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Michael Porter Jr. scores career-high 25 points on crazy 11-of-12 shooting night as Nuggets beat Pacers

Michael Porter Jr. has spent the season as the NBA’s most talked-about end of the bench player. Despite drawing inconsistent minutes and even a fair number of DNP’s, Porter is at the center of just about every Denver Nuggets-related conversation, be it as a future star, a wasted draft pick or a prime asset. On Thursday, we saw why. 

Porter came off of the bench for the Nuggets in a game against the Indiana Pacers that they trailed by as many as 12 points and provided exactly the sort of scoring spark that they’d hoped for when drafting him No. 14 overall in 2018. Porter scored 25 points on a staggering 11 of 12 shooting line. He did not miss a 2-point attempt against the Pacers, and in addition to leading the Nuggets in scoring, he was second on the roster with a plus-minus of 13. That total is going to be the key to keeping him in the rotation. 

Of course, he needs to score for the Nuggets to win his minutes. Fortunately, he did plenty of it against the Pacers. While his jump shot was on point, what stood out was his finishing against one of the NBA‘s best rim-protectors. He managed to make a fool of Myles Turner on multiple occasions. 6-10 forwards aren’t supposed to be able to do this. 

The play of the night, though, came from behind the arc. At least that’s where it ended. With the Nuggets trailing the Pacers by one, Porter backed down Indiana center Goga Bitadze in what looked to be a post up. Instead, Porter loped behind the 3-point line for a gorgeous stepback jumper, made possible only by his unique combination of length, athleticism and skill. 

Porter’s teammates were so happy for him that they gave him a Gatorade shower. By the standards of his rookie season so far, this was basically his Super Bowl.  

It would be one thing if games like this were an isolated incident, but Porter broke a career-high that he set only four days ago. His 19-point outburst against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday served as meaningful foreshadowing for this explosion in hindsight, but this sort of performance has been bubbling under the surface for weeks. He is shooting nearly 75 percent from the field in his past six games, and Nuggets coach Mike Malone has noticed. 

Porter has now played double-digit minutes in four consecutive games. That might seem minor in the grand scheme of things, but it’s his longest such streak of the season, and more importantly, it buys him some runway. Malone has kept Porter on a short leash this season, and for good reason. The Nuggets plan to contend, and contending teams can tolerate only so many rookie mistakes. But with the upside of playing Porter now obvious, Malone might be willing to suffer through a few bumpier nights in the name of developing what looks to be a supreme talent. 

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