The Nuggets are finally getting a glimpse of their ultimate ceiling

While watching the Western Conference Finals from outside the NBA bubble last September, Will Barton couldn’t help but wonder if his presence would have tipped the series in the Nuggets’ favor.

Barton was the Nuggets’ unquestioned third-best player last regular season. He averaged the third-most points and assists on Denver’s roster, the second-most rebounds, and turned in the best defensive season of his career. Barton was the reliable third scoring option alongside Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray that the Nuggets were noticeably missing throughout their five-game series loss to the Lakers.

But nagging knee soreness, which started right before the NBA went on hiatus last March, held Barton out of Denver’s entire playoff run. The soreness got worse throughout the early months of the pandemic and nearly led Barton to surgery. After visiting with nine different specialists, Barton opted for a rehabilitation plan at Miami’s DBC Fitness under Biomechanist Donnie Raimon who’s worked with LeBron James and other NBA All-Stars.

Barton rehabbed at DBC during the day and watched Denver’s playoff run from his temporary Miami residence at night. He took notes on how the Nuggets and their opponents were playing. He studied the offensive schemes and defensive coverages that were being deployed, and what worked and what didn’t for Denver throughout all three playoff series. As the buzzer sounded at the end of the Nuggets’ 117-107 Game 5 loss to the Lakers, Barton couldn’t shake the thought of how things could have been different if he was in uniform.

“As a competitor, as one of our key guys, and with the year I was having before the pandemic hit, of course I think about it,” Barton said of Denver’s Western Conference Finals loss. “I feel like if I was there we would have won. What good player wouldn’t feel like that?”

“I try to put it in the back of my mind because it’s a new season, a new ball game now. I’ve got to focus on what’s ahead.”

After an underwhelming first half of the season, Barton has started to look like the dynamic offensive playmaker that he was last year. Barton recorded his fourth-straight 20-point game Wednesday in Denver’s 129-104 win over Charlotte. Throughout the Nuggets’ last eight games, he’s averaging 18.3 points (50.5 FG%, 46.9 3P%), 5.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. On the season, Barton’s shooting a career-high 40.9% from three, the fourth-best mark on the Nuggets behind JaMychal Green, Michael Porter Jr. and Nikola Jokic.

His resurgence has coincided with Michael Porter Jr.’s best stretch of the season. Porter tallied a game-high 28 points against the Hornets — his fifth-straight 20+ point game — to go with 13 rebounds. Together, Barton and Porter are showing how potent Denver’s multi-pronged offensive attack can be when its top options are firing on all cylinders.

All of a sudden, the Nuggets have the NBA’s second-best offense on the season and the No. 1 rated offense over the last eight games where Denver has gone 7-1. The Nuggets’ current starting lineup — Murray, Barton, Porter, Paul Millsap and Jokic — is the best five-man offensive lineup in the NBA that’s played at least 100 minutes this season. Against the Hornets, the Nuggets shot 58% from the field and handed out a season-high 38 assists. Denver had five players reach double-figure scoring for the second-straight game.

“When we play the right way, everybody’s going to eat,” Porter said.

Denver has been trending up all season on defense too. After a 1-4 start where the Nuggets’ defense sat near the bottom of the NBA, Denver has been steadily climbing. Currently, the Nuggets have the league’s 13th-best defense. Over Denver’s recent eight-game run, the Nuggets have the NBA’s sixth-best defense and have held 10-straight opponents to under 50% shooting. Charlotte shot just 45% from the floor and 31.6% from three-point range Wednesday.

“We know what kind of team we want to be,” Barton said. “We know we want to be playing when the dust settles, when all other teams are gone and it’s us and an Eastern Conference team. We know we’ve got to defend at a high level.”

The Nuggets’ surging defense is partly a product of Porter’s continued improvement. Malone applauded Porter’s defensive effort Wednesday on Gordon Hayward, who had just seven points on 3-7 shooting and again commended the forward’s commitment to his defense. Monday against the Pacers, Porter contested a career-high 13 shots and Denver held Indiana to 106 points. The obvious defensive gaffes that Porter was routinely making earlier this season seem to be dwindling by the game.

In the 12 games since a scathing Sports Illustrated article highlighting Porter’s defensive shortcomings was published — at the time it painted an accurate picture of his defense — Porter is tied with Jamal Murray as the Nuggets’ +/- leader (+104).

“The only way you grow and improve on defense is if you care,” Malone said. “And that’s probably what I’m most proud of about Michael Porter. He’s shown that he cares.”

At the 40-game mark, it genuinely feels like everything’s finally coming together for the Nuggets. Jokic’s play hasn’t dropped off. Murray’s healthy and impacting the game in all facets and not just with his scoring. Barton has looked much more spry since the All-Star break. Porter’s confidence and comfort within Denver’s offense and defense is at an all-time high.

Look no further than Porter’s Steph Curry-esque lookaway triple from in front of the Hornets’ bench for proof.

“To be honest, I wasn’t even really that hot,” said Porter who was 2-5 from three before the lookaway triple. “But it’s something I’ve done before going back to high school. Sometimes in the moment of the game, you’re feeling it and I just wanted to do it. Honestly, I didn’t know if it was going in, so I peeked back. Thankfully it did.”

The exclamation point on MPJ’s big night: a Steph Curry lookaway three from the corner. pic.twitter.com/hb8565Qlvs

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) March 18, 2021

A relentless offense combined with an ascending defense helped Denver stroll to its second-straight victory over an Eastern Conference opponent. With the Clippers dropping five of their last seven games, the Nuggets are suddenly just one game back of LA for the fourth seed in the West.

Denver’s next five games are all against sub-.500 teams, the Bulls, Pelicans, Magic, Raptors, and Pelicans again. If the Nuggets plan to make a real move towards the top of the West, now is the time.

“This is a tough season, especially the way it started off,” Barton said. “This is uncharted waters, never been done before. And we kind of started off slow. Had some injuries to key guys. Guys were in and out the lineup, changing rotations.”

“We didn’t let any of that bother us. We stuck to it. We’re sticking to it now, and you see the improvements. We’ve just got to keep going. Keep being resilient. Keep wanting to get better and wanting more for ourselves, and we’ll be fine.”