As Jamal Murray crossed into the middle of the floor in transition early in the fourth quarter of the Denver Nuggets' Game 1 win over the Heat -- during a rare fast-break opportunity against a Miami defense that makes you earn every basket -- he spotted Michael Porter Jr. flaring open near the left corner.
Murray slung a one-handed pass that hit Porter in stride. It was the kind of moment a 6-foot-10 sharpshooter dreams about. The Nuggets had scored four points in a row to go back up 88-74 after the Heat had opened the quarter with an 11-0 run to trim Denver's lead to 10. The crowd was roaring. Porter could send them into bedlam with one shot and blow the game open again.
Porter to that point had played a splendid all-around game, but he was cold on 3s, finishing 2-of-11 from deep. The Heat in the second half had juggled assignments to put Caleb Martin on Murray -- leaving smaller defenders (Gabe Vincent then Kyle Lowry) on Porter. The Nuggets smartly responded by running pindowns, handoffs and other actions designed to get Porter open catch-and-shoot looks over those defenders. He had missed them all.
"I was missing my 3s," Porter told ESPN after Nuggets practice on Saturday. "And I had an opportunity to shoot one."
He went into his shooting motion but saw Haywood Highsmith sprinting to leap at him.
(Highsmith played well, and the Heat have used him as Murray's primary defender. They might extend Highsmith's minutes some in Game 2 of these NBA Finals. They even had him switch from Murray onto Nikola Jokic on a few Murray-Jokic pick-and-rolls, but those plays did not go well for Highsmith. It is hard to see any way the Heat can regularly switch smaller players onto Jokic and get away with it. Having Bam Adebayo front Jokic was probably their best tactic against Jokic's post-ups, but the Nuggets were ready for that from the opening tip; when Adebayo fronted Jokic on Denver's first possession of Game 1, rather than try to force a lob pass entry, Murray simply used the front as one giant screen. He drove the Jokic-Adebayo scrum, knowing Adebayo would not be able to meet him on the back side, and laid the ball in.)
Porter pump-faked; Highsmith flew past him and landed in the deep corner. Porter saw daylight and began his shooting motion again. But Highsmith was coming from the other side, and Porter noticed an open alley in front him. In a development that pleased Denver's coaches, Porter aborted his shot, took one hard dribble into the paint and planted for a potential dunk.
Porter has worked to build enough of an off-the-bounce game to blow by defenders who run him off the arc then keep the Nuggets' offense moving. "Guys are always going to fly out to contest my 3s," he said. He has gained confidence in it over these playoffs, completing two- and three-dribble moves to the rim for artful finishes and kickout passes -- moves he might not have managed a year ago.
Porter's back issues have made it hard for him to become a high-volume pick-and-roll ball handler or to back down smaller defenders one-on-one on the block. He has trouble getting low enough to gain leverage.
(Getting into a crouched defensive stance is tough for Porter too, for the same reason; Jimmy Butler had some success in Game 1 hunting Porter on switches then blowing by him off the dribble. Look for more of that predatory offense from Butler in Game 2 against Porter and Murray. The Heat will also do better getting their spacing right when they puncture the first layer of Denver's defense -- either through Butler isolations or Adebayo's screening game with Max Strus, Duncan Robinson and the Heat's armada of shooters. Those plays force Jokic to leap out against Miami's shooters, opening up pocket passes to Adebayo -- and catapulting him into 4-on-3s. The Heat got some easy baskets out of those actions, but cluttered spacing -- two players cutting into the same spot at the same time -- undid some of them.)
But Porter can attack closeouts with force now, and that is enough for the Nuggets as presently constructed -- with Porter as third scorer.
Adebayo, the Heat's last line of defense, stayed on the floor -- perhaps worried about leaping and leaving Jokic open.
"I could have laid it up," Porter said. "Bam didn't really jump with me."
Porter exploded off the floor in a way that suggested perhaps he thought he had the chance at a highlight dunk.
"I might have been able to," Porter said with a chuckle, "but I was tired at that point."
Adebayo slid in front of Porter, and Porter dumped the ball to Jokic for a layup.
Porter knew Jokic had attempted only three shots in the first half, while dishing 10 assists. "I wanted to get him going, and feeling good," Porter said.
It was the sort of play that has become emblematic of the Nuggets -- an unselfish teammate, someone who is supposed to be a finisher turning down multiple reasonable attempts in order to generate a better one for someone else. That ethos ripples outward from Jokic.
"It's about being selfless, playing for each other, wanting others to succeed -- all the things this culture is about," Porter said. "Nikola embodies all of that."
In the first quarter of Game 1, Porter was on the receiving end of another of these types of plays -- another pass from power forward type known more as a finisher in Denver's offense: Aaron Gordon.
Gordon by then had scored 12 of Denver's first 22 points, mostly on brutalizing post-ups against Miami guards who were stuck on him after switches or with matchups jumbled in transition. Gordon in Denver has become one of the league's most efficient post-up players. That was not the case with the Orlando Magic, Gordon's first team; the playmaking hierarchy in Orlando was less clear-cut, and Gordon was free to stretch his offensive game in every direction.
He wanted to orchestrate pick-and-rolls, and often dribbled into fadeaway jumpers on post-ups. When Denver acquired Gordon at the 2021 trade deadline -- beating out several suitors, including the Houston Rockets and Boston Celtics, sources said -- the Nuggets wanted to simplify Gordon's offensive game: run the floor, screen hard, cut for passes from Jokic, and punish mismatches with deeper post-ups. On the other end, Gordon would defend the league's best wing scorers -- including Butler in these Finals.
In the 2021 offseason, Gordon's inner circle revamped his training regimen, directing every dribble and power post move toward the basket.
Gordon was rolling when he drew Strus on the right wing and began methodically nudging Strus toward the restricted area with dribbles and half-spins. Strus held his own. Gordon picked up his dribble about 12 feet from the rim, turned to face the basket, and rose to shoot; Gordon thought Strus had fouled him, and listened for a whistle, he told ESPN on Saturday. None came.
No one would have blamed Gordon for trying a tricky 12-foot jumper on the move. He was on a heater. The Nuggets bench was standing, anticipating another Gordon interior bucket. But Gordon noticed a second defender waiting in the middle of the paint to swarm him, and understood someone was open: Porter in the left corner.
Gordon whipped a two-handed jump pass into Porter's shooting pocket for a wide-open 3; Porter missed, but the process behind the play was what the Nuggets want to see.
"I was scoring and taking advantage of mismatches, so I knew they were going to have to double or at least help a little more," Gordon said. "I saw Mike open, and you can't leave Michael Porter Jr. open -- not even a little bit. If you leave him open, I'm going to try to find him every single time -- no matter what's happening in the game. I don't care if I've made a ton of shots in a row or if Mike has made a ton of shots in a row -- or if he's missed a ton of shots in a row. It doesn't matter. If you're leaving Mike open, the ball has got to go to him."
Porter remembered the play too.
"I wasn't surprised," Porter said. "I knew he was going to pass it. Aaron is always looking for ways to get us shots."
"The open man is the right one," Gordon said. "It didn't have to be Mike in the corner. It could have been anyone. As long as they're open, the ball has to go there."
Watching how the Nuggets position Gordon on offense is a fun game within the game. He is the worst 3-point shooter in Denver's starting five -- not really an insult given the other four players -- and the Nuggets know defenses will stray away from Gordon to clog the paint. (Miami has guarded Gordon mostly with Butler because Butler is its most dangerous rover outside of Adebayo -- who has to defend Jokic unless the Heat get very creative with matchups.)
As a result, Gordon is rarely stationary or in the same place doing the same thing on consecutive possessions. Denver leverages his screening and playmaking, skills that take on greater power alongside Murray and especially Jokic.
Midway through the first quarter, the Nuggets had Gordon bring the ball up and act as the entry passer on a scripted set with Jokic and Murray at the elbows:
There are not a ton of great answers for Miami's man-to-man defense there. Using Gordon as the initiator means he is farthest from the rim; Butler has no way to effectively act as a roving, swiping menace. Switching Adebayo onto Murray leaves Vincent on Jokic. Gulp. The Nuggets on these plays station Porter and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the corners; leaving them to help in the paint means granting one of them a wide-open catch-and-shoot corner 3. Gulp again.
Ninety seconds later, the Nuggets rearranged the three players at the top of that same set piece -- keeping Porter and Caldwell-Pope in the corners:
Murray brings the ball up this time, and enters the ball to Jokic -- who has shifted from the left elbow to the right elbow. Gordon -- the initiator last time -- is now at the left elbow. Butler is still on him, and this setup has him closer to the basket -- in better help position.
But it's hard to help when your man is in the muck of the action, and the Nuggets have Gordon set a back screen for Murray. The Heat should probably switch here -- it's the least of all evils -- but doing so would leave Vincent on Gordon, and Miami had just watched Gordon obliterate Vincent on several possessions.
The Heat try to stay attached to their original assignments. Gordon's screen smashes Vincent. Murray cuts free to the rim. Both Butler and Martin (guarding Porter in the left corner) dip in to help for a beat, but neither commits; Murray gets another dunk.
This is the kind of ever-changing, always-moving role the Nuggets envisioned for Gordon when they traded for him, and it is the overall style -- egalitarian, motion-heavy -- Jokic enjoys most. Murray thrives within that kind of system, and he can get buckets outside of it when circumstances require it -- when Jokic is resting or when an elite defense has stalled out a Denver possession. (Murray made two one-on-one dagger jumpers against Miami's zone in Game 1.)
Around their two foundational stars, the Nuggets have assembled a cast of players who fit that system and seem to grow more comfortable within it every game -- finding new ways to score, and to unlock shots for their teammates.
"We all try to play that same way," Porter said, "and play for each other."