ORLANDO, Fla. – Minutes before the second half started, as his teammates got loose and hoisted shots at the far end of the court, Nikola Jokic sat on the Nuggets bench staring aimlessly at the court.

Jokic had just registered one of the more confounding halfs of his career. After nearly 16 minutes of uninspired basketball, he had four points, two rebounds and one assist to his name. The Nuggets, riding a two-game losing streak, were trailing the Magic by five.

Paul Millsap saw Jokic sitting by himself on the bench and plopped a seat cushion in the chair to his left. Millsap was checking in on him, making sure his head was in the game. Jokic gave Millsap a reassuring nod.

If that didn’t alleviate Millsap’s concern. Jokic’s stunning about-face did. He opened the third quarter here Saturday night with consecutive 3-pointers and another layup. In the first three minutes of the third quarter, he showed more passion and engagement than he had throughout the entire loss in New Orleans on Thursday night.

As Jokic trotted off the court during a timeout with 8:30 left in the third quarter, he smiled as his teammates came to embrace him.

“In the first quarter we were kind of tight,” Jokic said in a relieved postgame locker room after Denver’s 91-87 win, which marked their third road win of the season. “In the third quarter, we were playing a little bit more free.”

Nuggets coach Michael Malone spoke to Jokic on Saturday morning and told him the six shots he took against the Pelicans and the eight shots he mustered against the Mavericks weren’t good enough. Malone said he needed at least 15 attempts per night from him.

But after his first eight minutes of Saturday’s game, Jokic hadn’t recorded a single statistic, let alone a shot attempt. He slumped on the bench and his body language spoke volumes.

When he checked back in midway through the second quarter, his team searching for offense and his coach muttering to himself over the defensive breakdowns, Jokic knew he needed to force the offense.

“I was just a little bit more aggressive, maybe even to force a couple shots just to make them react on me,” Jokic said. “I think that’s going to put a lot of pressure off other players, they’re going to have a lot more time and space to play.”

Malone’s insistence finally broke through to his All-NBA center. Jokic led his team with 12 points in the third quarter and four more in the fourth to finish with 20 points and 7 rebounds. His floating fadeaway with less than two minutes to go was the shot of the game.

“Nikola understood,” Malone said. “We had a conversation about it. The one thing I love about Nikola is that he understood he needs to be more aggressive, but he’s going to do it the right way, his way. … That’s what I emphasized to him. ‘I need you to be aggressive, but make the right play.’”

The effect an assertive Jokic has on the team was enough to make Monte Morris chuckle.

“It makes everything easier,” Morris said with a smile.

Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray, whose rising profile within the locker room led him to speak up in the aftermath of Thursday’s embarrassing loss, was frank about Jokic’s impact on the offense.

“It’s really important,” Murray said Saturday morning. “When you’re open and you don’t shoot it, that’s kind of the offense. For him to be aggressive, it means a lot to us. It makes the big have to come out of the paint to guard him, it makes more cuts open, it makes his passes easier when his big is not sitting back. It just changes everything.”

According to Malone, he and Murray had an “interesting exchange” in the wake of the Pelicans game, seemingly discussing the state of the team and their need to play with more urgency. Murray’s energy was contagious Saturday, with his decisive play orchestrating the offense and his defensive will carrying over to other players. At Murray’s instructions, Morris picked up Magic guard D.J. Augustin at the opposing baseline and hounded him the length of the court.

“He came out in New Orleans and spoke those words, and more importantly he followed up those words,” Malone said. “He led the charge tonight — every huddle, on the court — and his pace and communication was outstanding. I think you’re seeing a complete player and a leader developing right in front of us.”

Added Murray: “Win or lose I should be talking, I should be speaking to the team.”

Millsap, who’s been something of a big brother to Murray, knew it was different when the fourth-year point guard raised his voice.

“Just never know how guys are going to respond if they are saying it just to say it, or saying it to back it up, but me knowing who he is, I knew when he said it, what he was about,” Millsap said.

After a road trip that felt longer than just two games, it’s possible the Nuggets regained a foothold on their identity and created the pressure necessary to mold a new leader. The Nuggets will only go so far as their two guiding lights, Jokic and Murray, will take them.

“Like I said,” Morris said, “We just follow suit.”