The last month has exposed Denver to a season’s worth of injuries. With only three games left and homecourt advantage now sealed, the last thing Nuggets coach Michael Malone can afford is another one.
That’s why Malone sounded like he’d do everything in his power to get Nikola Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. off their feet. Whether they’ll acquiesce is another matter.
In the midst of his MVP crusade, Jokic hasn’t missed a game. If it was up to him, he wouldn’t stop now.
“My goal … is to play every game,” he said following Tuesday night’s 117-112 win over Charlotte.
Jokic left plenty of room for interpretation when asked whether he could be talked out of it.
The Nuggets (45-24) close their regular season with a back-to-back Thursday and Friday against Minnesota and Detroit, respectively, with the final game of the regular season Sunday at Portland.
Malone could sit both of his stars on one end of the back-to-back or he could hold them out against the Trail Blazers, not giving Portland one last look ahead of a potential playoff series. Both scored 30 points Tuesday night in at least 33 minutes of action.
Malone said he intended to sit guys, or if not outright sit them, then likely decrease their minutes substantially.
With Jokic, Malone inevitably takes into account their six-year history, which has seen the Nuggets become the only team in the Western Conference to secure homecourt advantage in the first round for three years running.
“Coach, player, friend, whatever you want to call it,” Malone said. “We’ve been having an ongoing discussion about that very subject, about potentially reducing minutes, potentially sitting out games. … On one hand, I truly respect the hell out of Nikola. … He has this immense amount of pride that he wants to play every night, but we also have to be smart.”
Jokic doesn’t need to be reminded of his importance to the team. He’s the reason they’ve gone 11-5 since Jamal Murray tore his ACL a month ago.
There’s a different calculation with Porter, who’s risen to the No. 2 option in Denver’s still-potent offense.
Porter, 22, understood the idea of resting but said he wanted to maintain a rhythm heading into the playoffs. Porter’s 45% 3-point shooting clip is, by far, the best on the team. Following Tuesday’s 6-of-10 3-point display, Porter’s got 16 treys in the last three games.
“I don’t see a big need to rest right now,” he said, even though he admitted he’s still not fully healthy after two back surgeries delayed the start of his NBA career. Not that he’s currently battling ailments, only that he feels he’ll be healthier the more removed he is from his surgeries.
Porter still reminds himself of the Clippers doctor who wrote an infamous report suggesting he might never play basketball again. The report, according to Porter, was distributed to numerous teams.
“When I saw that, I was thinking to myself, ‘I might not play again,’” Porter said. “It was that bad.”
And yet injury concerns aside, Porter intimated his gas tank is full. Porter’s argument was only aided by a recent conversation with Jokic.
“I don’t think he even is thinking about resting,” Porter said. “He’s going harder than any of us. … If he’s not resting, I’m definitely not resting.”
