This has been a peculiar season for Michael Porter Jr. with the Nuggets. On one hand, he has been incredibly good in different roles this season and overall very healthy. On the other hand, he had been in trade rumors all season for Denver prior to the deadline and has had a handful of very poor games, most notably his dreadful showing on Thursday night against the Bucks.
Entering the game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Denver had won 10 of their last 11 games, but coming out of the all-star break (and returning from his calf injury) Porter Jr. hasn’t been able to find his groove. Before his injury, he had strung together three consecutive games of 30+ points but he’s been on the struggle bus in late February for Mike.
In his last four games, he is now shooting a mere 21/63 (33.3%) from the field and a pitiful 4/22 (18.2%) from beyond the arc. He has been rebounding well, which helps the cause a bit, but has also not been great defensively for the Nuggets. Unfortunately, all of the negatives of his recent play were showcased in Milwaukee and Porter Jr. looked like the weakest link.
There was a lid on the rim for MPJ on Thursday night
As a career 41.0% volume three-point shooter, it is not very often that it feels like MPJ’s open, or even lightly contested, threes are not going to go in. Sadly, that was the case against the Bucks, as he connected on only 5/22 (22.7%) of his shots in the game.
Even more surprisingly, he was even worse from beyond the arc, connecting on a single shot in his first 10 attempts from deep. Porter Jr. did add a garbage time three-pointer once the game was out of hand, but still finished an abysmal 2/11 (18.2%) in what ended up being a 121-112 loss in Milwaukee.
Not only was the shot not falling for Mike but he had some defense lapses and ended the game with a -20, the worst mark for either team. This game is definitely in the running for his poorest game of the season. The question now is simply if he can bounce back. The schedule does not get any easier with two more games on this east coast road trip still to play.
Ultimately, the Nuggets have 23 more games to right the ship and get their playoff rotation clicking on all cylinders. MPJ will be a massive part of that and needs to find his groove again sooner rather than later.