Michael Porter Jr. pins the blame on himself for the Nuggets‘ second-round loss to Minnesota, according to Bennett Durando of the Denver Post. Porter struggled to make offensive contributions, averaging 10.7 points per game on 37.1% shooting from the field. He scored just 25 points in the last four games of the Western Conference semifinals.
“This was a terrible series,” Porter said. “I felt like I might’ve had one or two good games out of the seven we played. Part of it was the way they were guarding. Part of it was (that) my shot wasn’t falling. It’s just tough because I know if I would have played up to par with how I normally play, we would have won this series. And there’s a lot of things that could have been different as a team, but I know if I had played my part, we would have won the series. And I’ve gotta live with that.”
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- A lack of quality depth led to the Nuggets’ demise, in the estimation of Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. He notes that only rookies and journeyman veterans were added last offseason to fortify the bench, which took huge hits with the loss of Bruce Brown and Jeff Green. Salary cap issues were a primary reasons for the approach but O’Connor notes that only one bench player logged more than 10 minutes in Game 7, while five players under the age of 25 never shed their warmups.
- Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid missed last year’s playoffs due to injury but they played massive roles in the Timberwolves’ ascension to the Western Conference Finals, Chris Hine of The Star Tribune notes. McDaniels scored 44 points in the last two games of the second-round series, while Reid — the league’s Sixth Man of the Year — scored eight of his 11 points in Game 7 during the fourth quarter and blocked two Nikola Jokic shot attempts.
- Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore made an interesting proposal to Glen Taylor in the ownership dispute engulfing the Timberwolves franchise. The duo proposed last month that the loser of their battle over ownership of the franchise should cover the legal costs of the winner, Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico reports. However, Taylor’s legal team has chosen to continue with the binding arbitration, as laid out in the purchase agreement, where parties are responsible for their own fees. That process is slated to happen in the coming months, Novy-Williams adds.
Porter is soft…but he isn’t the reason they lost. Heck he was awful in the finals last year and they won
Naz Reid
The reason they lost is bc they didn’t have a bench. Nobody could match Naz Reid’s energy and production. They weren’t as deep this year and relied on the starting 5 to win them the games.
The subtext of what this MPJ narcissist is saying; “I carry a lot of weight in our team’s success.”
However, last years success came with him averaging 20 mins.
He’s a max player. He should carry a lot of weight by default. He’s just not good enough to do so on a consistent basis.
Crazy times where I am rooting for Glen Taylor to prevail, never in a million……
I knew when I heard ARod was leaching into basketball that I didn’t like it and was abruptly reminded why seeing him courtside Sunday, unbearable
I traveled to game 7 and after the game ARod came over to where all of us Will fans gathered behind the Wolves bench. A few people mind-bogglingly cheered for him. Most of us were screaming for him to back down. He and Marc Lore will cut payroll and will move the team to Vegas.
Also, what is ARod doing to his face? He’s looking like Sammy Sosa’s vampire lol
I think they deal MPJ this offseason, split his money into parts. A team devoid of talent or FAs don’t wanna go to…
MPJ for MB3, Holmes, and Shamet
MPJ for Brown, Boucher, and McDaniels
MPJ for Bertrans, Martin, Richards/Williams
MPJ for Thybulle and Brogdon
Something along those lines or a S&T.
Don’t think Denver goes for any of those deals. Agree it makes sense to trade him though.
I could see kuzma & jones, bogdanovic & hunter, Barnes & huerter, or levert & strus as potential paths.
Mostly what I proposed was pick-less trades. I think if they got better quality guys they’d have to include draft assets.
If the Nuggets could acquire Bruce Brown and Kelly Olynyk for MPj they should strongly consider saying yes. Like especially if Brown signs a reasonable extension as part of the deal. But honestly I’d rather see them trade KCP for Bruce Brown. Even just keep the same team but change the minimum bench players…I’d like to see the Dario Saric, Monte Morris, Andre Drummond on the Nuggets bench.