Nuggets stars Michael Porter Jr., Jamal Murray on track to return soon: Where that leaves Denver and the rest of the West
Published: February 28, 2021 US time
Publisher: the Athletic
Article author: Sam Amik
Article translated by de Gaulle
On February 24, local time, the Nuggets challenged the Kings away. Before the game began, the Nuggets players practiced in pairs on the opponent's home field. Among the players practicing, there are two players who are particularly interesting, one is Jamal Murray and the other is Michael Porter Jr.
The two Nuggets, who are currently unable to play due to injury, are doing their own exercises on the side of the field. Porter Jr. was in the bottom corner, shooting three-pointers one after the other. Murray, along with several teammates and assistant coaches, conducted a 2-on-2 offensive drill. Although they each looked in good shape, the two still couldn't play that night – Murray suffered a serious injury to a torn cruciate ligament in his knee last April, and Porter Jr. underwent his third back surgery last November, and both of them are still in their respective recovery rhythms, with a comeback time uncertain.
Despite the lack of two big players, the Nuggets' recent achievements are still good. In their most recent game, they beat the Blazers by 32 points on the road, extending their winning streak to six in a row. And, even more exciting for the Nuggets, Porter Jr. and Murray are recovering very well.
Compared to Murray, who suffered a knee injury, Potter Jr. recovered a little faster. According to Nuggets sources, the 23-year-old forward has been allowed to participate in confrontational training and is aiming to return to the court at that time in mid-to-late March. Because Murray's injury is more serious, the Nuggets are more conservative in estimating his recovery time, and have not formulated a specific comeback schedule for him for the time being. But the Nuggets' other players, after seeing Murray's recent training form, have expressed optimism about his recovery. The prevailing thinking within the Nuggets is that Murray is in the final stages of recovery and, if nothing else, will be able to catch up with the playoffs.
After such news comes out, people will unconsciously reverie, when all the Nuggets injured return to the team, what kind of strength will they burst out when the lineup is complete?
Let's take a look at the Nuggets' performance in today's situation. As mentioned earlier, after winning the Blazers, the Nuggets have won six straight, which has also allowed them to win eight of their last nine games. Today, the Nuggets are 36-25, firmly in sixth place in the West, three wins ahead of the Timberwolves behind them and only 0.5 wins behind the Lone Rangers in front of them.
You know, before Christmas last year, after losing to the Hornets at home, the Nuggets had only 15 wins and 16 losses. But starting with the Clippers' victory over the Clippers on Dec. 27, the Nuggets won 20 of the next 29 games, ranking 5th in the league by 100-game net wins in the same period.
The Nuggets have achieved such a big improvement in a short period of time, and jokic, the MVP winner of last season, naturally contributed to it. His performance in the past two months or so is still at the MVP level, which has also allowed the Nuggets to maintain high morale and morale. In addition, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone is also worthy of applause and praise, and his pinching of the team and the encouragement to the players have also become the key to the Nuggets' good results.
But whether it's Jokic or Malone, one thing they know is that if they want to get their teams to go further in the playoffs, they need healthy Murray and Porter Jr. on the court. So, has the news of the two players' successful recovery already started to excite and excite Jokic?
Surprisingly, Jokic did not give a positive answer. "To be honest with you, I don't have that idea," Jokic said, "and I'd rather see them both have more time to fully recover than to have them back on the pitch as soon as possible." Therefore, I don't have too many such thoughts in my heart, I just hope that they will quickly recover their health, 100% health. And I'm still going to do my best to win every game. Yes, I'm talking about every game. And, I feel like I'm in a very good state at the moment. ”
Jokic is by no means boasting, and his performances and performances this season have been quite good. The 27-year-old Serbian center, who currently averages 25.5 points, 13.8 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game, has also become the first player in NBA history to hand over such an average of "25+13+6". Considering that he is still a center forward, it is even more rare to have such a performance.
It is with Jokic as the axis that the rest of the Nuggets players have also performed well this season, which is the key to their ability to maintain such results without two stars. "I think the best thing about basketball is that there's always someone around you who can come forward," Jokic said of his teammates, "Monte (Morris), AG (Aaron Gordon), Will Barton have all done it, so I think it's really good, there's always someone on our team who can stand up." We should be happy that we have a 50% winning percentage because we have suffered many situations such as injuries. But I also feel that these things should not be considered now, and we still need to look forward. ”
"Looking forward" may have been a way for the Nuggets to comfort themselves before, but now it's a new hope for them. The strength of Murray and Porter Jr. is obvious to all in the league, as long as the two can recover their strength and return to the Nuggets' lineup, then the strength of this team is not only reflected in the 6th place in the West today.
"In my opinion, he's already a bit impatient," Jokic said of Murray, "and he can't wait to come back in the final stages of the regular season because he's such a competitive guy." Now he also plays away with us and always stays with everyone in the team. So I think he's in a very good situation at the moment. ”
Looking at the current situation in the West, the top-ranked Suns and Warriors are struggling with the absence of Paul and Green, and the Grizzlies and Jazz are not playing stable enough. In this context, it is not impossible for the Nuggets to use the last period of the regular season to attack the top four in the West and strive for home advantage in the first round of the playoffs. And when the playoffs begin, if the Nuggets can bring back two absolute main players, they are bound to become a powerful force stirring up the situation in the West.