{"id":24109,"date":"2025-05-10T22:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T22:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/24109\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T22:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T22:15:11","slug":"michael-porter-jr-coming-up-big-for-the-nuggets-as-he-plays-through-pain-of-sprained-left-shoulder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/24109\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Porter Jr. coming up big for the Nuggets as he plays through pain of sprained left shoulder"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER (AP) \u2014 Michael Porter Jr. hasn\u2019t really been able to take off his uniform by himself going on three weeks now because of a sprained left shoulder<\/a> that has essentially turned him into a one-armed hoopster in these playoffs.<\/p>\n

He can\u2019t really guide his jump-shot with his left hand ever since he sprained his left A.C. joint in a scramble for a loose ball in Round 1 against the Los Angeles Clippers on April 22. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard for him to corral rebounds with both hands and he sometimes winces when passes drift to his left side.<\/p>\n

Not only that, but on the night he got hurt he revealed that the brace on his left foot was broken and that he\u2019d had a hard time finding a replacement that fits properly. The brace helps him play through a condition called \u201cdropped foot,\u201d that resulted from his multiple back surgeries earlier in his career.<\/p>\n

Yet, there he was picking up the slack on Nikola Jokic\u2019s off-night in Denver\u2019s 113-104 Game 3 overtime win<\/a> Friday night over the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though playing through it makes it heal slower, they know it\u2019s not something that\u2019s dangerous to play with, per se,\u201d Porter said. \u201cSo, they\u2019re trusting me to go out there and space the floor, make it easier on other guys if I can and then I\u2019ve just got to contribute on the glass and defensively as best I can and be ready to knock down open shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his left shoulder heavily bandaged and pumped full of Lidocaine, Porter did all of that and more Friday night.<\/p>\n

He scored 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting that included a 5-of-6 clip from deep and he pulled down eight rebounds, seven on the defensive glass, to counter OKC\u2019s swarming defense and offensive prowess.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they shoot the ball it feels like the whole world is in the paint,\u201d Nuggets interim coach David Adelman<\/a> said. \u201cAnd you just have to win those and sometimes the ball gets tipped and you\u2019ve got to play through the elbows and win the 50-50 knockout defensive rebounds because that leads to controlling the pace and getting our guys in a two-man game late.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Porter contributing at both ends of the floor, the Nuggets hung with the Thunder until Aaron Gordon\u2019s late 3 sent it to overtime, where Denver outscored Oklahoma City 9-2.<\/p>\n

Porter had expressed frustration after being held to 10 points total in Games 1 and 2 in Oklahoma City, where he shot a combined 3 for 18.<\/p>\n

He at least felt a little more like himself Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been tough, playoffs and I\u2019m wanting to play at a high level,\u201d Porter said. <\/p>\n

Doctors told him sprained AC joints take four to six weeks to heal up enough for him to return to action. He said no way even knowing that he\u2019d face severe limitations that would cut into his productivity and even playing time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuiting up I knew there would be games where I couldn\u2019t produce like I wanted to or maybe I didn\u2019t play as much as I wanted to,\u201d Porter said. \u201cBut this is the playoffs and I wanted to go out there and at least try. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an up-and-down playoffs for me, but that\u2019s OK because we\u2019re in a good position as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nuggets can take a 3-1 lead with a win Sunday afternoon at Ball Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he first got hurt, it was like, damn, he\u2019s going to play through that? It\u2019s kind of crazy,\u201d teammate Jamal Murray said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t understand what he\u2019s played through and how much he\u2019s played through his whole career. It\u2019s just a testament to his resilience and his love for the game and his will to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER (AP) \u2014 Michael Porter Jr. hasn\u2019t really been able to take off his uniform by himself going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[877,7,585,250,301,187,3943,762,562,6,446,253,302,586,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-24109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-aaron-gordon","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-co-state-wire","11":"tag-david-adelman","12":"tag-denver","13":"tag-denver-nuggets","14":"tag-denvernuggets","15":"tag-jamal-murray","16":"tag-michael-porter-jr","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-nba-basketball","19":"tag-nikola-jokic","20":"tag-nuggets","21":"tag-ok-state-wire","22":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114485852827571251","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}