The Hoop Collective - Why Nuggets are so clutch, Mikal Bridges' star turn and Memphis' other issue

Brian Windhorst and a team of ESPN's Insiders sort out life and the news from in and around the NBA world, including the Denver Nuggets' clutch gene, the next step for a young Brooklyn Nets star and the other issue impacting the Memphis Grizzlies' season.

With three minutes to play and up by six points Monday night, the Toronto Raptors were in great position to get a terrific victory.

But they had a problem, they were playing the Denver Nuggets at the end of a close game — in Denver. That situation has been a torture chamber for Nuggets' opponents this season. And so it was again.

There is no team that can touch the devastating effectiveness of the Nuggets in the clutch this season and the Raptors couldn't either. Denver won the final minutes by a 15-4 margin — though the end was marred by a controversial ejection for Raptors' forward Scottie Barnes — and racked up another victim.

With big-market, star-laden teams behind them in the standings and losses before the conference finals in the last two seasons even as Nikola Jokic was winning Most Valuable Player Awards, the Nuggets are sometimes disrespected.

Even now, despite sitting in first place in the Western Conference for nearly the entire season and opening a seven-game lead on the Memphis Grizzlies to practically lock down the No. 1 seed, the Phoenix Suns have zoomed past Denver as favorites to win the West after trading for Kevin Durant, according to Caesars Sportsbook.

But the truth is the Nuggets are a victory machine, and especially so in clutch time. Defined as when the score is within five points in the last five minutes or in overtime, it's when the Nuggets dominate their opposition.

For every 100 possessions Denver has played in the clutch this season, it