The Denver Nuggets still cannot find any consistency. After winning four of their previous five, the Nuggets came out flat against the Houston Rockets on Monday night and ultimately suffered a ten-point loss. Last season, the Nuggets scored 100 points or fewer in just two of their 82 games. In nine games this season, they have already failed to surpass the century mark twice.

The Nuggets' offense has taken an obvious step back from last season, but one player is still doing all they can to keep it afloat. All-Star point guard Jamal Murray dropped 38 points in the Nuggets' loss in Houston, carrying the load while he and Nikola Jokic's supporting cast struggled.

After the loss, Jokic admitted that Murray has been the leader of the Nuggets, and the rest of the pack needs to follow him.

"He's amazing," Jokic said about Murray. "I think decision-making, shot-making—he's a pure scorer. He's definitely playing at a high level right now and we need to follow him. He's definitely our leader right now and everybody needs to step up and follow him."

Denver's leader

Jokic says that Murray is the Nuggets' leader, and if everyone followed the star point guard as he suggested, they would be a better team. Most nights, it feels like Murray is the only one bringing it at the highest level, while the others are lagging a step behind. Murray has done his job of leading by example, and we can hope their supporting cast starts to catch up.

Through nine games this season, Murray is averaging 25.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game, while shooting 49.3% from the field and an incredible 50.7% from three-point range. Murray leads all NBA players in three-point percentage (min. 40 attempts), as he could not be performing any better to start the season, but the Nuggets are still just 5-4.

Murray is not pleased

While Murray is playing at a high level, it does not mean much if the Nuggets are not winning. After Monday's loss, he said he would much rather win than have a good individual performance and lose.

"Yeah, but I want to win," Murray said. "So if I have, you know, the last couple of games, I think I had like 14 points, 16 points, and we won convincingly. I'd rather that than have 40 and lose. Like I said, that's where my mind is at. I really want to win. I don't know where our record is compared to recent years, if this is a good start or a bad start, but just very winnable games."

The Nuggets have only had a few games this season where it has felt like everything clicked. As Murray said, he would rather win, but he is doing his job. Once the entire lineup starts clicking, which we can hope happens soon, the Nuggets will be much more successful. Jokic and Murray are already performing at a high level, while the rest of the team is playing catch-up.