The time for change came around 3:30 Sunday afternoon.

After watching a nine-point lead at the end of the first quarter disappear in all of 2 minutes and 8 seconds without Nikola Jokic or Jamal Murray on the court, Nuggets coach David Adelman decided his rotation needed to be shaken up.

“It’s just something we have to learn from. I have to find a unit that will actually do it, compete at a higher level, because to me, that was the game,” Adelman said of the stretch after a 117-108 loss to the Timberwolves at Ball Arena.

“We let struggles offensively, missed shots, turn into horrendous defense. I told them after the game that’s just inexcusable.”

Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., Cam Johnson, Zeke Nnaji and Jonas Valanciunas were the five on the floor to start the second. Former Nuggets Bones Hyland scored the first seven points of the run, including a pair of free throws after Valanciunas was tagged with a flagrant foul for a screen. Another turnover led to an Ayo Dosunmu layup, and, poof, Denver’s lead was gone.

“Bones Hyland and the others. When he gets it going, he’s a tough cover. Give him credit. He took advantage of our defensive lapses and mistakes. It’s easy to score on teams when you turn the ball over, and we did that tonight,” Hardaway said.

“We just got to do a better job of taking care of the ball.”

When it came time for Jokic’s rest to start the fourth quarter, Adelman stuck with Brown, Hardaway and Valanciunas but inserted Jamal Murray and Jalen Pickett into the lineup. Splitting up Murray and Jokic is not his preference, but he didn’t feel like he had a choice with the game still up for grabs with 12 minutes to go.

“It’s not what I want to do,” Adelman admitted. “I like them to play together. I don’t like when I’m taking minutes away from them not being on the court together. If we have to do it, we’ll do it, because this can’t happen. It’s happened two games in a row. It’s cost us big time.”

Earlier in the season, Murray credited his best season to date to the rhythm he was able to establish by playing deeper into the first quarter instead of being one of the first substitutions, a maneuver that allowed him to return to the game when Jokic was off the court. His stance softened a bit Sunday.

“I’m just playing,” Murray said. “Coach is going to do what he needs to do.”

The change didn’t produce the desired results, but it was better than the first stretch. Minnesota expanded the lead to 12 before Jokic returned with just under eight minutes to play. The Nuggets never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.

“We still had 24 minutes to do something,” Jokic said of the bench’s initial failure.

Jokic led the Nuggets with 35 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. Murray added 25 points but needed 22 shots to get there. Hardaway (17) and Christian Braun (15) were the only other players in double figures.

Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels led the Timberwolves with 21 and 20 points, respectively, while Hyland led Minnesota’s bench with 18 points on 6 of 7 shooting. The Nuggets won the 37 minutes Jokic was on the court by four points, but the start of the second quarter was too much to overcome. It cost Denver a spot in the standings. The Nuggets are fifth in the Western Conference heading into Monday’s game in Utah.

“It can’t happen in this high level of a game. We’ll have to talk about it, and I will explore whoever is healthy,” Adelman said. “Whoever is playing tomorrow, we’ll try to find a group that will compete and play at a higher level.”

NUGGETS 117, TIMBERWOLVES 108

What happened: Minnesota erased a nine-point deficit after the first quarter and led 58-50 at halftime. It remained an eight-point game after the third and Denver dropped to 37-24.

What went right: Denver scored 60 points in the paint to outscore the Timberwolves by eight inside.

What went wrong: The Nuggets were outscored 30-6 in fastbreak points and 22-11 in points off turnovers.

Highlight of the night: Jamal Murray turned the corner on Ayo Dosunmu and threw down a two-handed dunk over Rudy Gobert early in the fourth quarter.

Up next: The Nuggets are off to Utah for Monday night’s game against the Jazz.