Porter’s improvement, versatility earn coach’s kudos in Nuggets win

“He’s still growing, he’s still learning the NBA game,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said about Michael Porter Jr., who scored 20 points with eight rebounds in his 83rd career NBA game on Monday — a 121-106 victory over the visiting Indiana Pacers. “He’s still learning the league, personnel-wise. I think people don’t understand how long it takes young kids coming in to really get a grasp of what the NBA is all about.”

It’s coming along nicely, nevertheless. Porter Jr. is averaging 31 minutes a game in March, taking over the power forward role with aplomb following injuries to Paul Millsap and JaMychal Green. Both Millsap and Green played on Monday, sliding Porter Jr. to the small forward position. It didn’t seem to faze the 22-year-old.

“I think he’s getting better and better with his spacing, his awareness on offense; not always running to the ball, but playing off of his teammates,” Malone explained. “Michael’s shown a lot of growth, and he’s shown a lot of promise.”

That promise has also turned into a lot of production. Porter Jr. has averaged a double-double (19.2 points per game, 10.0 rebounds per game) in March; both rank second on the team to only MVP candidate Nikola Jokic — and he leads the team with an impressive 62.9 field goal percentage, to boot. On Monday, his fourth consecutive game with 20 or more points marked a career-best stretch that may be extended against the Hornets on Wednesday.

The challenge for Malone will involve deciding where to play his lanky prospect; Porter Jr. proved a matchup nightmare for opponents at the “four,” something that Malone certainly noticed in Millsap’s absence. The 36-year-old Millsap is in the final year of his contract, and the trio of Porter Jr., Jokic and Jamal Murray have been off the charts in advanced metrics for weeks when they’re on the court at the same time.

It may be only 83 games, and he still has much to learn, but Michael Porter Jr. has proven what the Nuggets hoped he would: The future is now.

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NEXT UP: Nuggets (23-16) vs. Hornets (20-18) | Wednesday, Mar. 17 at 7:00 p.m.

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TEAM NOTES

• The Nuggets’ third quarter bugaboo returned on Monday, as they let the Pacers back into the game. “Our defense in the third quarter was a joke, and if we had any chance of coming back and winning, we had to play defense,” a frustrated head coach Michael Malone said. “That quarter, they had 35 points and shot 61.9 percent from the field.” Malone’s team corrected that in the fourth quarter, when they limited the Pacers to only 15 points on 25 percent shooting.

• Denver is 5-1 in March; the best record in the Western Conference. The Nuggets still have three more games left to play in their five-game home stand.

• Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. have dominated the Nuggets’ statistical categories of late as the trio continues to improve nightly. The last time any other player led the Nuggets in either points, assists or rebounds was a month ago, when Facundo Campazzo led the team with eight assists in their Feb. 16 loss to the Celtics.

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PLAYER NOTES

• Nikola Jokic continued his MVP-caliber campaign with 32 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and four steals. That double-double — the 277th of his still-young career — tied Dikembe Mutombo for the franchise’s record. “Oh, that’s nice. That’s nice,” Jokic told Altitude TV’s Katy Winge. “I’ve got the goosebumps.”

• Will Barton scored the first eight points of the game for the Nuggets, trying to take advantage of the tired Pacers, who were delayed on their flight into Denver thanks to Colorado’s recent blizzard. “I knew they got in late, so I just wanted to put my foot on the gas early to figure out if they (were tired), but I knew I was going to figure it out,” Barton explained. “I was going to try to put them on their heels. I was going to find out one way or another if they were tired.” Barton finished with 20 points, six rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocks.

• Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with eight assists on Monday, some of them spectacular. Murray’s average per game has improved all year long, from 2.0 in December to 4.9 in January and February. In March, he’s averaging 5.2 assists per game, including a total of 19 (6.3 average) in the Nuggets’ last three games.

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THE FINAL WORD

“That group of Facu (Campazzo), P.J. (Dozier), Will (Barton), Michael (Porter Jr.) and JaMychal (Green) to start the fourth, was terrific. So that group started it us off, and we closed it out with our starters. We needed that fourth-quarter performance to get this win.” — Head coach Michael Malone, on the unit that sparked the Nuggets’ 22-2 explosion to start Monday’s final frame. 

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INJURY WATCH

• Monte Morris (quadriceps) missed the Mar. 13 game and is considered day-to-day.
• R.J. Hampton (COVID-19 protocol) missed the March 1 game and is expected to return sometime before the month ends.
• Gary Harris (left adductor strain) sat out the Feb. 21 game and is expected to miss more time.

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ROTATION (MINUTES)

Starters:
G Jamal Murray (36)
F-G Will Barton (39)
F Michael Porter Jr. (31)
F Paul Millsap (25)
C Nikola Jokic (34)

Bench:
G-F P.J. Dozier (25)
G Facundo Campazzo (22)
F JaMychal Green (18)
C-F Isaiah Hartenstein (4)
C-F Bol Bol (1)
F Vlatko Cancar (1)
G Markus Howard (1)
F Zeke Nnaji (1)
F Greg Whittington (1)

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