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Nuggets can't rely solely on Jokic and Murray – Porter

The Denver Nuggets cannot rely solely on Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray if they want to overcome the Los Angeles Clippers, says Michael Porter Jr.

By Tom Webber
Michael Porter Jr

Orlando, September 10: The Denver Nuggets cannot rely solely on Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray if they want to overcome the Los Angeles Clippers, says Michael Porter Jr.

Porter impressed for the Nuggets with 18 points in 23 minutes in Game 3 and looked set to build on that with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the first half of Game 4 on Wednesday (September 9).

However, the rookie was unable to add to his tally and missed his only two shots after half-time as the Nuggets fell to a 96-85 defeat that left them 3-1 down in the Western Conference semi-final series.

Porter said his failure to score in the second half was down to a lack of touches and wants Denver to share the ball more in order to become less predictable.

"That is up to the play calling, the coaches and whose hands they want to put the ball in," Porter said of his involvement in the second half.

"We kept going to [Jokic] and [Murray] and they are two amazing players, you can never be mad at that, but I just think to beat them we need to get more players involved.

"We have to move the ball a little bit better. We can't be predictable against that team."

Asked if he felt confident voicing those concerns despite being in his first year in the NBA, he said: "I think if I am going to be out there on the floor playing a lot of minutes, I think I should voice that.

"I will probably talk to the coaches and tell them what I see being out there on the floor just letting them know, look, they know what we are doing.

"We have to swing the ball. We have a lot of players that can play basketball and score, so we have to get some more guys involved."

The Nuggets came back to progress from 3-1 down against the Utah Jazz in the first round and coach Michael Malone believes his team have plenty of fight left in them.

"The same message will be what it was against Utah," said Malone.

"It wasn't that we have to come back and win three games. It was, let's win Game 5. And then after that, let's win one at a time. Let's win 6 and then win 7.

"We have done it. It is a different opponent. Very talented, deep team, but I think we do have confidence in being a resilient group and being a team that when everyone else has written us off, we have found a way."

Story first published: Thursday, September 10, 2020, 14:52 [IST]
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