WASHINGTON — Nikola Jokic scored the highest score of his career and had little reason to celebrate afterward.

It came with a loss – against a team that hadn’t won since October.

“I think today and the last few games have been really bad for us,” Jokic said. “We’re really going in the wrong direction. I think it’s everyone’s fault.”

If Jokic was excited about an astonishing stat line that also included 16 rebounds and eight assists, he didn’t show it. His efforts were wasted Saturday night in a 122-113 loss to a Washington team that had lost 16 straight games.

Denver (11-10) hasn’t won consecutive games in almost a month, and now the Nuggets have lost two games in a row. If the season ended now, they would be a play-in team.

No wonder Jokic offered a particularly drastic solution afterwards.

“In my country, where I come from, after a stretch like that you’re going to get a paycheck that’s a little smaller than you hoped,” the Serbian star said, earning a laugh. “Maybe that’s what we need to do. Maybe a little motivation.”

The Nuggets were not at full strength on Saturday with Jamal Murray (hamstring), Aaron Gordon (calf) and Dario Saric (ankle) missing due to injuries. Jokic ended up shooting 38 times from the field – also a career high – as he tried to lead Denver to victory.

“In the end I pushed,” he said.

His career goals total so far was 50 – also in a loss, on February 6, 2021 in Sacramento. Jokic scored 23 points – on 20 shots – in the third quarter against the Wizards as Denver took a 12-point halftime deficit to six.

Then he took a break and Washington extended the lead back into double digits. The Wizards outscored Denver by eight points when Jokic was out and one when he was in the game.

“We have a lot of problems, especially on defense,” said coach Mike Malone.

Jordan Poole led Washington with 39 points, including nine 3-pointers, but the Wizards also had the balance that Denver lacked. Justin Champagnie scored a career-high 23 and Jonas Valanciunas beat Jokic inside to finish the game with 20 points.

Malone blamed himself.

“I’m doing a really bad job with this team,” he said. “If we’re 11-10 at this point and we’re losing to a team that’s played the last five games, that’s an average of a hundred points a game and they’ve given up 122 on us – that’s embarrassing to me.”