"Nuggets coach George Karl likes to break a season down into bite-sized chunks. Win 10 games in a month and its a success. String a season's worth of those kinds of months together and you're likely staring at a top-four spot in the conference by playoff time.

The Nuggets opened a big lead then kept Toronto at arm's length to collect a 96-81 win over Toronto on Friday night at the Pepsi Center in a game that was a tad more difficult at the end than the team would have liked.

Nevertheless, it was the Nuggets' sixth consecutive victory and 12th win of the month.

The last time the Nuggets won 12 games in a month was exactly two years ago, January 2010. And while that season ended like a sinking ship with Karl's cancer fight, a team unwilling to take direction from interim coach Adrian Dantley and a first round playoff exit at the hands of the Utah Jazz, this one has an arrow unflinchingly pointed up.

The Nuggets are 14-5, the best 19-game start in team history. Aside from the fact the team resides in the same division with the team holding the best record in the NBA — Oklahoma City — the Nuggets are at least two games clear of every other team in the Western Conference."