Monday, November 26, 2001 - LOS ANGELES - The Denver Nuggets had the back-to-back NBA champions on the ropes Sunday night, but couldn't land the knockout blow. And when a champion is not knocked out, the challenger rarely gets the decision.

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That was the case when the Nuggets picked up their third consecutive loss, falling 105-98 to the Los Angeles Lakers.

"This is definitely frustrating," said Nuggets small forward George McCloud, a former Lakers player who finished with 13 points. "We had more to do with this loss than probably they did.