The List: Michael Porter Jr. making a positive impact on the defensive end

1. The most interesting and important detail to come out of Monday’s win over the Dallas Mavericks was Michael Porter Jr. demonstrating a positive defensive impact, in particular on the backside as a helper on PnRs.

2. He also had a few great possessions defending Luka Doncic, despite Doncic hunting for him on that end of the court.

3. In the last edition of THE LIST I talked about the double drag screen action that the Nuggets like to run when JaMychal Green and Porter Jr. share the court. One different action that is useful for many of the same reasons is this strong pindown action. “Strong” indicated a double stagger screen for a guard running out of the corner. With Green and Porter able to pop and shoot the three or punish defenders on a switch, this action is a nice, simple way to create mismatches or open shots early in the shot clock.

4. Green continues to make nice reads off of Jokic.

5. And the timing of those cuts are often as important a detail as anything.

6. Jokic just doesn’t make these kinds of misreads. He might need a game off to rest his body and mind.

The Full List