For the first time in the golden age of Nuggets basketball, we whisper words almost too painful to utter:

What’s wrong with Nikola Jokic?

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Nothing is coming easily for this Denver team, because basketball has suddenly become way harder for the three-time MVP.

Until the Joker we know and love returns, don’t be surprised by the stench we got a big whiff of Monday night, when the Nuggets blew an early double-digit lead and lost 118-110 to Portland.

Denver coach David Adelman described a bad performance that dropped his team’s record to 3-3 as “frustrating” “embarrassing” and “frustrating” to describe a bad performance that dropped his team’s record to 3-3.

But know what’s more troubling?

After a decade-long ascension toward hoops immortality, taking a place among basketball gods like Shaq, Michael and Wilt, who don’t need more than one name to identify their enduring greatness, Joker has started to look …

Well, dare we say it?

He has started to look almost mortal.

“Some of the shots…