Monday night, the Nuggets won a third straight victory, reversing the situation in the “money time” against Spurs. Even if the team is still running in, Nikola Jokic’s teammates are well settled in 4th place in their conference, and they still haven’t lost at home.
Unsurprisingly, the arrivals of Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope have hardened the workforce, and in hot moments, like Monday evening, Mike Malone did not hesitate to line them up together, and to do without Michael Porter Jr. for the last six minutes. A decision that the young winger took rather well, even though he was having a very good evening with his 24 points including 4 of 8 from 3-pointers.
“Even if I’m not on the pitch at the end of the game, we have a lot of good players, so I’m not going to be selfish” did he warn. “Even though I wanted to be on the court, the coach felt that was what gave us the best chance of winning. I’d rather sit on the bench, cheer on my teammates and win the game, than be on the pitch and lose. Although I don’t think we would have lost…”
For his coach, this attitude is the key to his group where everyone accepts his fate, and makes the team go through with his personal case.
“It is a big part of our identity” confirms Mike Malone. “Be altruistic. Put aside your personal case because it is not about yourself, but about the team. Our players are aware of it, you have to sacrifice yourself. When you want to be a very big team, he leaves his ego at the door. »
Don’t be the “weak link”
Very often behind his player, whom he criticized for not investing enough in defense, Mike Malone really appreciated the attitude of his winger.
“Michael was great when he played, and even when he wasn’t on the pitch at the end, he didn’t pout, he didn’t sulk… He behaved like a pro, he supported his teammates and he was happy that we had a good victory. »
As for Michale Porter Jr, he knows that the defense remains his weak point and that KCP and Brown were on the ground precisely because of that. It is for this reason that he does not want to be the ” weak link on this side of the field.
| Michael Porter, Jr. | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2019-20 | DEN | 55 | 16 | 50.9 | 42.2 | 83.3 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 4.7 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.3 |
| 2020-21 | DEN | 61 | 31 | 54.2 | 44.5 | 79.1 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 7.3 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 19.1 |
| 2021-22 | DEN | 9 | 30 | 35.9 | 20.8 | 55.6 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 6.6 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 9.9 |
| 2022-23 | DEN | 9 | 29 | 48.7 | 49.3 | 82.4 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 7.3 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 17.9 |
| Total | 134 | 25 | 51.5 | 42.7 | 79.7 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 6.2 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 14.4 | |
