Jamal Murray and the Nuggets passed their biggest test yet

Dillon Brooks shut down Jamal Murray for three quarters. It wasn’t enough.

Friday night’s Nuggets-Grizzlies national TV matchup between the No. 1 and 2 seeds in the West ended with 11 minutes remaining in the fourth. That’s when Murray hit a tough, contested step-back jumper over Brooks from the right wing. That was all she wrote. It was a wrap after that.

Murray ran back down the floor and yelled. He screamed right in Brooks’ ear, to be specific. The two hoopers from Canada who grew up 40 minutes from one another and played on the same AAU team are friends off the court. They kick it with each other in both Denver and Memphis when the Nuggets and Grizzlies play. They know each other’s families. But they were healthy rivals Friday.

A picture is really worth a thousand words. That shot ignited Murray, who scored 11 of his 22 in the fourth quarter. From that point on, he owned Brooks.

“He showed you the level that he can take it to,” Jeff Green told DNVR. “Jamal is getting back to rare form, just like he was in the bubble.”

The Grizzlies tried to be physical with the Nuggets. They tried to punk Denver because they want to rattle everyone that they play. That’s their style. Brooks tried Murray. His attempt badly backfired. Memphis bumped their music so loud in the visiting locker room pregame that the bass thumped through the wall of the Nuggets’ press lounge while Michael Malone gave his pregame remarks. They tried to walk all over the Nuggets because it’s what the Grizzlies can do against most teams in the league. But not Denver.

The Grizzlies tested the Nuggets. The Nuggets passed with flying colors.

“Of course it felt like a playoff intensity,” Green told DNVR. “We went out there and answered the call.”

This Nuggets team is different. They’re experienced and battle-tested. They’re an elite offense that’s led by the single greatest offensive force in the NBA who should win his third-straight MVP this season. They have the best starting five in the league. They can turn it up to an elite level defensively when they need to — like in the fourth quarter when Denver held Memphis to 17 points on 7-20 shooting. They’re not scared of anyone.

A defining trait of great teams, of championship-level teams, is the ability to win games in several different ways. That’s what the Nuggets showed again vs. Memphis. The NBA’s best 3-point shooting team shot 2-13 from distance in the first half. They went 3-11 from 3-point range in the third quarter. It didn’t matter. They eventually caught a rhythm and finished the job.

The closer the Nuggets get to the playoffs, the more your confidence in this team grows, especially when the Nuggets are playing at home. And that was the biggest takeaway from this win. Denver essentially locked up the West’s No. 1 seed with its latest victory. The Nuggets are six games up on the Grizzlies with 18 games left. No head-to-head matchups remain between Denver and Memphis either. The Nuggets have won the season series 2-1.

“Since the All-Star break, it feels like every night’s a playoff-type game,” Malone said. “We’ve played Memphis twice, Cleveland, the Clippers, and our guys showed up.”

The West playoffs will run through Denver. That’s excellent news for the Nuggets who are an NBA-best 29-4 at Ball Arena and haven’t lost in Denver since Jan. 22. They haven’t lost at home with Nikola Jokic in the lineup since Dec. 6. The Nuggets are 23-1 in their last 24 home games.

“Fans give us confidence,” Murray said. “Even when we’re struggling or we’re down or we’re struggling to make shots they just start cheering and give us energy.”

This Nuggets team is ultra-connected right now. They’re locked in on the task at hand. The chemistry that this group has is special. After Malone awarded two Defensive Player of the Game chains last night, one to Jokic and one to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Caldwell-Pope took his off and handed it to Murray.

They don’t care who gets the credit for their success, but Malone made sure to give one final shout-out late Friday night. Near the end of his postgame presser, Malone brought up Jokic’s defense following the back-to-back MVP’s 18-point, 18-rebound, 10-assists night. It was Jokic’s 25th triple-double of the season. The Nuggets are now 25-0 when Jokic gets a triple-double.

It was a simple reminder that the Nuggets hear all the noise from the stat-padding conspiracy theories, the Jokic skeptics, and the pundits who try to tear them down. And it pisses them off.

“I thought Nikola was great tonight,” Malone said. “He’s such an easy target, the non-athlete. ‘I like my MVPs to block shots.’ OK, that’s fine. Ja Morant in the pick and roll is almost unguardable. And I felt Nikola’s levels (guarding the pick-and-roll), we wanted to be more aggressive tonight. I thought Nikola was outstanding defensively. If you watch that game and say he’s a negative defender or a poor defender, I’d like you to pee in a cup.”

They’re keeping all the receipts.