DENVER — Nerlens Noel stood frozen in place, holding the ball in both hands, staring into space in disbelief. He seemed to have figured out how to give the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic some trouble, but he had just fouled out.

For the third straight game, the Thunder got behind early before making it close in the end. At the Pepsi Center Tuesday, that ended in 121-112 loss.

“We had some things that we were able to control that we didn’t do a good enough job,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “And that part was disappointing because I thought the guys battled and worked so hard to get back in the game and give ourselves a chance.”

Donovan said he saw fouling as one of the biggest factors. The Thunder committed 34 fouls. Noel recorded his sixth with 3:21 left in the fourth quarter. After Jokic made both his free throws, the Thunder trailed 107-104.