The Denver Nuggets entered Portland on a back-to-back against the Trail Blazers without starting point guard Jamal Murray. After winning vs the Washington Wizards on Thursday night, how would they respond on Friday without their second best player?
Michael Porter Jr. responded in a big way.
The Nuggets won 127-112 over the Blazers in a game that simply wasn’t that close. Michael Porter Jr. led the way scoring wise with 34 points, a season-high. Porter shot 13-of-21 from the field and 5-of-10 from three, finding more opportunities without Murray and taking advantage against a young and undisciplined perimeter defense.
Porter imposed his will as a perimeter shooter, scoring 22 points in the first half alone. He also imposed his will as a rebounder once again by grabbing 12 boards, four of them being offensive. Porter stayed involved throughout the game, and the team looked for him fairly consistently (though the bench had some issues with that).
Mike feelin’ it 🗣
12 PTS in Q1 pic.twitter.com/IF7sQvYSGm
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) February 24, 2024
Porter wasn’t the only one to step up in Murray’s absence though: Collin Gillespie was getting buckets, scoring 18 points on 7-of-9 from the field and 4-of-4 from three. Gillespie was hitting everything out there, staying involved as a scorer and putting pressure on the Blazers dodgy perimeter defense.
Gillespie shot the ball with confidence and understood which shots he was supposed to take, which is half the battle within Denver’s system. Jokic and others set him up well, and Gillespie did the rest, adding four assists and one steal. The Villanova point guard was a +23 in his 24 minutes tonight, filling in nicely as a two-man game partner for Jokic.
TOUGH bucket from Collin 💪
13 points off the bench. pic.twitter.com/cyfg9yNANT
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) February 24, 2024
This was a game where it was extremely clear how in control Jokic was throughout the contest. He dictated what the Blazers did on both offense and defense, finding open shots for himself and teammates consistently. Jokic is at the level where he can do that, and it’s a special kind of greatness when you can pick and choose how to defeat an opponent, rather than just going to the best and most consistent plays every time. Jokic mixed and matched a bit of everything and made some incredible plays along the way.
TAKE OFF ✈️ pic.twitter.com/6IdnFehvi4
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) February 24, 2024
And because of that lack of potency from beyond the arc, this game was mostly window dressing in the second half. The Nuggets did what they had to do, led by impressive efforts from Jokic and Porter. 63 points and 27 rebounds combined between the two of them is no small feat. The two-man game between the two of them takes a different tact than that of Jokic and Murray, but when Porter is aggressive and doesn’t settle for the first available look, it can be just as potent.
The Nuggets are in good shape, going 2-0 to begin the post All-Star portion of their schedule. They will now travel to San Francisco to face the Golden State Warriors, who are now 10-2 in their last 12 games. The Warriors will have something to prove vs Denver, and the Nuggets are going to be in for an interesting battle.
Final Rotations
