DENVER – “They’re a year older which is key… I think they’re better,” Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said about the Denver Nuggets before his team slammed the Mile High City Ballers 127 to 108.

The last time these teams met in the regular season—February of 2017—the Nuggets handed the Warriors one of just their 15 losses en route to a championship. Juancho Hernangomez led all scorers with 27 and held Kevin Durant to a plus-minus of negative 23.

Those Nuggets, generally the same now, but a year older, on the same court, were out-classed by the class of the NBA.

Still, somehow, the Nuggets proved Kerr’s thoughts to be true, in a way.

The Nuggets’ slow start could probably be attributed to a back to back where they played the Heat to a close win on Friday. The back to back was part of a larger three games in four nights and an extended six games in nine nights.

Yet, the roaring second quarter where the navy and yellow outscored the gold and blue 32-24 was what the sign the Queen City of the Plains had been looking for. The Nuggets are making the step towards the postseason.

“I went into the game knowing that the last three games in four nights we lost in New York and this was double that I knew it would be a factor and that’s part of the NBA,” head coach Michael Malone said postgame. “The chances of us winning tonight were slim to none. The fact that we gave ourselves a chance in the first half, I was proud of that.”

The Nuggets out-Warriored the Warriors for those 12 minutes in the second, playing small-ball and getting into a “rat race” as head coach Malone calls it. While the coach did say he didn’t want to completely play into Golden State’s hands it was telling of a young team that wasn’t going to shy away from the biggest names in the sport.

Though the Warriors came right back in the third quarter with a 24-4 run—part of a larger 42-21 quarter —and put a snooze on a Nuggets love-fest and started the beat ’em down.

Denver is a different team than they were last year, some parts of them are worse but overall they’re better. They’re just growing and one night of hoops in the middle of a tough slate isn’t indicative of a doomed team.

“They’re different because of (Paul) Millsap’s presence, he gives them an edge,” Kerr said pregame. That wasn’t clear on a night when the four-time All-Star was held to six points and a lowly plus-minus of negative 28. But it’s evident the ‘different’ Nuggets have a better shot at ascension; it’s just going to take some time.

Realistically, nobody expects the Nuggets to be better than the Warriors this season and that’s okay. One step at a time and this weekend’s was first breaking the late game spell that plagued them the entire 2016-17 season and following it up with a second step was one of their best quarters of the year against the Warriors. That’s a sign that Denver is turning the corner towards the next step up in the competitive ladder.

Winning two of the four quarters against Golden State?

“Silver linings,” Malone said. “That’s a very good basketball team over there.”