The Nuggets give up 74 second-half points and lose by 20 at home to the winless Warriors

The Denver Nuggets gave up 74 second-half points at home on Monday night and lost 134-114 to a Golden State team that hadn't won a game yet.

The Warriors came to Denver 0-3. They left 1-3, and the Nuggets are 1-2 after a home start that has now produced a 23-point hole, a booing crowd and a blowout loss.

Start with what happened. Denver led 32-28 after one quarter and trailed only 60-56 at halftime. Then Golden State scored 40 in the third and 34 in the fourth. Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg finished with 31 points and 12 rebounds, mostly by attacking the rim and going 12 of 13 at the line. Stephen Curry shot 8 for 8 and scored 21 of his 24 after the break. The Warriors made 22 of 44 3-pointers.

Nikola Jokic had 19 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists and was taken out with 3:33 left and Denver down 21. Jamal Murray scored 19 and DeMar DeRozan 21. Aaron Gordon picked up a double technical in the fourth quarter and finished with seven points.

The context makes it worse for Denver. On Saturday, in the home opener, the Nuggets fell behind by 23 points to New Orleans before rallying for a 141-135 overtime win, and Jokic scolded fans afterward for booing during the deficit, according to the Associated Press. On Monday, in a game that tipped late, some of those fans simply left early.

There are real excuses. Denver was without Alpha Diallo, Cameron Johnson, Spencer Jones and Julian Strawther. But Golden State was missing Kristaps Porzingis, Moses Moody and Jimmy Butler III, and it still turned a four-point halftime game into a 20-point rout. The defense let a team that had been 0-3 shoot better than 54 percent.

Three games in, the pattern is a Denver team that falls behind and depends on Jokic to dig out. That worked once against New Orleans. It did not come close against a Warriors team that had Curry, Draymond Green and Brandin Podziemski back after all three sat out in Phoenix. Podziemski finished plus-33.

What's next: Denver gets a rematch at New Orleans on Wednesday night, a chance to show Saturday's comeback wasn't a one-off. Golden State plays at Minnesota the same night.