Bennett Durando is the Colorado Avalanche beat writer for The Denver Post. Before taking on his first NHL beat, he covered SEC football and other sports for five years, first at his alma mater, Missouri, for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Columbia Missourian, then Auburn for the Montgomery Advertiser.
DENVER, CO – OCTOBER 24: Michael Porter Jr. of the Denver Nuggets takes a breather during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets’ 119-107 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at Ball Arena in Denver on Tuesday, October 24, 2023. The old cliché about defending champions evolving from hunters to the hunted has meaning that’s two-fold in the case of Michael Porter Jr.
Denver’s in-season tournament win Friday against the Mavericks was perhaps the most gritty example yet. Dallas switched Porter onto early MVP candidate Luka Doncic several times and isolated the matchup. Doncic is arguably the most dangerous ball-dominant offensive player in the NBA. He entered Friday’s game averaging 33.8 points and eventually climbed to reach 34 again, but only as the Mavericks desperately turned to him for crunch time offense in a game they were trailing.
Porter’s dedication to crashing the glass is helping him contribute during shooting slumps as well. He’s averaging more than eight rebounds per game, and he scored a critical put-back late in Friday’s game that regained a 10-point lead for the Nuggets. But he wouldn’t have even been on the floor at that moment if not for the defensive effort Malone has noticed, dating back to last season.
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