All is not lost; far from it.
But last night’s 93-70 loss to the Auckland Huskies makes the road to the National Basketball League's final four significantly harder.
It pulled the Huskies level with the Nuggets on eight wins with four games remaining, having followed a 93-92 overtime win over the Southland Sharks on Saturday.
The Huskies have a much easier run in, though, and will now be favourites to claim the last semifinal spot.
Both teams were disjointed early offensively.
The difference was the Huskies began to fire late in the third quarter.
Forward Tom Vodanovich hit three quick triples with the score at 56-56 to spark a run.
He gave the side a nine-point buffer, which became 13 as the Huskies started the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run.
It was a period from which the Nuggets never recovered.
Their game fell to pieces and they managed just seven fourth-quarter points.
Vodanovich finished with 24 points, while former NBA forward Chris Johnson showed all his class, both inside and out, as he dropped 23.
For the Nuggets, centre Sam Timmins posted another big night with 21 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists.
Luke Aston also had 13 points in his best game of the season.
However, the rest of the team struggled to get going.
While star guard Isaiah Moss managed 19 points, he shot just 29% from the field and hit just once from deep.
Nuggets coach Brent Matehaere said the team was not happy with the performance.
While acknowledging the loss was a big one, he also said the team needed to beat the top sides if it deserved a playoff spot.
"The bottom line is if we really want to be a contender in this league going into semis, we've got to be able to play these teams straight up and knock them over.
"So we’re going to have a long hard look at ourselves during the week and make sure we get on the practice floor and get it sorted."
It was a rough start for the Nuggets, but while they trailed for most of the first quarter they stayed close.
Moss found his way to the hoop to score nine of the Nuggets 18 first-quarter points, but Huskies forward Johnson’s class helped the visitors take a two-point lead to the break.
The Nuggets drew level after the break, before a Huskies run gave them a 31-24 lead.
Otago responded with a run of its own and took the lead shortly after at 36-35 as Aston drained his second three-pointer.
The Nuggets retained that buffer, taking a 40-39 lead to halftime and crucially drawing a third foul on Vodanovich.
Neither team was able to take a comfortable lead early in the third quarter.
Both Richie Rodger and Timmins kept the score ticking over, but Johnson and Vodanovich answered every time for the visitors.
Three quick three-pointers to Vodanovich helped the Huskies to a nine-point lead, which they kept at 69-63 at the end of the third quarter.
That continued after the break, as a 7-0 run from the Huskies forced the Nuggets into a timeout at 76-63.
It never got any better from there, the Nuggets managing just seven more points as the Huskies ran away with the win.
