Nuggets Notes: Barton’s Return, Porter, Murray, Jokic, Malone

Nuggets’ guard Will Barton is expected to play tonight, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Barton had previously been listed as “doubtful,” but over the course of the last 24 hours, had been upgraded to “questionable.” Now it seems that barring a setback, he’ll appear for the Nuggets in an important Game Two.

The 30-year-old has been inactive since April 23 with a hamstring strain, but has been ramping up his workouts in recent days. Adding Barton back into the Nuggets rotation would give them a 6’6, athletic option to try defensively on Devin Booker, who had 21 points on 12 shots against a combination of Austin Rivers, Aaron Gordon, and others in the Suns’ Game One victory.

Here’s more on the Nuggets:

  • Michael Porter tweaked his back in Game One, but head coach Michael Malone expects him back for tonight’s game, reports ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “He got treatment all day today, had a good conversation with him. But, barring anything unforeseen, Michael should be good to go for Game 2,” Malone said. The 22-year-old forward missed his first year in the NBA due to back injuries, but there seems to be little concern Game One’s injury was anything more than a minor tweak.
  • The Nuggets haven’t provided a specific timeline for Jamal Murray‘s return from his torn ACL, but sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports that the earliest they expect the guard to return would be in February 2022. Murray has been spotted getting shots up before games while avoiding putting weight on his injured knee.
  • The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie and the Denver Post’s Sean Keeler both took a closer look at Nikola Jokic‘s rise from 41st pick to 2021 MVP. Keeler writes about Jokic’s underdog mentality and how he refuses to lobby for his own awards. “I didn’t come here to want to be MVP of the league,” Jokic told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols. “I always think someone is better than me. I want to compete to beat him. Just by that mentality, I’m going to be underdog, always.” Meanwhile Vecenie writes about the draft process that led Jokic to Denver. “It was just kind of lucky scouting, to be honest with you,” said team president Tim Connelly.
  • Malone called the Nuggets’ mentality in Game One “soft,” reports ESPN’s Nick Friedell. “I think [we] had a soft mentality,” Malone said. “You can’t give up eight and-1s in a playoff game. If you’re going to foul somebody, foul them, and not let them get the and-1.Aaron Gordon agreed with his coach’s assessment. “Scared, that’s another way to play it,” said Gordon. “You could choose between them two words, either soft or scared, that’s what it felt like we were playing like.” Jokic offered a different take, saying he didn’t believe they played soft, but that the team needed to be more decisive when the Suns started getting hot.
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