Turnovers and a lack of defensive game-plan discipline made the first loss of Popeye Jones’ coaching stint especially miserable.

“I’ve always been told that in this business, there’s only two things. There’s winning and misery,” Jones, the acting head coach of the Denver Nuggets said after a 103-89 loss to the Mavericks on Monday in Dallas.

“There’s nothing in between.”

The Nuggets easily won Jones’ coaching debut Saturday in Houston, but with head coach Michael Malone and lead assistant David Adelman among the members of the coaching staff still in the league’s health and safety protocols, he got to experience the other side of the job. The main culprit was the 26 turnovers that lead to 28 of the Mavericks’ points. Dallas decided to send double teams most every time Nikola Jokic caught the ball in the post. Jokic said the lack of ball security could be chalked up to some players playing larger roles than they’re used to and some miscommunications.

“I think we were playing simple. We just didn’t move enough, and the ball didn’t move enough,” Jokic said. “When we did move enough, we didn’t make good passes. We played in a crowd a lot of times. You can see everybody had turnovers. It’s not just one guy. Everybody needs to be better and more careful.”

Defensively, the Nuggets struggled to settle on what they wanted to do with Luka Doncic. The plan when Bones Hyland was in the game, Jones said, was for the rookie to show, but not switch onto Doncic when the Mavericks set a screen for their star. Hyland said problems arose when teammates told him to switch those screens when he was on the court.

“We didn’t follow that game plan,” Hyland said.

“We just wasn’t communicating as a team.”

Doncic led six Mavericks in double figures with 21 points and added 15 assists.

“That’s what great players do,” Jones said. “If your coverages is messed up, they make you pay.”

Jokic made 11 of his 18 shots to finish with a team-high 27 points. He added 16 rebounds, three assists and two steals. Jokic’s assist numbers are often higher when teams send an extra defender as often as Dallas did, but the Nuggets failed to hit enough 3-pointers to make the Mavericks pay, finishing 6 of 25 from deep.

“We tried to talk about our spacing this morning. We never really got it right,” Jones admitted. “We didn’t shoot enough 3s.”

Aaron Gordon scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Will Barton III was Denver’s only other player in double-figures, finishing with 12 points. Barton was responsible for seven of the team’s turnovers, while Jokic, Gordon, Hyland and Facundo Campazzo recorded three apiece.

“We definitely have isolation players on the team, but when we’re moving the ball, it’s even better. Guys are just trying to make the best play. They wasn’t trying to force it or turn the ball over,” Hyland said.

“It happens. We just move on from it and just get back to how we’ve been playing.”

The Mavericks finished the game with 11 turnovers, which led to 14 of Denver’s points.

The Nuggets, who finished the game without Austin Rivers (thumb) or Vlatko Cancar (foot), turned it over seven times in the first quarter alone, leading to nine Dallas points. Denver trailed 46-37 at halftime after six second-quarter turnovers. The Nuggets would close within four points with eight-plus minutes left, but Denver’s 26th turnover of the game led to a Jalen Brunson 3-pointer that put Dallas up by 15 with 2:13 left in the game.

“The effort was there. We got it to four. I can’t fault our guys’ efforts,” Jones said.

“It’s hard to overcome 26 turnovers.”

The Nuggets return to Ball Arena to face the division-leading Utah Jazz on Wednesday.

Nuggets’ schedule updated

A wave of postponed games in December forced the NBA to update its schedule, creating new dates for three Denver Nuggets’ games.

The Nuggets’ Dec. 19 game in Brooklyn, which was postponed with the Nets unable to field a healthy eight-man roster, is scheduled for Jan. 26. Denver was originally scheduled to play in New Orleans that night, but the game against the Pelicans is now set for Jan. 28.

Denver’s home game against Golden State scheduled for Thursday was postponed after the Nuggets placed four players in health and safety protocols, leaving the team with fewer than eight plays cleared for competition. That game is rescheduled for Monday, March 7 with a 7 p.m. start at Ball Arena.