The Denver Nuggets returned from London with a fresh perspective on NBA Life.

Coming into the game the Nuggets had lost 5 in a row and you had a big gap in communication between head coach and players. The Nuggets defense was atrocious and was getting worse. It turns out that a big rest period and a team leader saying that he will step up and lead on the defensive end was something that was key to what you can regard as the BEST Nuggets all around performance all season.

Danilo Gallinari impressed Michael Malone with coming forward with a defensive commitment. In many ways you could say that this was Gallo’s best all-around game this season and it seemed like the team followed his example as the Nuggets, outside of a fourth quarter that was strictly garbage time played their best defense of the year.

It will be interesting to see if the team can take these good feelings forward through the rest of the season.