After an impressive string of wins, combined with a serious "Murray Flurry,"​ the Nuggets have put themselves in a great position to land a favorable Western Conference playoff seed.

It's strange having the NBA trade deadline so close to the All-Star break. The mid-season break provides a natural checkpoint to take stock of where every team sits, and yet -- especially given the monumental activity around this year's deadline in both quantity and quality of players -- a lot of teams will look vastly different over the final two months of the season.

Jamal Murray poured in a career-best 55 points to lead the Nuggets to a 132-121 victory over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday, Denver's eighth straight victory.