DNVR Player Grades: Michael Porter Jr. stays hot but Nuggets fall to Blazers

With three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the Nuggets trailing the Portland Trail Blazers 118-108, Michael Malone took his best player out of the game.

It wasn’t Nikola Jokic, who was already out and had been sitting on the bench since late in the third quarter. With the game hanging in the balance, Malone subbed in his 17th man, Tyler Cook, for the red-hot Michael Porter Jr.

Cook joined a Nuggets closing five which featured Keita Bates-Diop, Mason Plumlee, PJ Dozier and rookie Bol Bol. That group somehow nearly pulled off one of the upsets of the NBA bubble, but the Nuggets ultimately fell 125-115 to the Blazers.

The Nuggets’ loss wasn’t due to a lack of effort. Denver opened its fourth seeding game at Disney World without four starters — Jamal Murray (hamstring), Will Barton (knee), Gary Harris (hip) and Paul Millsap (rest) — on the second night of a rare bubble back-to-back. Yet, the undermanned Nuggets, like they have so many times before, hung with the Blazers and a locked-in Damian Lillard, who captained Portland with 45 points and converted on 11 of 18 3-pointers. As a team, the Blazers shot 23 of 39 (59%) from beyond the arc.

“They’re playing for their playoff lives with all their starters in and we’ve got guys that have not played a lot of minutes in the NBA giving them all they can handle,” Malone said. “I wish we would have played with that same intensity in that second quarter and there’s a lot to work on in terms of our defense and our 3-point defense. But you cant ask for guys to play any harder than they did in the second half and that was fun to watch.”

Even though both Jokic and Porter were in the midst of strong performances, Malone opted to leave them on the bench late in the fourth quarter. Coming off a 132-126 win over the Spurs just 24 hours earlier where Jokic and Porter logged 32 and 36 minutes respectively, Malone explained after the loss that the Nuggets are playing the long game.

“I didn’t even want to play Nikola tonight. But we talked and we figured we’d give him some minutes, but I just wanted to get him out,” Malone said. “He’s too important for us. We want to win every game but I’m also trying to be smart, keep our eyes on the prize and make sure he’s healthy going into the playoffs.”

It was the right call from Malone. Jokic has been shouldering the load for Denver in the bubble and has been the only Nuggets’ starter to suit up in every game and scrimmage so far. Jokic has a 29.4 Usage Percentage over Denver’s four seeding games, up from a 26.7 USG% pre-hiatus, and his touches per game are also up, from 97.6 to 117 in the bubble.

The Nuggets say they aren’t playing for seeding. Denver is currently 1 1/2 games behind the Clippers for the second seed in the West and is just trying to get 3/5 of its starting five on the court at the same time as it ramps up for the playoffs. Health is currently way higher on the Nuggets’ priority list than jockeying for playoff positioning.

However, a Blazers win isn’t the worst thing for Denver. Portland, at least in my opinion, is the one team in contention for the eighth seed that can push the Lakers and take a game or two or three from LeBron James and Anthony Davis. If the Blazers can tire the Lakers a bit in the first round, that bodes well for the rest of the Western Conference teams including Denver that could match up with Los Angeles later on in the playoffs. After their win Thursday, the Blazers are a half-game behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth seed.

Let’s go to the grades.

Honor Roll

Michael Porter Jr. – A

I’m waiting for Porter’s scoring or efficiency to drop off but it hasn’t over this three-game run. Porter finished with 27 points on 10 of 18 shooting (4-7 3FG’s), 12 rebounds, two assists, two steals, one block, and filled out the entire MPJ bingo card. Porter scored effectively in the paint thanks to well-timed passes from Denver’s bigs. He sunk dead-eye pull-up 3-pointers in transition. He worked effectively in the mid-range.

After Porter scored a quick 10 points to open the first quarter, the Blazers subbed in Gary Trent Jr., who shadowed Porter for the rest of the game. Trent scored 27 points, shined on the offensive end of the floor, and also bothered Porter for stretches. It was a good test for Porter, who probably didn’t have that much defensive attention paid to him in an individual game this season. Another layer to the matchup was that Trent was Porter’s former AAU teammate and rival who once held the 6-foot-10 forward to his lowest-scoring EYBL game ever.

“Yeah, they shadowed him, and he had 27 and 12,” Malone said. “So I think Michael did a good job of shooting over him.”

Porter was chided for his defense throughout his rookie season by many, but I’ve long been on record in saying that Porter will be an average to above average defender very soon. He might be already there. Porter seems to be improving on defense with every rep that he gets.

Nikola Jokic – A

Jokic tied his season-high in assists with 13 to go with eight points (3-8 shooting). He drew a lot of defensive attention with the shorthanded lineup that the Nuggets rolled out and was in distribution mode from the jump. Jokic’s averages over four bubble games are strong: 20.5 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists per game, but his field goal percentage (48.4%) over the Nuggets’ four seeding games leaves a lot to be desired. Jokic doesn’t have his touch around the basket back quite yet.

Jerami Grant – A-

Credit Grant for filling an offensive void for Denver over the last couple of games. Without Murray, Barton, Harris and Millsap, the Nuggets needed another scorer and Grant filled that role with 18 points on 7 of 11 shooting (2-5 from 3-point range). He’s averaging a healthy 15.3 points in the bubble.

The Class

Mason Plumlee – B+

A tip of the cap goes to Plumlee, who tallied 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 27 minutes and was on the floor for the entire fourth quarter when Denver’s bench lineup hung with Portland’s starters.

Monte Morris – B

Morris’ one turnover Thursday was the only turnover that he’s recorded in his last three games. He’s filled in admirably at point guard but Denver really needs the offensive dynamic that Jamal Murray brings back once the playoffs begin if the Nuggets plan on making a deep postseason run.

Bol Bol – B

It was cool to watch Bol play the entire fourth quarter and be on the floor for what were really his first meaningful minutes in the bubble. I don’t know how many more close games Bol will play this season against high-level teams like Portland, but this was a great experience for him. Bol finished with nine points, five rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal.

PJ Dozier – B

The good? Dozier knocked in two of his three 3-point attempts and handed out four assists in 22 minutes. The bad? He still recorded three turnovers and might be a little too mistake-prone to trust with playoff minutes.

Principal’s Office

Torrey Craig – D

Craig was faced with the difficult task of guarding Lillard but couldn’t provide any resistance. Neither could anyone else that checked Portland’s point guard. Lillard was in one of those zones Thursday, but Craig’s pick-up points weren’t high enough up the floor and he couldn’t stay with Lillard or use his length to turn him away at the rim. Craig did hit 3 of his 4 triples, a positive sign for the wing who looks to be in line for significant playoff minutes.