Michael Porter Jr. explodes for 30 in Denver Nuggets win over Miami Heat

In the rematch of the 2023 NBA Finals, it wasn’t the typical stars who did the heavy lifting, as Michael Porter Jr. caught on fire to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 103-97 victory over the Miami Heat at Ball Arena.

The team from the Mile High city won the championship last year in 6 games with Nikola Jokic winning Finals MVP. The 6-time All-Star won his first ring and solidified himself as one of the best big men in NBA history.

The result of tonight’s game ended similarly to last season, but this time MPJ was the star of the night with his 30 points and 11 rebounds. Nikola Jokic ended with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 18 points with 4 made threes. Aaron Gordon finished with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Jamal Murray only played 14 minutes before injuring his ankle, recording 6 points hitting 2/3 triples.

For the Heat, Bam Adebayo had a team high 22 points to go along with 8 rebounds. Jimmy Butler had 21 points with 7 rebounds and Terry Rozier scored 19. They were without Tyler Herro once again so Duncan Robinson and Caleb Martin did their best to fill in his shoes, as they each hit 2 threes and scored 12 and 13 points, respectively.

Denver improves to 41-19 with this win, sitting just 1.5 games behind the Timberwolves for the top seed in the conference. They are proving that last year wasn’t a fluke and they are still the team to beat in the West. The Nuggets are rolling right now, winning 5 in a row. Their next game will be on Saturday against the Los Angeles Lakers where they’ll look to keep this hot streak going.

Miami falls to 33-26 with this loss, dropping to the 8th seed and sitting 0.5 games away from the 5th seed. In a tight Eastern Conference, every game is crucial and tonight is an example of that, as coming into this game they were out of the play-in but after this loss they dropped significantly in the standings.

This was a game that the Heat had circled on their calendars but unfortunately, they fell short once again. They will look to regroup after this hard-fought battle and try to pick up a win on Saturday against the Utah Jazz.