Renck: Michael Porter Jr. may look soft, but there’s no one tougher on Nuggets roster

Burdens are for shoulders strong enough to carry them Even if the left one requires a needle full of lidocaine Maybe if Michael Porter Jr wasn t so candid Maybe if he didn t look so exasperated and hopeless in interviews Maybe then we would realize that he is capable of almost anything on the basketball court Even with one good arm After using the first two games of this series to establish himself as a liability MPJ forced critics to swallow their tongues on Friday night The guy who missed of shots in Oklahoma City could barely miss He scored points He drained a team-best of from -point range He grabbed eight rebounds seven with two hands The one athlete fans desired on the bench I did not call for that though his inconsistency is maddening guaranteed the Nuggets woke up with a - series lead in the Western Conference semifinals Aaron Gordon made another shot Over a two-week span he has become more clutch than Mr Goodwrench And Jamal Murray received a from the X-game judges for his degree of difficulty on lay-ups But those things while brilliant are not uncommon What MPJ did was as unexpected as hitting the lottery Yes it looked that bleak for him Be honest So what changed A couple of days in between is helping at this point I felt a little bit better overall at present I was trying to space out and not do the injection every meeting but right now it s needed Porter explained I still don t feel like I can play physically or bum guys the way I would like to But I am able to do what I can MPJ has a face made for a magazine cover Even his shadow beard is stylish He looks like he is ready to cut an album or drop another podcast He looks soft Don t fall for it Michael Porter Jr of the Denver Nuggets misses a lob as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder defends during the third quarter of the Nuggets - win at Ball Arena in Denver on Friday May Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post There is no one tougher on the Nuggets roster Diagnosed with a sprained AC joint he can only play if his shoulder is numb And wrapped He turns the training staff into MacGyver using tape patches painkillers everything but duct tape and chicken wire When he hurt his shoulder diving for a loose ball in Meeting of the Clippers series he was described he would need to weeks recovery time I knew I wasn t doing that Porter declared Basketball has healing powers for Porter He has not missed a meeting even though there was a strong argument to rest him and it paid dividends He made a scarce buckets at the end of the Meeting debacle And when he drained his first just three minutes into Friday s first quarter it triggered arguably the best postseason performance of his career He turned frustration into inspiration You don t even know what he s going through I can t even believe he s playing teammate Peyton Watson declared He s making big-time plays rebounding I am super happy for him Porter could have pulled the curtain on his season without any pushback His career however has been defined by overcoming odds He has had multiple back surgeries and is required to wear a special shoe to relieve pain in his foot Every day he has learned to deal with physical obstacles But what about the mental demons It cannot be easy to hear fans and yes sports columnists fire off criticism like paintballs in his direction I knew there would be games where I couldn t produce the way I demanded to or didn t play as multiple minutes as I needed to but it s the playoffs I yearned to at least try explained Porter who is averaging points per event in the postseason It s been an up-and-down postseason for me but that s OK because we are in a good position as a group And I have had various games where I have gotten certain shots to go down Related Articles PHOTOS Denver Nuggets outlast OKC Thunder - in OT of Event of second-round NBA Playoffs series Aaron Gordon delivers again with game-tying Nuggets put foot down on Thunder for OT Event win Nuggets-Thunder Challenge -pointers Michael Porter Jr finds redemption Why Michael Porter Jr is determined to keep playing through shoulder injury in Nuggets-Thunder series Renck If Nuggets don t bring fight to punchable Thunder they deserve what they get It is impossible to overstate Porter s importance in the first half Jokic was for from the field and in the middle of an -for- night from beyond the arc The Thunder players make it their life s work to own the paint defensively The only way to create consequences for packing it in is by knocking down deep jumpers Porter contributed three s over the first minutes That is one more than he had in the first two games When Michael is making shots it makes the court feel that much bigger Nuggets interim coach David Adelman revealed I am really proud of him He s getting remedy every day He s just trying to stay alive in this thing The Nuggets are who we wished the Avs to be gritty grimy at their best when the alarms are blaring And they also know a dirty little secret The Thunder can t close so staying close matters even more in this series Porter kept the Nuggets connected He is going through a lot Murray explained It says a lot about his resilience and love of the contest As Porter left the podium on what was then Saturday morning he looked a little more confident Maybe it was the ice pack underneath his jacket Or just maybe it was because his hot-shooting gave the Thunder the cold shoulder Want more Nuggets news Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis