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It took a full minute on Tuesday night for someone to put the ball in the basket in Denver, but Michael Porter Jr. finally broke the seal when he ran into a wide open three-pointer in transition and caught nothing but net. That was only one shot, but it turned out to tell you everything you needed to know about Game 5.
Porter hit five 3-pointers and scored 19 points and eight rebounds in one of his best performances of the postseason, as the Denver Nuggets rolled past the Phoenix Suns, 118-102, to stay perfectly at home in the playoffs and to take a 3-2 lead in their second round streak.
This was an up-and-down series and postseason for Porter. His overall numbers coming in Tuesday night — 14.4 points and 7.8 rebounds on 39.7 percent of 3-point land — were solid enough, but he had as many single-digit scoring games (two) as 20-point performances. In addition, he was coming off a Game 4 outing in which he scored 11 points on 13 shots and was 2-of-9 from deep.
In other words, there was no telling which version of Porter the Nuggets would make it into Game 5, but he made it clear pretty quickly that it would be the right one. After scoring the first basket of the game, he threw in 14 points in the first quarter to help the Nuggets gain an early double-digit lead, which they would hold for most of the night.
“We met today as staff and we talked about we need someone to step up, like Lonnie Walker did last night for the Lakers, we need someone to step up, like Landry Shamet did for the Suns in Game 4,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone told reporters in Denver after the game. “Michael Porter got us going tonight. I thought Michael Porter’s first quarter was a huge boost to our team and got us off to a great start.”
Porter was helped at times by the Suns’ porous defense, but he was in such incredible rhythm that his 3’s didn’t even touch the rim. It’s also worth noting that while his last line may not sound all that impressive, he left the game for good in the third quarter because the Nuggets won so handily.
That won’t happen every game, but the chances increase exponentially when Porter plays like this. In both the regular season (18-6) and the playoffs (3-1) this season, the Nuggets win 75 percent of their games when he makes at least four 3-pointers, as he did in Game 5. The same goes when you look at points looks; when Porter scores over 15, the Nuggets were 28-10 in the regular season and 4-1 in the playoffs thus far.
Porter’s status as the X Factor for the Nuggets has been evident for years, but this is the first season where it really matters.
He was a rookie as they went to the Western Conference Finals in the bubble, and it was unfair to put a lot of pressure on him given the circumstances; the team never had a chance in the 2021 playoffs due to Jamal Murray’s injury and they were defeated by the Suns in the second round; last season, Porter got injured himself and didn’t play in the postseason.
This time, the Nuggets finally have a legitimate shot at winning a title. They have home field advantage through the Western playoffs (and maybe all the way if the Boston Celtics can’t pull off a comeback against the Philadelphia 76ers), a completely healthy roster, and no juggernaut to get in their way.
If this group is ever going to win a title, this is the season to do it. To pull it off, they need Porter to play like he did many times in Game 5.
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