As the Avalanche are going for the Stanley Cup, the Nuggets are going south.

While the Avs remarkably scored to tie with 15 seconds remaining in the game, then won in the shootout Friday night, the Nugwrenches were Knicked out and knocked out 142-103 in the most pitiful performance at home in 28 years.

The Nuggets’ starting five were reunited for the first time since the 11th game of the season. They only played together for about five minutes. The Nuggets added insult to injury after Jamal Murray hurt his left ankle and was gone for the game.

The champs of two seasons ago played like chumps and lost their 13th game at the unfriendly confines.

The Nuggets, to borrow a hockey idiom, are “done like dinner.” They travel south for a Monday game at Oklahoma City, then play at home against the Rockets on Wednesday and follow up at San Antonio Thursday, then in Los Angeles against the Lakers on Saturday.

By then they’ll probably drop out of the top six in the NBA West and fade fast into a play-in position.

Meanwhile, the Avalanche are the league leaders with 93 points over the 86 of the Stars in the West and the Hurricanes in the East. They’re destined to earn the NHL Presidents’ Trophy (which will not be regifted to the U.S. President) for the fourth time.

The Nuggets are getting worse (worst) despite the return of “Mr. Nugget” Aaron Gordon, who looked more like “Mr. Peanut” Friday and admitted he played “bad”, and Cam Johnson to start the most grotesque game in Denver since Feb. 2, 1988, when the Michael Jordan Bulls scored 111 and limited the Nuggets to 72.

The Nuggets have just added three street scufflers to the roster, but those moves haven’t improved the deteriorating dilemma. The basketball team has the same chance of a parade in 2026 as the local baseball team.

Murray has been playing the best of his career this season, but nobody knows when he will be back. Nikola Jokic can’t carry the load without his partner.

Jokic said the Nuggets “kind of quit,’’ although he scored 38 points. Coach David Adelman said the Nuggets “got our ass kicked” and “didn’t compete.”

The coaching staff shares the blame burden. Not one of Adelman’s nine — count ‘em — nine assistants (Doug Moe had one) ever has served as an NBA head coach for one season. Why not hire a former head coach in the league to be the top assistant? Someone like Mike Budenholzer, who has won an NBA title, certainly could have helped Adelman develop in his first full season. Instead, the Nuggets have nine guys who ought to pay for their seats in the front rows. Elvis Valcarcel and his buddies should leave the building.

In another locker room down the hall in the same arena, the Avalanche have continued to send out their “A’’ team (22-4-4 at home), particularly on a January trip to Canada when they beat three “Eh’’ teams.

GM Chris MacFarland lately intensified his effort to bolster the best bunch in the NHL by bringing in two forwards and another pair of defensemen. He initially acquired Brett Kulak, then just before the trade deadline Friday dealt for diminutive Nick Blankenburg for depth on defense and as a penalty-kill specialist. The Avalanche also picked up veteran Nicolas Roy as a fail-safe center.

The hockey club searched for a Nazem Kadri-type tough and gritty player. So they gave up some serious draft material to get the real 35-year-old Kadri, who is coming back to where he did damage to playoff opponents during the 2022 championship climb to the Cup.

And captain Gabe “Landman” Landeskog is healthy again after resuming his play in the Olympics and has six points.

However, the postseason will depend on the brotherhood of Nathan MacKinnon (42 goals and 61 assists), Cale Makar (19 and 47) and Martin Necas (28 and 48) and the Brother Wood of Scott Wedgewood (23 wins, 4 losses and 5 OT losses) and Mackenzie Blackwood (18-6-1).

After Blackwood was torched for four goals on 11 shots Friday, Wedgewood replaced him and stopped the shooting Stars.

With neither “Wood” in net late, Valeri Nichushkin scored the tying goal, then produced a snap shot in the shootout.

The Avs are so hot, the Nugs not so.