Gary Harris and Paul Millsap issued a league-wide PSA in win over Hornets

Gary Harris made a Public Service Announcement Saturday, perhaps not as memorable as the 10th track on Jay-Z’s chart-topping “The Black Album” or Michael Jordan’s two-word press release sent by fax announcing his return to the NBA after an 18-month sabbatical in baseball’s minor leagues, but significant to the Nuggets’ season nonetheless.

In his third game back from a right hip injury that sidelined him for 11 games, Harris rumbled down the lane on a fastbreak midway through the second quarter, took one dribble with his left hand, clutched the ball with his right, and in one swooping motion reintroduced himself to Miles Bridges and the rest of the NBA with same message Jordan broadcasted in 1995.

He’s back.

“I’m excited. Can’t you tell?” a beaming Michael Malone asked following Denver’s fifth-straight victory, a 123-110 win over the Charlotte Hornets, reflecting on both Harris and Paul Millsap, who was recently sidelined for eight games with a fractured toe, finding their rhythms after missing extended time. “It’s good to be healthy. It’s good to be whole. And I love that tonight was the first time since they’ve come back where both guys were playing at the level we’re expecting them to play at.”

Harris tallied 17 points in 26 minutes off Denver’s bench on a healthy 7-15 shooting, to go with six rebounds and five assists. The 24-year-old, who finished a team-best plus-23 on the night, looked spry in his second game back in the lineup skying for dunks and looking to attack the basket, both telltale signs that he’s not feeling any ill effects from his injury. Harris’ slam on Bridges in the second quarter, which he followed up with a two-armed flex directed at Denver’s bench, was the second time in as many games that he’s tried to put his defender on a poster.

“I thought he was back last game when he tried to dunk baseline,” Torrey Craig said. “He missed it, but the fact that he tried to do it, I was like, ‘Yeah. G’s feeling pretty good.”

Millsap looked like he’s ready for more minutes going forward too, finishing with 18 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals also off the Nuggets’ bench. Denver has slowly ramped up Millsap’s minutes since his return on Dec. 29 in Phoenix, playing him 14 minutes against the Suns and 22 minutes in each of Denver’s last two wins over the Knicks and Kings. Millsap logged 27 minutes versus the Hornets, and like Harris, appears primed to rejoin the Nuggets’ starting lineup for Monday’s showdown in Houston against the Rockets.

“Both of those guys showed that they’re ready to take their starting jobs back,” Malone said.

Harris and Millsap’s returns couldn’t have come at a better time for the Nuggets, who survived a three-week stretch in December where it navigated injuries to three starters — Harris, Millsap and Will Barton, who still remains sidelined with a hip/core injury but is expected to return soon — and still stayed atop the Western Conference. But Denver is set to enter a grueling stretch in its schedule where the Nuggets will play five games in the next seven nights. Denver faces the Rockets, who the Nuggets haven’t beaten since December 2015, Suns and Clippers on the road, and the Clippers and Trail Blazers at home over the next week.

Without three starters, Denver has looked to Jamal Muray and Nikola Jokic, who finished with season-high 39 points against Charlotte, to go with 12 rebounds and six assists for most of its offense. A more balanced attack, which the Nuggets are just now able to get back to with Harris and Millsap in sync, is music to Jokic’s and the rest of Denver’s locker room’s ears.

“Headband Paul and G Money,” Jokic deadpanned. “They are back.”

It shouldn’t take too long for the rest of Denver’s roster to adjust to Harris and Millsap on the floor. Harris has always enjoyed an uncanny chemistry with Jokic and acts as the epitome of the Nuggets’ read-and-react attack. Millsap had grown comfortable with his role before his injury last month and has shown throughout two seasons in a Nuggets’ uniform that he’s more than OK with taking a backseat to Denver’s core three on offense.

When Millsap, Jokic, Harris and Murray shared the floor Saturday, the Nuggets outscored the Hornets 20-9 in five minutes of action.

“Just to see them healthy and contributing in a big way, it just speaks a lot about them and this team,” Craig said. “How they can be out for so long and come back, and the chemistry just flows. It looks natural and it feels natural.”

Of course, Denver is still waiting on Barton’s return to make its starting five whole again. The Nuggets’ top small forward has remained shelved since Denver’s second game of the season when he suffered a hip/core injury that required surgery. When Barton returns Denver can finally shift back into overdrive with a fully healthy roster, something its been without for the last two-plus months.

Until then, the Nuggets plan to abide by the next man up mentality that’s helped them get out to the best start in franchise history and rattle off an impressive 16 wins over their last 20 games. Millsap and Harris finding their respective rhythms should keep Denver moving full speed ahead.

“I feel good. I’m still taking it one day at a time,” the mild-mannered Harris said. “But it’s always good to get the win.”