DENVER — The Nuggets limped to the locker room with their heads down Monday night against the Trail Blazers after piecing together one of their worst offensive halves of the season. Denver shot just 34 percent from the field and hit three of its 12 three-point attempts. The 42 points that showed on the scoreboard were the second-fewest amount of points the Nuggets have scored in a first half this season.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone gave it to his team straight at halftime with Denver facing a seven-point deficit.
“Can you guys turn off everything?” Nikola Jokic joked with reporters when questioned about his coach’s pep talk.
Malone’s message was short and to the point. Denver had one half of basketball left in its season. The Nuggets weren’t going to get any help from the likes of the Grizzlies, Kings and the Clippers or Heat, who all lost to teams Denver is battling with for one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference.
“Fellas,” Malone began. “If we lose, we’re out.”
Malone was right. The Thunder, Timberwolves, Spurs and Pelicans all won. The Nuggets needed to make a comeback if they wanted their playoff hopes to stay alive.
“He said we have 24 minutes,” Gary Harris recalled. “Everything we want is right in front of us.”
Denver outscored Portland 24-20 in the third quarter and put the clamps on Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum in the fourth to win a grind-it-out defensive battle 88-82. The Nuggets held the Trail Blazers to 13 fourth-quarter points on 5-17 shooting. After Jusuf Nurkic controlled the paint and offensive glass for three quarters, Denver outrebounded Portland 15-9 in the fourth.
Will Barton, who again carried the load offensively for Denver, finished with a team-high 22 points.
“That’s all we needed to hear,” Barton said of Malone’s halftime speech.
Malone’s comments were echoed by a slew of veterans like Paul Millsap, Richard Jefferson and Mason Plumlee, who all have loud and respected voices inside the Nuggets’ locker room. But one vet’s voice, in particular, rose above all.
“D.A.’s (Darrell Arthur) the one, who when he talks everyone listens,” Jokic said. “When you see him play, you know that’s how you’re supposed to play. He said just ‘Come on guys! Fight for every ball! That’s the only way!'”
The Nuggets’ sixth-straight victory — Denver’s longest win streak of the Malone era — has vaulted the Nuggets from the brink of elimination back into playoff contention.
The Nuggets aren’t just winning games with their high-flying, equal opportunity offense like it did Saturday when the Nuggets hung 134 points on the Clippers either. Defense, which has been an afterthought in Denver for much of the season, is the reason why the Nuggets got wins over the Pacers and Bucks last week and now the Trail Blazers.
Denver stopped looking at the Western Conference standings after its loss in Toronto — a loss that many around the team consider the launching pad of the Nuggets’ late-season surge. Since then, Denver took things one game at a time and shed the self-inflicted pressure they had carried with them for the past few weeks.
The Nuggets rattled off six-straight wins after that. One more and Denver’s in the playoffs.
“It’s as high as it can be,” Malone said about his team’s self-belief. “I don’t know if it can get any higher.”
He’s faced a great deal of scrutiny from fans in his third season at Denver’s helm. But on Monday, when his team needed his voice the most, Malone pushed all the right buttons.
