The Magic outrebounded the Nuggets (44-40), scored more points in the paint (62-54), got to the free-throw line more often (26 attempts vs. 15) and recorded fewer turnovers (10 vs. 15) when they opened a four-game road trip out west Thursday night.

Those are the type of advantages that typically lead to victories for Orlando, which entered the contest 11-7 when grabbing more rebounds than its opponents, 13-8 when attempting more (or the same) amount of free throws and 9-3 when having fewer turnovers.

But that wasn’t the case late Thursday at Ball Arena, when Denver used a second-quarter scoring spree to capture an 11-point win, 126-115, over Jamahl Mosley‘s squad. The Nuggets tallied 43 points in the second quarter.

“We talked about this game being about concepts and communication, and there were a few of those lapses,” the Magic coach said after his team’s fourth loss in its last six games.

Added All-Star forward Paolo Banchero: “I thought we just didn’t do a great job of getting matched up in transition. We gave them some easy looks at three and just let their offensive rhythm get rolling, and then that kind of contributed to our offense stalling out a little bit and they just went on a big run.”

Still, the Magic shouldn’t hang their heads too low when it played without Jalen Suggs (left hip bruise), Franz Wagner (left high ankle sprain), Tristan da Silva (right shoulder bruise), Jonathan Isaac (left hip bruise) and Moe Wagner (left knee injury recovery).

They still had a chance to win late when Orlando cut its deficit to six points with 90 seconds left in the contest after leading by as many as 14 points in the first half.

This is just what the Nuggets to opposing defenses.

Denver (20-6) scored 110-plus points for the 21st consecutive contest — something only two other NBA teams have held a longer streak in a single season since the 1976 merger (Chicago, 28 games and Utah, 25 games), the team said.

At the center of it all was Denver’s star center, Nikola Jokic, who continued to solidify himself as one of the league’s all-time greats. Jokic recorded 23 points, 11 rebounds, 13 assists, and two steals in 38 minutes against the Magic to notch his league leading 13th triple-double of the season (a mark that’s more than the next two players combined).

“We started using our advantages and what we do good, especially in that second quarter,” Denver’s three-time MVP said after the game. “That’s when we got control of the game. It had a lot of ups and downs, (but) we controlled the game the whole way.”

There’s still plenty for Orlando to take away from its lone trip of the season to Denver.

As Jokic absorbed the attention of the Magic, his teammates Jamal Murray (game-high 32 points) and Cameron Johnson (19) found their flow. Murray posted 20 points in the second quarter when he shot 5 for 6 from 3 in the frame, and Johnson scored the final 5 points of the game, including a 3-pointer that shut the door on Orlando’s comeback with 1:15 left in the fourth.

Jokic now has 5,667 career assists, surpassing Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (5,660) for the most assists by a center in league history, the team said.

“They play the same way all 48 minutes, so you can guard them really (well) in the first quarter but their process stays the same,” Banchero said about the Nuggets. “They keep moving, keep playing off Jokic, keep playing that two-man game with him and Murray. So, you really can’t ever relax throughout the game, or else they go on big runs like that.”

Banchero had a big night of his own in just his fifth game back from a left groin strain that forced him to miss 10 in a row from mid-November to the start of December.

He recorded the third triple-double in his career with 26 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists, but still shot 0 for 4 from distance.

“He’s continuing to work his way back into it as it takes time,” Mosley said about Banchero. “It was his fifth game back from it, so the ability to keep working the way into the rhythm and the flow of the game.”

Orlando (15-12) next heads to Utah (10-16), a team that sits six games below .500 and is 5-5 in its last 10 games.

Mosley hopes his group sticks with what worked against Denver and improve upon what didn’t.

“The ball was moving, the ball was popping, and we were defending the right way,” the Magic coach said. “Again, there were just a couple of mental lapses in the breakdown that allowed (the Nuggets) to get some early, easy baskets.

“We’ll have to go back and look at the film to be able to analyze that.”

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com

Up next …

Magic at Jazz

When: 9:30 p.m., Thursday, Delta Center

TV: FanDuel Sports Network Florida