Nikola Jokic dribbled the ball up the floor midway through the second quarter vs. the Bulls Sunday night and observed a familiar sight: An open Michael Porter Jr. spotting up at the 3-point line with his hands at the ready and calling for the ball. So Jokic did what any sane basketball player would when arguably the best 3-point shooter in the NBA is left unattended. He passed him the ball.
But Alex Caruso, Porter’s defender during this sequence, recovered. Porter’s now-signature step-back dribble move couldn’t shake Caruso either. So Porter did what any sane basketball player would when he was out of options. He put the ball back in the best passer in the world’s hands.
Then, something extremely noteworthy happened. Without any hesitation and almost before Jokic even received his pass, Porter took off. He cut to the basket with the speed and decisiveness of someone who knew he was getting the ball from Jokic if he was open. He was, and Jokic delivered a pinpoint lob that Porter caught at the right block. He finished the layup, got fouled, and converted the free throw.
The play was an example of a growing storyline that’s emerged over the first portion of the Nuggets’ regular season: Jokic and Porter are getting on the same page. Their partnership was on full display in Chicago. Five of Porter’s 11 baskets in the Nuggets’ 126-103 win came courtesy of Jokic assists. The Joker had 14 total.
One of those baskets came in the first quarter off the Jokic-Jamal Murray two-man game when Porter recognized that his defender would have to sink down in order to cover Jokic’s saunter to the rim. Porter skirted to the corner where Jokic expected him to be and sunk the triple.
Two others came on plays where it seemed like Jokic was intent on getting Porter a 3. On both of these actions, Jokic attacked his man 1-on-1 on the side of the floor where Porter was standing. It’s almost as if Jokic went at Andre Drummond on these plays with no goal of actually getting around him to score, but with a goal of attracting just enough attention from Porter’s defender to create the sliver of separation needed for Porter to rise up from 3.
It worked on both.
Jokic and Porter couldn’t be more different. One is a former fat point guard from Serbia whose favorite sound is his horses eating inside of a stable. The other is the former No. 1 rated recruit in his high school class whose favorite sound is a basketball swishing through the net. One prefers to pass. The other prefers to shoot. One probably only gets a haircut when his wife tells him it’s getting too long. The other manicures his hair like every NBA game is actually a GQ photoshoot.
But they’ve gotten on the same page because they both have the same goal. Jokic and Porter want to win basketball games and they’ll do whatever’s necessary every night to score more points than their opponent. Porter finished with a season-high 31 points on 11-16 shooting (6-9 from 3-point range) against the Bulls but wasn’t the best player on the floor. Jokic was — even though he scored just eight points and shot the ball four times — but he put Porter in charge of determining if Denver was going to win the game. And Porter delivered.
It’s a unique partnership and one that’s definitely grown this season. One silver lining to Jamal Murray missing most of the preseason was that Jokic and Porter spent even more time than expected on the floor together as Denver’s unquestioned top offensive engine. With Jokic beginning the year in full facilitator mode in what seems like an obvious ploy to get his teammates comfortable and into a rhythm as early as possible this season, Jokic and Porter’s chemistry has been elevated to new heights. They’ve never looked more on the same page than they do now.
Porter hasn’t gotten enough credit for how he’s played so far this season. After a third back surgery and missing pretty much all of last year, he’s come back an even better offensive player. Porter’s shooting 48.3% from 3 on 7.4 3-point attempts per game. He’s sunk 12-20 (60%) of his corner 3s. He’s refined his shot profile to just at-the-rim shots and 3-pointers, something that Denver’s coaching staff has been preaching this year. A career-low 23% of Porter’s shots are currently coming from the mid-range.
He’s averaging slightly fewer dribbles per touch and has lowered his average seconds per touch from where both of those marks were during his last healthy season in 2020-21. Porter’s being more decisive and not dribbling the air out of the ball like he used to do when broke into the Nuggets’ rotation three years ago. You can tell that he’s trying to play the right way next to the rest of Denver’s starting five.
Porter is also putting in more effort on the defensive end of the floor. That’s been a noticeable trend this season too. Through 13 games, he’s averaging .5 more deflections per 36 minutes than he did in 2020-21. His overall defensive awareness has clearly leveled up. It feels like you can trust him more on that end of the floor right now than you’ve ever been able to.
“I can tell that Michael is truly making a concerted effort on the defensive end. He’s trying, He’s aware of it. This is the best effort, the most consistent effort, I’ve seen him give. I’m very, very proud of him for doing so,” Malone said Sunday night after the win over the Bulls.
His two steals against the Bulls were about him being in the right (and correct) place at the right time.
This is the best version of Porter that the Nuggets have gotten since he’s been in Denver. And the fact that we’re not even a quarter of the way through the regular season makes that notion even more exciting.
There’s a long runway for his partnership with Jokic to grow. There’s a lot more that can be uncovered about his game over the next several months.
