{"id":131177,"date":"2025-03-28T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=131177"},"modified":"2025-03-27T23:11:55","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T03:11:55","slug":"michael-porter-jr-is-vital-to-the-nuggets-championship-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/28\/michael-porter-jr-is-vital-to-the-nuggets-championship-hopes\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Porter Jr. is Vital to the Nuggets’ Championship Hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Denver Nuggets are hunting for a top-two seed in a strong Western Conference. Their goal isn’t just a place in the standings \u2014 it’s to win a championship. Michael Porter Jr.<\/a> is vital to the Nuggets if they want to win another ring. He is their most dangerous threat from three, something the Nuggets must shoot more of. He has also developed into a three-level scorer and is extremely important to the flow of the Nuggets’ offense.<\/p>\n

Michael Porter Jr. is Vital to the Nuggets’ Championship Hopes<\/h2>\n

Providing a Consistent Threat from Three<\/h3>\n

Porter Jr. excels at shooting from three. Although the Nuggets shoot a high percentage from three, shooting 38.1% from downtown<\/a>, they are last in three-point attempts per game<\/a>. In today’s NBA, a team shooting the least threes will likely struggle in the playoffs.\u00a0 Porter Jr. shoots an elite 39.6% from three, yet only takes 6.3 attempts per game.<\/p>\n

Not only does Porter Jr. shoot an elite percentage from three, but he is also a major factor in the Nuggets’ victories. In the Nuggets’ 43 wins with Porter Jr. in the lineup, he shoots an outstanding 43.6% from the three-point line. In their 28 losses, his three-point percentage falls to 33.1%. To get Porter Jr. back on track, the Nuggets should prioritize setting him up for wide-open threes, where he has shot 44.9% on the season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Breaking Out of a Slump<\/h3>\n

The Nuggets have desperately missed Porter Jr.’s production recently. His production and shooting percentages have declined since the break. His points dropped from 19.0 per game before the break to 16.2 per game in the 19 games since. He has also been struggling with his efficiency since the All-Star break. He is shooting 44.3% from the field and 33.3% from three in the previous 19 games<\/a> compared to 52.3% from the field and 41.7% from three in his first 52 games.<\/p>\n

Porter Jr. only has three games with 20 points on 50% from the field or higher since the break. In the three games before the break, he had three consecutive games scoring 30 or more while shooting 50% or higher. In the first 52 games, he had 19 games with at least 20 points on 50% shooting or better. For the Nuggets to be successful in the playoffs, they need Porter Jr. to return to consistent production. He must hit his open threes and provide a scoring threat while on the court.<\/p>\n

Complimenting the Nuggets’ Stars<\/h3>\n

Spearheaded by Nikola Joki\u0107<\/a>, whom the Nuggets heavily rely on<\/a>, and Jamal Murray<\/a>, who has returned to his All-Star form<\/a> in recent months, the Nuggets are led by starpower. For the Nuggets to elevate to a championship hopeful, they need support from their role players. Porter Jr.’s production is the most vital to the Nuggets’ success. When he is hitting his shots, it elevates the Nuggets’ chances of winning significantly.<\/p>\n

Joki\u0107 and Murray excel with playmaking abilities, and Porter Jr. is an elite shooter who feeds off of open shots. He is averaging 4.6 catch-and-shoot threes per game<\/a> on 42.4%. Maximizing his catch-and-shoot attempts should be a priority for head coach Michael Malone heading into the playoffs. Giving your best shooter as many open threes as possible is invaluable in a playoff setting.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Troy Taormina-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Denver Nuggets are hunting for a top-two seed in a strong Western Conference. Their goal isn’t just a place in the standings \u2014 it’s to win a championship. Michael Porter Jr. is vital to the Nuggets if they want to win another ring. He is their most dangerous threat from three, something the Nuggets […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5342,"featured_media":131220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,20,62],"tags":[109,1230,1223,72],"class_list":["post-131177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nuggets","category-nba","tag-jamal-murray","tag-michael-malone","tag-michael-porter-jr","tag-nikola-jokic"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131177"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131221,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131177\/revisions\/131221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}