The Denver Nuggets dropped a close game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night, losing 113-108. 

The Nuggets will be without MVP Nikola Jokic and backup center Jonas Valanciunas for the foreseeable future, putting them at a big disadvantage in the front court. 

Despite the disadvantage, Nuggets head coach David Adelman was proud of how his team battled against the Cavaliers. 

"We're missing size, obviously. I was more proud of the fact that...we scored 11 points in the fourth quarter. We were one for 12 from three, but I thought the guys were all trying to find each other. You have to live with some of these shots, especially when Jamal is getting double-teamed over, over, and over."

"It's very easy to say, 'Jamal has to get a shot or a better shot,' when they're putting two on him, that's just what it's going to be. The guys have to be confident to shoot it. They were. They just didn't fall when we needed them to fall. I felt like it was 105-104 forever. We kept getting stops, just never got the payoff offensively," said Adelman in the post-game press conference.

Denver was up 105-101 with under five minutes remaining, but couldn't find the bottom of the net despite getting good looks off the playmaking of Jamal Murray. 

In the final four minutes, Tim Hardaway Jr missed a three-pointer, Peyton Watson missed three threes, and DaRon Holmes II missed a three-pointer. In the final four minutes and 40 seconds of the game, the Nuggets went scoreless until a Murray three with five seconds remaining. 

As Adelman mentioned, Murray created looks for his teammates as the Cavaliers put multiple defenders on the Nuggets' star guard, but shots didn't fall in the clutch. 

"Frustrating to lose the game, not because we lost, but because of the effort that was given by the group and very proud to coach this team tonight. We just came to play. We were part of the game physically, from the beginning. Obviously, we are at a disadvantage in certain positions, but I'll take this kind of effort every night from this group," said Adelman.

Both Jokic and Valanciunas are set to miss at least four weeks, putting the Nuggets at a big disadvantage against teams with size. 

Aaron Gordon has been out since November 21, but the Nuggets are hoping to get him and Christian Braun back in the coming days. 

Without their top three frontcourt players, Denver managed to be competitive against the Cavaliers despite being out-rebounded 55-32.