The Lakers still couldn’t throw a penny into the ocean. It had nothing to do with Wednesday’s game being 1,000 miles from the Pacific.

The Lakers continued to struggle with their outside shot and lost to the Denver Nuggets, 110-99, Wednesday in Denver.

This time, they made only eight of 30 three-point shots (26.7%) and fell to 0-4 for only the fourth time in the franchise’s 75-year history. Only two other teams are still winless — Orlando and Sacramento — and the Lakers’ schedule continues to be complicated with a road game Friday at Minnesota.

LeBron James quipped a few days earlier that the Lakers couldn’t throw a penny into the ocean because of their poor three-point shooting. That wasn’t the only issue Wednesday.

They surrendered a way-too-generous 35 fastbreak points and dented what had been a decent defensive effort through their first three games.

Another problem jumped to the forefront again — an inability to stay close throughout the game. The Lakers trailed by 27 in Golden State, 16 against the Clippers and 18 against Denver. They managed to cut into the deficits in all three games, but faded each time.

There was also concern about the health of Anthony Davis. He clutched his back more than once in the first half, the residual effect of a hard fall last week against the Clippers. He shook it off and scored 16 points on the way to a 54-54 halftime tie.

Then he aggravated his back in the third quarter while pursuing a rebound and had a heating pad applied to it during a timeout. He scored only four more points the rest of the way.

Davis said afterward his back would be fine. He didn’t edit words when assessing the Lakers’ four-game losing streak.

“It sucks,” he said. “We know we’re in it right now. We know we’re not going to be in it too long.”

What made the loss more disappointing for the Lakers was their inability to puncture the NBA’s most generous defense. Denver allowed 124.5 points a game in the first week of the season but held the Lakers under 100 Wednesday.

James had 19 points and nine assists, but also eight turnovers. He said he looked to pass too often and needed to be more aggressive looking for his own shot. When he did shoot, it wasn’t overly effective. He made only eight of 21 attempts, including two of eight from the three-point range.

Russell Westbrook critics couldn’t even blame him Wednesday. He missed the game because of a sore hamstring.

“There’s plenty of time for us to right the ship and it starts now,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said before quickly correcting himself. “It starts yesterday.”

Two-time MVP Nikola Jokic had 31 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists for Denver, which turned the tie at halftime into a 15-point edge going into the fourth quarter.

The Nuggets (3-2) used 13 fastbreak points in the third quarter to rip open the game.

“Guys just got to be committed consistently,” Ham said. “They have some very, very fast athletic guys. That’s the first line of defense, transition defense. We’ll go back and look at it and try to see what we can fix.”