Returning Porter was OK coming off bench
Michael Porter Jr. came to a realization during the three weeks he was away from the Nuggets.
While abiding by the NBA’s health-and-safety protocols from Jan. 1 to 19, he saw Denver’s defense perk up. He noticed the starters meshing once again. He watched as Will Barton, the former starter before Porter earned the job in December, was beginning to get comfortable.
And, upon his return in Phoenix on Friday night, he didn’t bemoan the loss of spot.
“Coming back into the rotation after being out so long, that was my mindset,” Porter said after scoring a team-high 30 points and snatching eight rebounds in Denver’s 117-113 win at Dallas on Monday night. “We had been playing pretty good, I just wanted to come in and help the team any way I could. Will was playing really good at the three, and I didn’t want to mess anything up. I just wanted to come in and give a spark off the bench. Now, me and those guys his starting
have really developed a chemistry.”
No one outside of Nuggets coach Michael Malone knows whether it will stay this way. Nor, frankly, should anyone care. Not with the way Porter closed on Monday night or the way the second unit pounded Dallas’ reserves 63-29.
Following Jamal Murray’s ejection in the third quarter, Porter took over. When he checked into the game with 4:28 left in the third, the Mavs were on a 9-0 run, evidently enthused following Murray’s apparent cheap shot to Tim Hardaway Jr. It got to 90-83, in favor of Dallas, before it got any better.
Playing alongside Nikola Jokic, JaMychal Green, Monte Morris and Gary Harris, Porter and the Nuggets ripped off a 9-4 run to close the quarter and seize momentum.
It was more of the same in the fourth, with Denver’s second unit flipping the. game on its head and their plucky defense undermining any chance at a Dallas run. Porter, who had 18 second-half points, didn’t come out the rest of the night.
Asked whether he appreciated Porter’s readiness to contribute in the moment, coach Michael Malone said: “I would say, as opposed to appreciating it, I expect it.”
For all the times Malone hasn’t wanted to single out Porter, elevating him above the rest of the team, it was a signal of the trust Porter’s built in his coach. When things are trending sideways, as they were in the aftermath of Murray’s ejection, Malone knows he has a no-conscious sniper who can score no matter the situation.
“I definitely don’t back away from the moment,” Porter said.
“I’m just as confident when there’s two minutes left on the clock as when there’s 20 minutes.”
That much was obvious when Porter buried a corner 3-pointer to give the Nuggets a commanding 114-107 lead with 42 seconds remaining, then kissed his right shooting hand, a smile beaming across his face.
“I’m not surprised by anything Michael does,” Malone said. “He’s supremely talented.”
In the three games he’s been back, Porter’s averaged 17.0 points on 53% shooting, including 55% from 3-point range, along with 8.3 rebounds in 27 minutes per game.
“He ain’t skip a beat,” said JaMychal Green. “I don’t know if he’s got a gym in his own house or whatever, but it seems like he hasn’t even missed a game.”