MPJ not getting much of a chance to impact offense
In a trend that’s been apparent in all of the games that MPJ and Murray play together, Porter isn’t getting nearly enough of a chance to impact the offense, despite it being the side of the ball that he’s undeniably pretty good at. In 23 minutes of playing time, Porter only attempted 8 shots in the game (with two shots being tip-in attempts off of misses) and 5 of his shots came in the first half. After going through long stretches in the second quarter where he didn’t even touch the ball, he didn’t get a single shot in the third quarter.
With Porter making a name for himself in the bubble it’s a bit of a head-scratcher. Watching the game, he looks uninvolved despite constantly calling from the ball and Murray seems to want to pass to anybody but him. The playoff numbers provide evidence for this, as Murray has passed the ball MPJ just 3.8 times per game for just 2.5 field goal attempts per game. This is a trend he apparently continued from the seeding games, where he passed the ball to MPJ just 3.0 times per game for 1.5 field goal attempts per game.
The numbers are even worse for Jokic, the team’s primary facilitator, who passes the ball to Porter 3.8 times per game for just 1.5 field goal attempts per game. Compare that to the seeding games, when Joker was passing the ball to Porter 11.4 times per game for 4.6 field goal attempts per game.
If Porter’s not going to get a chance to shoot at least 10 shots per game, not including tip-in attempts, there’s not much reason for him to be on the court other than spacing. Sure, he improved his defensive stance and awareness in Game 4 but he still is primarily a scorer. If Malone can’t stop him from being frozen out by Murray (who could have been concerned about the attention and praise for MPJ as a scorer) or Jokic (who seems hellbent on playing a two-man game with Murray), then the team has more chemistry issues than they know.
What were your takeaways from Game 4? Let us know on Twitter @Nugg_Love.