Peyton Watson continues to grow both inside and out, demonstrating his ability to contribute…..

Peyton Watson is progressing in a couple of areas that allow him to play alongside Nikola Jokic.

The second-year wing is showing more comfort from 3-point range. After missing all seven of the 3-pointers he took in the month of November, Watson shot 37.8% from distance, on 2.5 attempts per game in December. The percentage dropped to 29.5 percent in January, but the attempts were up to 2.9 per game. He started February by making both of his 3s in the fourth quarter of Friday’s win over Portland and going 2 for 3 in Sunday’s 112-103 win.

“That’s a shot that I work on, and I’m not going to let nobody disrespect my work,” Watson said after Sunday’s game. “I do it too much, too often, and it was just one of those things where the game gave me what it gave me, and I took it.”

Watson made his only shot in the first half of Sunday’s game, a short jumper from a step inside the free throw line, and grabbed a couple of rebounds, one of which came after he rejected Deandre Ayton at the rim on an alley-oop attempt. Even though he got the highlight block, he wasn’t completely satisfied.

“Honestly, I was mad at myself because I was a little bit late,” Watson said. “But those plays are always kind of good and bad, because you do what you can to make it up, but in this league, it’s unforgiving, you know. I could’ve been on the other end of a poster any given night. So I just went up, tried to make a play on the ball, and I was able to block it successfully. But I was definitely mad at myself, because I wasn’t in position where I needed to be.”

Then, the second-year wing stretched Denver’s lead to seven with a confident, pull-up 3 early in the fourth when no Trail Blazers stepped to him.

“That was one of those ‘No, no, no – great shot,’” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after Denver’s second win over Portland. “The kid’s got balls, man.”