Nuggets don’t lose much. When they do, Jamal Murray can light a fire

The hallway connecting the court and home locker room at Ball Arena was occupied by a vibrant Jamal Murray, amped up on the high from scoring 24 firsthalf points, but funneling his energy in the opposite direction.

Denver’s third-quarter defense had been dismal the last two games. Everyone was to blame, Murray included. The Nuggets couldn’t afford another lackadaisical 12 minutes in a contest this close against the desperate-to-win Pistons.

“I loved it,” coach Michael Malone said. “He’s telling all the guys in the hallway, ‘We closed the half well, but hey, it’s not about the offense, it’s about our defense. We’ve gotta get stops. We’ve gotta be more consistent on that end. We’ve gotta rebound better.’ When you have a guy like Jamal, one of your best players, saying that to his teammates, that is holding each other accountable. That is leadership. And we just need more of that.”

“We don’t have to rely on Coach to say something,” Murray said.

Murray ended the night with a season-high 37 points, and the Nuggets outscored Detroit 43-28 in the third to all but wrap up their 26th win. They are 18-6 when Murray plays; 8-6 when he doesn’t.

Every loss can feel a little like doomsday when losing becomes rare. The defending NBA champions are starting to experience that sensation. (Murray included: His 37-point night seemed in direct response to a poor individual performance against Jalen Suggs and Orlando.)

The Nuggets expect to win. They can’t fathom when they don’t. The search for answers after a blown 18-point lead against the Magic on Friday led Malone to one semi-trend that might have felt worse than it actually was: the 85 combined points his team allowed in the third quarters of a back-to-back.

When Malone reprimanded his team in the locker room that night, he said, “Whatever you’re doing at halftime, it’s not working.” He fumed that he was beating players out of the locker room for warm-ups before the second half.

Overall, Denver is ninth in the league in thirdquarter defensive rating.

“I think we all as a team decided to get out there a little earlier,” Murray said, grinning, when asked Sunday what the Nuggets did to improve in the third quarter.

Jokes aside, his hallway message was maybe more meaningful than he realized. In the third quarter,

Peyton Watson delivered one of his highlight blocks of the season against Kevin Knox, then he used that defensive momentum — as well as the fire ignited by a blind-side shove from Ausar Thompson — to score nine points in the last 2:22 of the frame. He had been scoreless going into halftime.

“We’ve got our vocal guys on this team,” Watson said, identifying Deandre Jordan, Kentavious Caldwell-pope and Aaron Gordon. “They all talk a lot. But when you hear it from one of your marquee players and someone who doesn’t speak up a lot, that means it’s time to go, you know what I’m saying? We’re obviously all aware of our third-quarter defensive struggles as of late, but I think everyone was locked in this third quarter.”

As Watson heated up, the game took ahold of him fiercely enough that he didn’t even know which Piston shoved him while entering a brief fit of rage. And not moments later, he lost track of what was going on around him when he yelled out in celebration of a transition dunk. Detroit was racing to the other end for a layup andone. “I needed to let some emotion out on that one, and I think Coach understood that,” Watson said.

Teachable moments, both of them, but Malone did endorse the display of passion in general. He’s of the belief that it’s a contagious behavior, and that Murray is the Nugget most capable of infecting teammates. If that was the true secret behind Watson’s heart suddenly appearing on his sleeve — a burst that also included screaming toward the crowd after a 3-pointer — then Malone can forgive the side-effect of forgetting to retreat on defense. Just this once.

“You can read (Murray),” Malone said.

From Murray’s perspective, the key to Watson’s rapid rise this season hasn’t been an influx of skill or ability, but rather, something harder to label on film. “I think it’s more about the confidence,” he said.

Regarding that trait, as well, Murray might be subconsciously making an impact. He won Denver’s defensive player of the game chain against Detroit for backing up his words at halftime. Otherwise, the chain might have gone to Watson. The two of them had a pregame conversation about that very award, coincidentally.

Murray’s confidence was half-brilliant, half-blind.

“He actually said he was gonna get it,” Watson recalled. “He stamped it before the game. He said, ‘I’m gonna get defensive player of the game.’

“He also said he was gonna get 20 assists.”