Initials are enough to identify Christian Braun’s defensive assignments to start the week.

It started against “SGA” on Monday and continued Wednesday with “KD.” Braun was more pleased with his individual effort against Rockets star Kevin Durant in Wednesday’s win than he was with his job against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored an efficient 35 points, on Monday in Oklahoma City.

Nuggets coach David Adelman provided more perspective after Durant matched his season low with 11 points in a 129-93 Nuggets win at Ball Arena.

“We all need to take a breath and realize who CB has been guarding this week,” Adelman said. “He’s been incredible. … His effort level, these are All-Star players, Hall of Fame players. They’re going to score.”

Braun’s assignments Thursday in San Antonio don’t have the same recognition, but they’re no slouches. De’Aaron Fox, a two-time All-Star, is one of the toughest guys to stay in front of in the league, and Stephon Castle, the reigning Rookie of the Year, plays with plenty of burst, too. Then, there’s Dylan Harper, a sturdy guard who plays with advanced feel despite being a rookie.

It will help that Braun is looking more like the version of himself the Nuggets got to know over his first three seasons in Denver. A serious ankle sprain in November cost him the better part of two months despite a brief return in early January. He’s still able to get out and run the break, but he’s finishing with layups instead of highlight-reel dunks often. Braun finished with 19 points on 10 shots against the Rockets, his most efficient scoring game since his return.

“The explosion is still coming, but I do think the speed and the conditioning that he’s known for (are back). You saw that (Wednesday),” Adelman said. “He outran everybody on the court, his teammates included, multiple times. It flattens out the defense. It leads to corner 3s. Some nights, like tonight, it’s layups for him or dunks. I think the explosion off the foot will come.”

Braun last week agreed with that assessment. He’s part of a starting five that’s developing chemistry for the first time since early November. Two other members of the starting five, Aaron Gordon and Cam Johnson, are still getting up to speed with 16 games left in the regular season.

“Obviously, the more time the better, but as long as we get on the same page before the playoffs is what matters. I think we need to win a lot of games going forward to get to the right seed and get home court, but then (it’s) just making sure we’re playing a lot together, playing well going into the playoffs. I think that’s the most important part,” Braun said.

“I think you saw tonight, we played well as a unit. … I think we’re going to continue to get better.”