"We’re on our way": These Nuggets know how good they can be

Jamal Murray thought about the question for a while.

Does this current team have the “highest ceiling” of any Nuggets team he’s been on? Murray was asked that after the Nuggets dominated, blew out, massacred the Clippers 122-91 at Ball Arena.

“Umm. I mean, we’re trying to be a championship team for sure. Comparing two different Denver Nugget teams, or seven of them, I don’t know. Let me think for a second,” Murray said. “We had that unit. It was me, Gary, Torrey, Paul, Jok, Jerami. Yeah that Bubble team we had was solid. We had a really solid team in the bubble. Will wasn’t there. Gary wasn’t playing and we were doing our thing. That was a tough team.

“But I think this team is definitely well-rounded. We’ve got Bones off the bench. We’ve got CB off the bench, who plays hard as hell. Zeke, who’s been playing great. I think our bench is starting to come together. Even when we don’t show it, we have a lot of pieces that can mix in with the starters. I love the team. I love the spot we’re in.”

No one wants to definitively come out and say it. It’s still somewhat early in the season. We’re not at the halfway mark yet. There’s still a long road ahead. The Nuggets haven’t won anything yet. But you know it’s obvious to the players in that locker room, the coaches in that building, and the front office who built this roster. This is the most talented Nuggets team of the current era, and it’s beginning to show.

The Nuggets made quick work of the Clippers, who played Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and their regular starting five together for one of the few times this season, Thursday night. Denver led 32-15 after the first quarter and 66-32 at halftime. It got so bad that Clippers coach Ty Lue benched his starters to open the third quarter. The Nuggets led by as many as 43

From the opening whistle until the final buzzer, the Nuggets brought it.

“Wins like this give us a lot of confidence and build a lot of chemistry,” said Murray, who set the tone in the first quarter against the Clippers and finished with a team-high 18 points on 7-10 shooting. “It sets a standard for us.”

A drubbing like this one on national TV against the Clippers, a championship contender according to some, is going to get the people going. This is the type of dominance that turns the conversation to Denver. Over the last 2 1/2 weeks, the Nuggets have beaten the Grizzlies, Celtics and Clippers, all by double-digits. The Celtics and Clippers are regarded as real, legit contenders while the Grizzlies have been near the top of the West all season. The Nuggets are banking high-quality wins against elite competition and making it look easy. Remember when ESPN, TNT or Christmas Day matchups versus top-tier teams were the scariest games of the season? The national TV Nuggets have been putting on a show for the entire country all year.

This team has a lot of believers. The bandwagon is just starting to fill up.

“I just think that the Nuggets are the safest bet in the West,” Bill Simmons said on his podcast after Denver’s 11th win in its last 14 games.

It feels like it’s all starting to click. The overall defensive numbers on the season still don’t look great, but the Nuggets have flashed elite defense and shown they can lock in against top competition. Their first-quarter defense against the Clippers was a sight to behold. Everyone contributed too. Michael Porter Jr. took home his first Defensive Player of the Game chain of the season.

“KCP fell out of his chair. It was hilarious,” Michael Malone said. “It was a moment to celebrate, to feel good about.”

“People think he cannot play defense,” Vlatko Cancar added about Porter. “He can play defense.”

The bench is finding its rhythm too. After an inconsistent start to the season, Bones Hyland has settled in and is running the Nuggets’ second unit with confidence and poise. He’s also shooting 18-33 from 3-point range over his last five games after a cold December.

And then there’s the offense. If you’re a believer in Denver this season, that’s why. I’ve never seen a team score as easily as the Nuggets do. Calling Nikola Jokic ‘unstoppable’ is the undersell of the century. He’s somehow raised his game to another level this season. Jokic scored three points on 1-5 shooting in the first half Thursday, but he had seven assists and Denver led by 34. He’s dominating and controlling the game like few have in NBA history. The Nuggets are the second-best offense in the NBA this season — it’s only a matter of time before Denver passes Boston for the No. 1 spot — and have been the best 3-point shooting team for most of the year. They can hit you and hurt you from so many angles. It always feels like the Nuggets’ knockout punch is right around the corner.

Slowly but surely, it’s all coming together.

Everyone can feel it on nights like this.

“That was a hell of a win for us. A convincing win, from beginning to end,” Malone said. “We’re in first place in the Western Conference. We’re not there yet. But we’re on our way. I like where we’re at and, more importantly, I like who I’m going there with.”