6-foot-10, 250-pound center, wide open beyond the three-point line. The Serbian native drained two crucial 27-foot shots to key the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter surge.

The Clippers erased a 17-point second-quarter deficit by outscoring Denver, 31-16, in the third quarter, and they took a 91-84 lead when Brandon Bass muscled his way inside for a basket with 7 minutes, 48 seconds left.

Jokic’s three-pointer on the other end swung the momentum back to the Nuggets, and his long-range set shot from the top of the key snapped a tie and gave Denver a 98-95 lead with 2:37 left.

“Those were big threes,” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said. “Neither one should have happened. We should always run off guys at the three-point line. We actually could have gotten there, but we closed out short.”

Austin Rivers shook his head and chuckled as he read Jokic’s line in the box score: 24 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals. Jokic entered with 11.4-point and 7.5-rebound averages.

“He had a great game, man,” Austin Rivers said. “It’s crucial down the stretch to get stops. We always talk about executing, but you can get away with a bad shot or a turnover when you get stops. When he hit that three and they went up, everything just changed.”

2. Fatigue was a factor during several stretches in which the Clippers looked a little ragged, turning the ball over or heaving up low-percentage, long-range field-goal attempts as the shot clock expired.

Rivers played a season-high 42 minutes, scoring 19 points on eight-of-17 shooting,and Jamal Crawford played a season-high 36 minutes, scoring 24 points on 11-of-23 shooting. The Clippers expended so much energy coming back from their second-quarter deficit, there wasn’t much in the tank at the end.

“I did see fatigue down the stretch, for sure,” Doc Rivers said. “One time, Jamal was supposed to bring [the ball] up; he didn’t want to. Austin didn’t want to, so they had to bring back Raymond [Felton].”

3. Felton could help ease the loss of Paul and Redick, who are suffering from hamstring injuries. The veteran guard from North Carolina scored 10 points in 31 minutes and made two big jumpers, each as the shot clock expired, to aid the Clippers’ third-quarter rally.

“Raymond has been magical for us,” Doc Rivers said. “I think, clearly, it’s better bringing him off the bench, because he can come in and attack and give us another wave of energy. He’s just a tough guy. He’s been sick as a dog and he still fights, he still plays.

“He played a ton of minutes [Sunday] night, he showed up tonight, he’s ready again, he never complains … he’s the perfect teammate, he really is. He’s been a godsend for this team.”

4. The injuries and the losses — nine in 17 games dating back to Nov. 25 — continue to mount for the Clippers, but their confidence hasn’t waned.

“We’ll be fine,” Austin Rivers insisted. “We’re still gonna be a top-four seed in the playoffs. We’re still gonna be one of the best teams in the West. We do have to correct these little mistakes we make, but we’re too good of a team to start worrying about losing games.”

5. It’s going to take a village to raise the Clippers for as long as Griffin, Paul and Redick, who have combined to average 54.2 points, 15.8 rebounds and 15.3 assists a game, are out.

“No one guy can replace those guys,” Crawford said. “It’s hard enough when it’s Blake, because no one guy can replace him. Then you lose Chris, and no one guy can replace him. Then you lose J.J., and you’re like, oh, man, we have to do this collectively, on both sides of the ball. We’re gonna make mistakes, that’s part of the game, but we have to be able to cover for each other.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

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