MPJ starting to live up to expectations

Play against Warriors ‘should be the standard’ for Nuggets forward

Michael Malone read the box score without double-taking and laid out his expectation.

“Eight rebounds, 17 points, two blocks,” the Nuggets coach said after a 108-105 win over the Warriors on Wednesday night. “That should be the standard for Michael Porter. We shouldn’t be surprised by it. We should expect it every night.”

The more Malone is asked about increased maturity or defensive evolution for Michael Porter Jr., the more he doubles down on his belief that what spectators envision as Porter at his best should actually be Porter at his average. He has an individual net rating of plus-13 points per 100 possessions so far this season.

“I should perform every night,” Porter said. “If my three’s not falling, I’ve gotta get to the line. I’ve gotta crash the glass. I’ve gotta get some easy ones. When my three is falling, that’s how those games turn into really big games. But I should be producing every night on the glass, scoring the ball in different ways.”

MPJ’S 17-point, eight-rebound outing against Golden State was actually his least impressive stat line of Denver’s perfect four-game home stand. He scored 22 or more in the previous three games, shooting 45.8% from 3-point range. That number took a dip Wednesday with a 3-for-8 night beyond the arc, below the perimeter efficiency expected of Porter, but that’s exactly the point. After playing his way into shape the first few games of the season, Porter is more comfortable on his recently sprained ankle, more diverse offensively and still consistent on the boards.

With Jamal Murray injured, the Nuggets need Porter’s scoring. They showed that dependence in him by trying to find him mismatches throughout the marquee game against Golden State. Porter clearly entered the matchup with an aggressive mindset, scoring 10 quick points with the starters in the first quarter.

But his most important contribution of the Nuggets’ grittiest win yet transpired during his second-unit minutes.

“Team definitely needed a spark,” he said. “Warriors had got back in it. … It felt like it was kind of now or never. We didn’t want them to pick the heat up quick.”

The fourth quarter started with Porter guarding Jonathan Kuminga, but on the first possession of the quarter, Christian Braun got switched onto Kuminga.

With a size mismatch, Kuminga backed down Braun. Then Porter intervened with an emphatic block in weak-side help. An unlucky bounce led to a Golden State three nonetheless, but the evidence of Porter’s improved