It's the midway point of the NBA season and the Denver Nuggets have found themselves near the top. After winning four of their last five games, the Nuggets sit at a 28-13 record, third-best in the NBA, and are currently the second-seed in the Western Conference behind the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

Looking at the talent on their roster, this would be an easy prediction to make at the beginning of the season. But, as the games marched on and the Nuggets found themselves as one of the most injury stricken teams in the NBA, the Nuggets' success at this level may have seemed in question at times. 

Four members of the Nuggets' starting five from Opening Day suffered injuries that have kept them sidelined for weeks at a time and the one mostly healthy starter, Jamal Murray, has dealt with a few nagging injuries of his own.

Major injuries to Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun in November were followed by a Cameron Johnson injury in late December, only to ultimately be followed by star Nikola Jokic hyperextending his knee on Dec. forcing one of the best players in the league to sit out for 4-6 weeks. 

Considering that the Nuggets would be missing close to the entirety of their starting roster throughout the first half of the season, especially, the idea that the Nuggets would still be this successful would be a shocking concept.

Yet, Denver has gone 6-3 since Jokic went down and head coach David Adelman attributes that all the resilience, camaraderie and love that his players share for each other. 

"It's been a resilient group. I've said this before, not like a Disney movie here, but these guys like each other and they like playing basketball together. That's a great feeling to have a bunch of guys who make a lot of money to play this sport with all the media that's involved in it and the pressure from the outside," Adelman said (via Nuggets). 

Gordon and Braun may be back now, but in their stead players like Spencer Jones and Peyton Watson have risen to the occasion to power the Nuggets through. 

Watson in particular is having a career year in the elevated role that's been asked of him. He's averaging career highs in points, assists and rebounds while starting 25 games this season after being a full-time bench player in his rookie season. 

Even as Denver's stars began to fall, the players like Watson and Jones who were next in line didn't shirk from the responsibility that was thrust upon them and have helped elevate the Nuggets through a time that would have otherwise been a collapse. 

"I think that's why we've withstood all these injuries... The guys that have stepped in have found that their expectations for themselves is the same as the group that we had," Adelman said.