Denver Nuggets small forward Michael Porter Jr. told Mike Singer of the Denver Post that he’s not going to be sensitive during the 2023 NBA Finals.
The Missouri product said no one on the Nuggets has room to be sensitive since the series with the Miami Heat is tied at 1-1.
“It’s just about winning, bro,” Porter told The Post. “At this point, where we’re at, we don’t have time for dudes to be in their feelings.”
Porter Jr. is averaging 9.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in the Finals while shooting a brutal 29.2% from the field and 17.6% from beyond the arc. Before the Nuggets’ practice on June 6 in South Beach, the team held a serious film session where head coach Michael Malone encouraged his players to talk through their mistakes.
“We all spoke up because (Malone) would have each individual player run through certain plays, tell the team what we see, and then if someone saw something different,” Porter Jr. said before his voice trailed off. “It was a very vocal film session.”
Porter Jr. has to play better for the Nuggets to win the championship versus the Heat. Denver must win Game 3 or Game 4 in Miami to reclaim home-court advantage in the Finals. The team has won on the road in every series this postseason, including two games in LA against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I just have to play with energy and effort and I’ll fall into some easy buckets off of cuts, off of transition,” Porter Jr. said. “I’m not going to keep missing that many threes.”
Porter Jr. averaged 17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists during the regular season for the Nuggets. The 24-year-old shot 48.7% overall and 41.4% from 3.
The Nuggets need that version of MPJ against the Heat in the Finals.
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