Tuesday night marked the Denver Nuggets first loss of the season as they fell 109-106 to the Dallas Mavericks.

In a game that Denver could have won, the bench play was the biggest difference in the end. All of the Nuggets bench was in the negative in terms of +/-, while Dallas had four of five players with a positive rating.

Even though the Nuggets bench struggled, defense was still what Michael Malone pointed to in his postgame presser as the difference. Malone noted how he thought the Nuggets played hard and with energy, but that they just did not defend.

Hear everything coach Malone had to say after the game in the tweet below!