Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets locker room:

NBA Insider

A few weeks ago, Cam Johnson was wondering when his uncharacteristic shooting slump would end. These days things are different.

“Even day-to-day is a difference,” Denver’s starting small forward said after Sunday’s win over the Trail Blazers. “You just go out there and try and find that rhythm, try to find a rhythm in a competitive way and enjoy playing and live with the result.”

The recent rhythm has been undeniable. He’s shooting 48.9% from 3-point range in March. That includes a 2-for-10 mark in the first three games of the month at the end of his slump. The 30-year-old hasn’t looked as comfortable and confident in a Nuggets uniform as he did in the first quarter of the Portland game.

In the first 40 seconds, Johnson ran alongside Nikola Jokic, caught a pass, took a dribble, raised up from a step inside the Ball Arena logo and drained his first shot of the afternoon. His second attempt — another 3, but this time from the logo — came at the end of the shot clock a few minutes later. Johnson’s third 3 hit in the first five minutes after Jamal Murray misfired. Johnson grabbed the offensive rebound, dribbled out beyond the arc in the corner and made the 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan pay for giving him a sliver of space right in front of the Nuggets’ bench. The fourth consecutive make from 3 was the easiest. Jokic threaded a cross-court pass to an open Johnson, who scored 12 of his 19 points in the first six minutes.

“He did a really good job today. He’s an intelligent player on the defensive end, too. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. He can miss or make a basket, (but) I think he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes,” Jokic said.

“When he shoots the ball at a high percentage it helps us a lot.”

It marked the sixth time in the last seven games Johnson has scored 15 or more points. He’s 40 for 68 (58.8%) from the field in that stretch and 21 for 37 (56.8%) from 3. Keeping up that torrid pace would go a long way, as Denver looks to improve its standing in the Western Conference.

“When we get going offensively, we’re really, really tough to stop. Now, we’ve got to match that with defensive intensity, transition defense, hitting the boards, boxing teams out,” Johnson said.

“(There’s) a lot of room for us to grow defensively and little ins and outs of the game. If we continue to improve on those areas, I think the ceiling for this team is extremely high, so it’s encouraging.”

What I’m thinking

It turns out great college coaches can also help journalists accomplish their NBA dreams.

When Greg McDermott, who announced his retirement Monday, was hired to replace Dana Altman as Creighton’s coach back in the spring of 2010, this young reporter was finishing up a run as the sports editor of “The Creightonian.” Altman, who left our little hilltop for Oregon, was an institution in Omaha. McDermott came to town after an uninspiring four-year stint at Iowa State and surpassed even the wildest expectations.

The newspaper job market being what it was in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, my best option was sticking around the hometown, working part-time jobs as a paraeducator and sports-desk assistant at the Omaha World-Herald while covering the Bluejays for very meager pay in my free time. Four years later, Greg’s son Doug — you might remember him from the draft-night trade that brought Gary Harris to Denver in 2014 or catching fire against the Nuggets in January of last season — was winning National Player of the Year awards and leading the Jays to a third straight NCAA Tournament.

Between learning McDermott’s motion offense packed with plenty of counters and cuts, watching how the national writers who descended on Omaha operated, participating in press conferences at the Big East and NCAA tournaments and developing sources to cover recruiting, the short time around McDermott’s teams provided the foundation for what’s become a dream career for this NBA beat writer.

Thanks, Coach Mac. Hit ‘em straight in retirement.

What they’re saying

Nuggets coach David Adelman liked Peyton Watson’s three assists against the Trail Blazers, but there’s belief he can become an even better playmaker in the years to come.

“The more he has the ball and gets in the paint, the more experience he has doing that, I think the assist totals will go even higher, because he really does bring two, three people with his length and the way he can finish,” Adelman said.

Watson, who enjoyed a long stretch of starts while Johnson and other forwards were injured, returned to a reserve role when the Nuggets were finally whole against Portland.

“I have great confidence in the team. We have one of the best duos in the entire world, if not the best. We got ‘AG,’ who’s one of the best at his role in the entire league. After that, we’ve got a whole bunch of players who know their role, who’ve played in the league for a while,” Watson said.

“When you have a team like we do, you’re going to be able to cover a lot of different areas. That’s what we do. We’re a really well-rounded team. I think me coming back really solidifies that.”

Spencer Jones noted one negative of Denver’s fully healthy roster.

“We were hyped walking out there,” Jones said.

“The only bad thing is there’s not enough room on the bench. You can’t really spread your legs as much as you used to, but it’s a great feeling to have everybody out there.”

What I’m following

• The Thunder got their No. 2, Jalen Williams, back for Monday’s game against Philadelphia. Oklahoma City will be without Ajay Mitchell against the 76ers after he was suspended for his involvement in a skirmish in Saturday’s game against Washington.
• Lakers star Luka Doncic avoided a suspension, for now. Doncic had his 16th technical foul, which would’ve triggered a one-game suspension, rescinded.
• LeBron James passed Robert Parish for the most games played in NBA history. Saturday’s game was the 1,612th of his career.
• Kevin Durant passed Michael Jordan for fifth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with a 27-point performance Saturday. Only LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant have scored more points than Houston’s star.