The Denver Nuggets are one mile high and rising. The evidence is clear: the Rocky Mountain NBA team has won more games each season for four years running. Although the 2018-2019 Nuggets continued this trend with a 54-28 record and a Northwest Division championship, they lost a seesaw seven-game series to the Portland Trail Blazers in the conference semifinals. While such a tough loss certainly stings, the Nuggets still have plenty of reasons to be optimistic. The biggest reason, at seven feet tall, is Nikola Jokić, the Serbian center who has cemented himself as Denver's franchise player. Combining bruising low-post dominance with rub-your-eyes shooting range all the way out to the three-point line, Jokić's year-by year improvement more than coincidentally parallels that of his team. Another component of Denver's renaissance is Jamal Murray. A one-and-done player at Kentucky, the 6'4" combo guard has grown into a key component of the Nuggets' young nucleus. With the preseason less than two weeks away, players across the league are getting back into playing shape. Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry is fine-tuning his hand-eye coordination playing Pro-Am golf with Phil Mickelson. Down the coast in LA, Lakers guard Rajon Rondo is an avid roller-skater. Out on the town in Denver, Jokić and Murray were seen engaging fans in some friendly yet intense table tennis battles. Fresh on the heels of hosting the first TTX table tennis tournament in the USA, Denver fans still have pong fever. Murray, who regularly initiates his team's offense, showed a talent for defense as he patiently chopped his more aggressive opponent's shots until he forced a mistake. Jokić, for his part, took the opposite approach. Demonstrating legal serves and solid fundamentals, he unleashed a vicious backhand smash that would have made his fellow Serbian racketeer Novak Djokovic proud. While such exhibition games are ostensibly just a fun way to connect with fans, the Nuggets stars will now return to the court with improved coordination, reflexes and agility. Their regular season kicks off October 23. Their opponents? You guessed it: The Portland Trail Blazers. Both teams will be strong contenders not only for the Northwest Division title, but to represent the Western Conference in the newly reshuffled NBA landscape. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum would be well advised to report to the nearest table, paddles in hand. After all, they don't want their division rivals getting too high on themselves.

More at ClutchPoints