The Denver Nuggets defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 125-113 on Monday night at Ball Arena.

Michael Porter Jr. led the way with an efficient 36 points, shooting 12-of-22 from the field and 7-of-12 from three. 36 points was a season high for Porter in a game that showcased how dangerous he can be when the Nuggets can create open shot attempts for him consistently.

“Michael Porter, I have to give him a lot of credit,” Michael Malone began with postgame. “36 points in a really efficient night. 7-of-12 from three. Seven boards.”

Porter and Trey Murphy were going back and forth all night at the small forward position. While Porter had 36, Murphy led the way in the game with an impressive 41 points. The young Pelicans forward has blossomed this season in a larger role, and the Nuggets had little answer for Murphy other than to deny him the ball as much as possible.

Fortunately for the Nuggets, it was only Murphy and CJ McCollum that had it going tonight. McCollum had 30, combining with Murphy for 71 of the Pelicans 113 points. The rest of the team had 42 points on 45 shot attempts, an efficient night for the role players.

In addition, Zion Williamson struggled consistently tonight, scoring 14 points on 13 shots despite every shot attempt coming right at the rim. Usually an efficient scorer, the Nuggets did a good job against Zion, particularly because Zeke Nnaji came to play.

“I think we were doing a really good job on Zion,” Nikola Jokic shared postgame. “We were shrinking the floor for whoever was guarding him.”

Nnaji, who had played just 28 of Denver’s 49 games and averaged 5.1 minutes per contest, started in place of the injured Aaron Gordon tonight. He battled Zion almost exclusively for 31 minutes and did a very reasonable job, logging 12 points, five rebounds, and a block, shooting 2-of-4 from three-point range as well. Nnaji held his own defensively while also contributing on the offensive end. His minutes next to Nikola Jokic looked great in particular, something he hasn’t had the benefit of doing for much of his career.

Porter shared that he had a conversation with Nnaji during the summer about work ethic: “You have to work hard. It will pay off at some point in some way, whether it’s here or somewhere else…you can’t cheat the game. And ever since we had those conversations, I feel like I’ve never seen him miss a day.”

“I thought Zeke’s defense on Zion was tremendous,” Malone shared, also speaking glowingly of the University of Arizona product. “That’s back-to-back games where Zeke Nnaji has put his imprints all over the game on the defensive end, and he also produced on the offensive end as well.”

Of course, the normal suspects played well tonight too. Nikola Jokic had 27 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists, one steal, and two blocks, logging his triple-double relatively late in the fourth quarter on a Porter jump shot. Jamal Murray also logged 20 points, eight assists, and five rebounds. It wasn’t his most efficient shooting performance, but Murray was dropping flashy dimes consistently and helped the Nuggets stay ahead of the Pelicans in the fourth quarter after a third quarter surge.

Overall, this was a pretty impressive Nuggets win. Malone mentioned postgame that the first home game after a long road trip is often the most difficult, but the Nuggets were fairly professional tonight. They took care of business with a variety of contributors up and down the lineup.

“we’re Not Trading Michael Porter”

That was the quote Malone shared postgame when asked about Porter and trade rumors.

Malone went on: “Michael is a really important piece. Michael helped us win a championship. We’ll see what happens going into this Thursday, but to my knowledge, there have been no [trade] conversations. I don’t feel the need to converse with somebody [about trade rumors] when there’s nothing there.”

Porter was also asked about the trade deadline postgame and had some interesting thoughts.

As long as I’m here,  I’m gonna be happy, and I’m gonna play hard and try to be available and try to help win games. If the day came where they wanted to trade me and they they wanted to go a different direction, then I’ll be excited for the new opportunity, but it’s not something I think about at all.”

The NBA Trade Deadline is this Thursday, and the Nuggets are now 31-19. While they have stayed above water in a deep Western Conference, they still aren’t the team they need to be by the end of the year. The defense must continue to improve, and the Nuggets know that.

With Denver’s only major tradable being Porter, he has understandably been at the center of trade talks. Murray and Gordon are ineligible to be traded. Jokic isn’t getting moved. Nnaji is Denver’s next largest contract. It’s only logical.

That makes Malone’s declaration postgame even more interesting. The Nuggets don’t appear to be breaking up their core before the end of this season. That’s a big deal and shows that Denver has confidence in this group to continue trending in a championship level direction. Whether they get there or not remains to be seen, but it’s a fair trade to make when the core four members of the 2023 championship squad remain the same.

Whether the Nuggets decide to make a smaller move or not at the deadline is also up for debate, but for now, the Nuggets appear set on Porter sticking with their group. If he continues to have more 30-point performances and spacing the floor for the best player in the world, it will be readily apparent as to why.

Final Rotations