LOS ANGELES — Guarding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Luka Doncic on the last possession of a deadlocked game is one of the most unenviable tasks in any professional sports league.

That’s why the Nuggets’ goal was to guard them with two defenders, not one.

Twice in the span of a week, an NBA MVP candidate broke Denver hearts with a game-winning shot over Spencer Jones, the 23-year-old wing who was promoted from a two-way contract in February.

He made the same mistake both times.

“I’ve gotta find a way to force him into the help,” he told The Denver Post, “and get him to either take a worse shot or get help from your secondary defender.”

First, it was SGA in OKC, maneuvering to his step-back 3-pointer on the right wing last Monday. Jones was stuck on his left hip, a consequence of his gamble to lunge for a steal on the pass to Gilgeous-Alexander. Denver was planning to double-team from the middle of the floor, but the MVP favorite recognized it and slithered to his right, away from the help. Jones was out of position to steer him back.

Then it was Doncic in Los Angeles, setting an off-ball screen for Rui Hachimura and getting Jones switched onto him Saturday. The Lakers cleared out the left side of the floor, taking Christian Braun out of the play. Jones was still aided up top by Bruce Brown, the nearest help defender. Behind him, Aaron Gordon was rotating to Austin Reaves to protect against the easiest pass Doncic could make out of a double-team.

But Jones faced his body the wrong direction for the slightest moment, giving Doncic leverage to attack the open space to his left. Brown was left chasing the play, unable to trap, as Doncic navigated to a step-back 15-footer on the baseline.

It’s the type of shot that can feel automatic off the fingertips of a scoring champion. Jones’ tight contest with the right hand was invisible to the Slovenian star. It might’ve helped that Doncic subtly pushed off the defender’s mid-section to create space. Los Angeles took the lead with 0.5 seconds left.

“Spence has to send it back,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said after the 127-125 loss. “We talked about it. It’s the bottom line. We switched. It’s not a bad matchup. Spence is a great defender. So it’s not about that. It’s about how good Shai and Luka are. Once we switch, you have to send it back to (the double). That’s where your help is. Because once he gets a step, it’s over, and now he’s foul-baiting, all the things. Once he has the advantage, great players, that’s gonna happen.

“Shai’s was very tough. That was all the way near the sideline. This was: Luka got to his spot, and that can’t happen. You’ve just gotta send it back to (your) teammate. That’s what was coached. That’s what was talked about. So we’ll have to keep going through it.”

Not that it’s easy to corral players like Gilgeous-Alexander and Doncic. In both cases, they were reading the floor, identifying the help and locating where the Nuggets would be most vulnerable. (If anything, they could’ve had Braun neglect his new matchup entirely and zone up the left side of the floor to show Doncic an extra body behind the first line of defense Saturday.) In the context of 1-on-1 defense against a superstar, Jones’ effort was commendable on both plays.

It’s just that Denver didn’t want to play 1-on-1 in a league where the best isolation offense often beats the best defense.

“I mean, he’s guarding amazing players,” Nikola Jokic told The Post. “So it’s a learning process, but it’s tough to guard those guys. They’re the best in the league. They’re the best in the world. So you can kind of contain them and send them, but the offense is the one who is deciding where it’s gonna go.”

“Gotta get the ball out of those players’ hands, get somebody else to take those shots,” Jones said. “And we’ll have a better chance of pulling out these games.”

The Nuggets also had a foul to give on that final sequence of overtime Saturday, but they didn’t use it.

“The problem is once (Doncic) gains an advantage, that foul to give is a shooting foul,” Adelman reasoned. “He has a step on you. You know how he is. He’s gonna shoot the ball. He’s gonna rip through your hands. At that point, I think you’ve already lost, once he gains a step on Spence. So yeah, he made a tough shot. A shot he makes.”

The dramatic finish in Los Angeles capped a roller coaster week for Jones. He was the catalyst of a 13-point fourth-quarter comeback last Thursday in San Antonio, scoring 19 points and slotting in as Adelman’s ad-lib backup center during a key run.

Before opening tip against the Lakers, Adelman said he has “full trust in Spencer” as a potential playoff option. The Stanford grad wasn’t eligible to suit up in playoff games until his two-way contract was converted to a standard deal.

“He’s earned it,” Adelman said. “We went to him as a starter during the season. We’ve won games with him playing high-30s minutes. The other night in San Antonio, we went there just because we had tried everything else. I don’t know how many lineups I tried the other night to try to find a run in that game. And that was the lineup. He was our five. He picked and popped and made a couple 3s, and I think that just opened up the whole game for us. And obviously, defensively, what he brings to us, the versatility. … He just brings something different to our team. If I can put a lineup out there with Peyton (Watson), Aaron, Spencer, that’s really good perimeter defense.”

Watson will likely be back from a hamstring injury in the next week to make that lineup possible. In the meantime, Jones was stranded on an island of his own making Saturday, exasperated by another difficult game-winning shot that his wingspan was somehow helpless to affect on its own.

Murray in pain

Jamal Murray’s right shoulder was bothering him during a 1-for-14 outing Saturday. Denver’s All-Star point guard fouled out early in overtime after scoring only five laborious points.

“There was discomfort in his arm for sure,” Adelman said. “We talked at halftime (about) where he was at mentally with it, and he was (fully) wanting to play. Some of the looks he had tonight are shots he makes in his sleep.”

Murray was getting treatment after the game and didn’t speak to media.

“I can’t remember a night like this from him,” Adelman said. “So this is not a normal thing, as everybody knows. So he’ll bounce back. He’ll get two days here to get his body right. We’ll go from there.”

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