Murray is postseason MVP, but Porter and Harris merit game balls
Donovan Mitchell can’t beat you alone. Yes, every ball that leaves Mitchell’s mitts right now has a flaming comet trail behind it, like in the old “NBA Jam” arcade game. Yes, Mitchell and Jamal Murray are putting on a two- man show for the ages. Yes, the Spida and the Blue Arrow, two nicknames plucked straight from The Golden Age of Comic Books, have elevated Nuggets- Jazz — ordinarily the Western Conference’s flyover series — into appointment viewing, prime- time stuff.
But even if he can’t miss, No. 45 also can’t beat you all by himself.
“I know everyone’s been talking about Jamal Murray, his games,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone stressed on the eve of Tuesday’s decisive Game 7 between Denver and Utah.
“( But) we won Game 5 because of our second- half defense. We won Game 6 because of our defense after the first quarter. The first quarter, they scored 36 points, they were shooting lights out, didn’t feel us. I think in quarters 2, 3, 4, they shot 37% from the field.”
Amen. Amen, amen, amen. Murray’s averaged 34.0 points and 5.2 treys per tilt in this series. The kid’s lighting it up like the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, matching Mitchell twine for twine and making a case for NBA immortality at the tender age of 23.
But you don’t win two straight down 3- 1, without serious stones. You don’t win Game 6 without Gary Harris, a guy who’s only played 20 minutes over the last five months. Or without Michael Porter Jr., a rookie who posted a plus/ minus of + 21 and grabbed 12 boards on Sunday despite whiffing on six of seven field- goal attempts.
It was the kind of game that can sow seeds of doubt in a young player — MPJ went 0for- 5 from beyond the arc — until a coach comes over, puts his arm around the shoulder, and emphasizes the 15 other things they did right.
“I told ( Porter Jr.) after the game that I was proud of him, because he didn’t allow himself to be a specialist,” Malone said. “A specialist is a guy that can only impact the game in one way.”
( A specialist would also include, by definition, someone such as Kyle Korver, the sort of long, instant- offense gunner off the bench that the Nuggets have been lacking for a few seasons. But that’s another rabbit hole for another day.)
Quin Snyder’s Jazz are a hydra of many heads in the backcourt, almost all of whom prefer to shoot first and ask questions later. Suffocate two of them and you dance on to the Clippers. Even if Mitchell somehow goes for 57 again.
• Exhibit A: Jordan Clarkson Games 2- 4: 22- for- 43 from the floor ( 51.2%), 20.3 points per game. Utah, 3- 0.
Games 5- 6: 11- for- 28 from the floor ( 39.3%), 14.0 points per contest. Denver, 2- 0.
• Exhibit B: Mike Conley Games 3- 4: 11- for- 16 from beyond the arc ( 68.9%), 26.5 points per game. Utah, 2- 0.
Games 5- 6: 12- for- 25 on treys ( 48.0%), 19.0 points per contest. Denver, 2- 0.
“We knew what Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson present in a pickandroll and 1- on- 1,” Malone continued, “and I thought Torrey Craig’s defense on Mike Conley and I thought Gary Harris’ defense on Jordan Clarkson were terrific.”
Especially, in the case of Harris, a guy who had yet to play in the bubble because of hip issues.
“I wasn’t expecting anything crazy on the offensive end,” Malone noted. “He hadn’t played a game since March 11.”
The former Michigan State star, like graybeards Will Barton and Paul Millsap, has become a divisive figure to Nuggets fans, an offensively flawed veteran whose ceiling is nowhere near Murray’s or Porter’s.
But that’s also not to say he still doesn’t have a role, even when he’s hobbled, even as a defensive “specialist” — there’s that word again — rolling off the pine. With Harris, you don’t know what you’ve missed until you spend a few weeks watching the Jazz bludgeon Denver with the pick- and- roll the way
Moe used to whack Curly.
“Gary, his ability to defend … he takes pride in it,” Malone said. “He’s able to sit down and guard, move his feet. He’s strong. He’s physical. I think the most important part of it is that Gary wants to be a really good defensive player. You have to have that, and to take pride in it. And that’s what Gary does.”
In the 28 minutes of Game 6 in which Harris wasn’t on the floor, according to Matt Moore of The Action Network, the Jazz posted an offensive rating — as in, points per 100 possessions — of 115.1.
An average offense is usually in the 100 range. During the 20 minutes in which Harris played, Utah’s rating dropped to a meager 88.
“We’ll need a 48- minute effort on defense in order to have a chance,” Malone said. “We know Donovan Mitchell will leave it all out there.”
When it’s win- or- go- home, you need daggers, stars with ice in their veins, the Murrays, the Iversons, the Jordans.
You need the Rodmans, too.