In the NBA arguably more than any other American sports league, the playoffs have a tendency to consume any relevant regular-season context about a team or an individual.
That reality has worked to Jamal Murray’s advantage over the last five years of Nuggets runs. It’s working to Michael Porter Jr.’s disadvantage this time.
Porter chose to wear the blame Sunday night for Denver’s early exit from the playoffs after Game 7 against the Timberwolves. He averaged 10.7 points on 37.1% shooting from the field in the second-round series, and he made only 10 of his 35 shot attempts across the last four games, totaling 25 points.
“This was a terrible series,” Porter said after shooting 3 for 12 in a 98-90 Game 7 loss. “I felt like I might’ve had one or two good games out of the seven we played. Part of it was the way they were guarding. Part of it was (that) my shot wasn’t falling. It’s just tough because I know if I would have played up to par with how I normally play, we would have won this series. And there’s a lot of things that could have been different as a team, but I know if I had played my part, we would have won the series. And I’ve gotta live with that.”
It makes evaluating Porter’s season unexpectedly complicated. The regular season was a testament to the durability he has rediscovered after recovering from three back surgeries.
Porter played in 81 of 82 games, shattering a previous career-high of 62. He averaged 16.7 points and seven rebounds, shooting 39.7% from 3-point range and breaking a franchise record for most made 3s in a single season. Only four players in the NBA attempted more 3-pointers than Porter and shot them at a higher percentage: Steph Curry, Donte DiVincenzo, Paul George and C.J. McCollum. The difference between each of them and Porter is multiple inches of height.
MPJ’s shooting splits exceeded 50/40/90 after the All-Star break. He grew more comfortable with his mobility, his downhill driving, his physicality. His scoring efficiency even carried over to the first round of the playoffs, when he was Denver’s second-best offensive player against the Lakers. He shot 55% from the floor, 49% from three and averaged 0.481 points per touch in the series.
That number dropped to 0.252 in the second round. Minnesota stuck Jaden McDaniels on him, and Porter struggled to get separation off-ball. The Timberwolves chose not to help off of him. His touches per game decreased by 4.8 between rounds. His shot attempts per game decreased by 5.2.
“I know sometimes it’s an oversimplification of the NBA being a make-or-miss league, but we just did not make enough shots in this series — Michael included, but he wasn’t the only one,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “We as a team did not make enough shots, and I didn’t help generate enough looks maybe to help ourselves.”
Malone was content with the looks Porter got in Games 6 and 7, when Minnesota started double-teaming Nikola Jokic from the perimeter more frequently. But the 6-foot-10 forward was out of rhythm by then. He shot 1 for 6 beyond the arc in both games.
“He’s so dangerous with his size. You have to be super mindful of how far off you are on him at any time,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said Saturday ahead of Game 7. “Because he’s got great size and he shoots the ball high, and he has a quick release and a quick side-step dribble. Fortunately we’re able to put some size on him, too, which could help bother him.”
Porter is two years into a five-year, $179 million max contract that he signed before the 2022-23 season. His approximate salary this season was $33.4 million, and it’s set to be around $35.9 million in 2024-25.
Several of his siblings were embroiled in a string of legal troubles as the playoffs began. Jontay Porter, a Toronto Raptors two-way forward, was banned for life from the NBA after being investigated in a sports betting scandal. The same week, their younger brother Coban was sentenced to six years in prison for killing a woman in a drunk driving crash in Denver last year. MPJ missed Denver’s final practice before the first-round series to attend the sentencing hearing. Then a third younger brother, Jevon, was arrested in Missouri on investigation of driving while intoxicated.
“I’m not gonna sit here and act like it wasn’t a burden, or I wasn’t thinking about it all day, every day. But that’s still no excuse,” Porter said after Game 7. “I’m a better player than I played in this series. I’m a better shooter than I shot in this series. In the NBA, you’ve gotta be able to separate off-the-court matters with your on-the-court play. So I don’t have any excuses. … I told my teammates sorry. I feel like this is on me.”
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