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

NBA Insider

For all the things Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray have accomplished in Denver, a 10-game win streak has been elusive.

Murray and Jokic led the Nuggets to nine consecutive wins in January of the 2022-23 season before Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a game-winning shot with Jokic out of action to end the streak. The duo was again on the precipice last season, but a streak that started in late January and continued through the All-Star break was ended by big nights from Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves in a convincing Lakers win.

This year’s schedule sets up a little more favorably after a couple of close calls that required double-digit comebacks and overtime. The stakes are also higher. Denver heads into Wednesday’s game against a Grizzlies team that’s long been eliminated from playoff contention. Denver has a prime opportunity to seize the three seed, while the Lakers deal with injuries that would keep Doncic and Reaves out for the remainder of the regular season.

“You have to have some sort of urgency at this point,” Murray said in the postgame locker room Monday. “(There’s) three games left and people are fighting for seeding, so we just got to keep this mentality. We may not win every game or be pretty every single second, but our intent, our emotion toward it, our focus to try to build good habits are key right now. We’re just trying to be grown men and do what it takes to win.”

Over the current streak, that’s required getting back to the duo’s specialty, performing in the clutch. Six of the nine consecutive wins have been decided by seven or fewer points.

“The spacing has been good, so we haven’t be turning it over or messing up the execution,” Murray said of what’s changed about the team’s performance late in games where the outcome is up for grabs.

“When we have space, it could be anybody’s shot. That’s what you saw tonight.”

Health has also helped. From early November until the last month, the Nuggets were missing at least one player from the starting lineup. After nine straight wins, the Nuggets surpassed last season’s win total. If they can make it to 12 straight to finish the season, they’ll match the 53 wins the team totaled before winning the 2023 championship.

“It was a, I’m not going to say difficult year, but inconsistent year with the injuries, the lineups, everything. We still managed to be one of the top teams. I think that’s something telling about this team and the group that we have in the locker room,” Jokic said. “We definitely show ourselves that we can answer to anything. Hopefully, we’re going to find a way in the playoffs when the moment is big.”

What I’m Thinking

It’s all coming together for Cam Johnson, and it couldn’t be happening at a better time for the Nuggets.

Johnson has hit clutch shots in each of Denver’s last couple of wins, but that’s far from all that he’s providing.

“Cam’s biggest improvement through the whole season is even though they called five fouls on him tonight, is he’s really guarding one-on-one better. His natural gift is his team-defense IQ is off the charts. He gets it,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said.

“For our team, it’s no secret here, it’s about sitting down and guarding one-on-one. The amount of possessions where I think we do a great job for 17, 18  seconds and then this league just comes down to backyard basketball. You have to sit down and guard.”

Being prepared to do so largely comes down to one’s willingness to study the tendencies of their opponents.

“A lot of it is understanding what guys want to do, for sure. … Understanding personnel is a huge part of defending at the NBA level,” Johnson said.

“There’s other parts of it that is pure effort and intensity, too. It takes a lot on one hand to be a high-level NBA defender. There are guys that have a lot of really, really specialized tools in it.”

Johnson scored 17 points on nine shots with seven assists and six rebounds. The first-year Nugget finished as a plus-25 in the nearly 37 minutes he played, the best mark on the team. He did most of his offensive work inside the arc before drilling a 3 from the left wing that cut Portland’s six-point lead to three with just under three minutes to go.

“Sometimes when a guy’s offense gets going, their defense gets going,” Adelman said. “I think he’s taken a lot of hits to the chest; he’s guarded guys one-on-one. He’s just been such an impactful player as he got back from the injury and got his rhythm. He’s been great.”

What They’re Saying

Nikola Jokic is, admittedly, not a huge fan college basketball, even if more and more Europeans are coming to the states to play basketball, make some money and attend American universities.

“To be honest, I just understand why the rules are different. It’s so slow, and they’re just going round and round,” Jokic said. “It’s still basketball. It’s a little bit different. I’m going to say it’s a little bit like Europe just because … the 3 is shorter or whatever, but I just don’t understand the 30-second (shot clock). It’s just too much.”

His coach sees things a little differently after some recent changes to the college system.

“That tournament was awesome. … I don’t get to watch a lot of it, but the teams I’ve watched this year have been really enjoyable. I can’t say that in the past. College basketball is sometimes not fun to watch for me,” Adelman said.

“The NBA is in a really good place in my opinion, and it’s fun to see American basketball, the best college basketball players look so high-level. That’s the way it should be. I think the game is in a good place.”

What I’m Following

• Peyton Watson and Spencer Jones are the only players on Denver’s injury report for Wednesday’s game against Memphis. Both Watson and Jones remain out with right hamstring strains.
• Memphis comes to Denver shorthanded. The Grizzlies will be without Ja Morant, Zach Edey and nine others, but that didn’t prevent them from tying an NBA record Monday. Memphis made 29 3-pointers against the Cavaliers and still couldn’t come up with a win.
• One of Denver’s former executives didn’t have as good of a day as the Nuggets’ former coach. The Bulls fired vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas, who was with the Nuggets from 2013 to 2020, on Monday. Chicago also parted ways with general manager Marc Eversley.
• Victor Wembanyama left the Spurs’ win over Philadelphia with a left rib contusion. If Wembanyama doesn’t play 20 or more minutes in one of San Antonio’s final three games, he will be ineligible for end-of-season awards.