Another Denver comeback was sparked by a collective effort.
The Denver Nuggets needed every bit of Friday night to pull out a 135-129 win over the Utah Jazz, and even head coach David Adelman didn't try to sugarcoat how ugly things got before his team turned it around.
Denver trailed by as many as 14 points midway through the third quarter against a shorthanded Jazz squad sitting at 21-53 on the season, a team that has already been eliminated from postseason play.
The win extended the Nuggets' streak to five in a row and pushed them to 47-28, but the way it unfolded had Adelman searching for answers about his team's lack of early effort.
Adelman Calls Out the Defensive Effort
"Energy, communication, and care factor much higher, which it got to," Adelman said after the game. "Yeah, we struggled to find a rhythm tonight. So, it was one of those NBA games, they happen. It just seemed like everything was going the opposite way for us. They ran it down our throats, we weren't getting back."
"You have to understand you have to sit down and guard to get yourself back into it, which we did in the fourth quarter, much better after a horrific third quarter and second quarter defensively. We made enough plays to win the game. At this point in this season, it is what it is."
The Jazz scored 84 points in the paint on the night, which is a staggering number no matter who you're playing.
Utah's Kyle Filipowski had a season-high 25 points while Cody Williams added 24, and those two were a big reason why Denver found itself in a hole for most of the game.
The Nuggets didn't really flip the switch until the final five minutes, when they outscored Utah 18-5 to complete the comeback.
Jokic and Murray Do What They Do
Even in a game where the defense was falling apart around them, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray carried the load offensively.
Jokic recorded his fourth straight triple-double with 33 points, 15 rebounds, and 12 assists, though he also turned the ball over seven times in one of his sloppier outings.
Murray put up 31 points and 14 assists while also breaking Michael Porter Jr.'s franchise record for three-pointers in a season with his 221st make.
Tim Hardaway Jr. might have been the most important player on the floor down the stretch, going 5-of-8 from deep in the second half after starting the night 0-for-4.
Why the Inconsistency Keeps Showing Up
The bigger picture here is that this kind of performance has been a recurring theme for Denver all season.
A team with championship-level talent continues to sleepwalk through stretches against lesser opponents, and a lot of it goes back to the injuries that have plagued the roster since the fall.
Jokic missed 16 games with a knee injury earlier in the year, Aaron Gordon and Cam Johnson have both dealt with extended absences, and the Nuggets only recently got their full rotation back together for one of the first times since November.
It has been tough for them to build real consistency when the lineup keeps changing on a nightly basis.
You can look at it in a positive way though, because the Nuggets have seven games left and a favorable schedule that's mostly at home.
They've won five straight, they're healthy, and the pieces are starting to click together again.
But if Friday was any indication, there's still a version of this team that can look checked out against an opponent they should handle with ease, and that's not the kind of thing you want to see heading into the playoffs.