On March 3, Beijing time, the Nuggets defeated the Lakers 124-114 away.
The protagonist of this game is JamesHe scored his 40,000th career point with a layup in the second quarterWe won't say much about how difficult this achievement is, but it can be simply described in four words: unparalleled in the world.
However, it was the Denver Nuggets who took away this victory, and the two leading stars of the defending champion once again taught the Lakers a lessonJokic finished with 35 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists on 16-of-25 shooting from the field, plus or minus +16,Murray finished with 24 points, six rebounds and 11 assists on 11-of-23 shooting, plus or minus +6. 
This Nuggets system,Jokic is the base handicapAs long as there is him, the Nuggets will definitely be a playoff teamMurray is the ceilingIn some games, he can even play better games than Jokic, with these two, the Nuggets can compete for the championship, as for how good it is, fans who watched last year's playoffs must still have an impression. 
However, as far as this game is concerned, the Nuggets have one player whose performance should not be ignoredMichael Porter Jr。In the whole game, Porter Jr. played a total of 37 minutesHe shot 10-of-10 from the field, 5-of-5 from three-point range, and finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block on 100-of-100 shooting。What is the concept? Little Porter isThe first player in NBA history to go 10-of-10 from the field and 5-of-5 from three-point range in a single game, and is also the first player in Nuggets history to score 25 points + 5 three-pointers + 100% shooting rate in a single game - Jokic, it turns out that there are things that can't be done. 
It is worth mentioning that James scored 40,000 points with a left-handed layup, and the background board was Porter Jr., but he responded to James and the Lakers with a 100-shot shooting rate. It is also interesting to say that the Nuggets have been playing the role of "Lakers nemesis" in the past two years, in which Jokic is stable and efficient when he plays the Lakers, and Murray usually plays the weak team to "play dead", and when he meets the Lakers, he is a superstarPorter Jr., like Murray, erupts at the sight of the Lakers. 
Take the last meeting between the two teams as an example, Kobe Bryant's statue was revealed, and in the same important game, Jokic got 24 points, 13 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 blocks, and Murray got 29 points, 7 rebounds, 11 assists and 2 steals; Porter Jr. also played wellHe was 11-of-20 from the field, 4-of-7 from three-point range, and 1-of-1 from the free-throw line to finish with 27 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 blockWith 1 minute left in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets led by 5 points at 119-104, and then Porter Jr. scored 5 points in a row to kill the game with a three-pointer and an open catch. 
Back to last year's Western Conference finals, in the four games against the Lakers, not only Jokic and Murray played explosively, but Porter Jr.'s performance was also quite good4 games, 3 double-doubles, an average of 150 points 93 rebounds and 30 assistsFrom beyond the three-point line, he averaged 35 three-pointers and a 42-point shooting percentage4%；For comparison, during the Nuggets' entire playoff journey at the time, Porter Jr.'s average per game was 134 points 81 rebound 16 assists and 35 three-point shooting1%, yes, playing the Lakers is Porter Jr.'s best round. 
Porter Jr. was originally the favorite in the 2018 draft, but because of injury, he finally fell to the 14th pick in the first round before being picked up by the Nuggets, and it was also because of injury that Porter Jr. missed the entire rookie season; However, after his comeback, he quickly showed his shooting talent, due to his height and long arms, he has a high shooting point, and his shooting is straight and difficult to hatPorter Jr. is also known by fans as "the essence of human jumpers."
In the third year season, Porter Jr. has made great progressAverages points per game from 93 points skyrocketed to 190 points, and showed a tacit understanding with Jokic, so the Nuggets gave him a share5 years 17.3 billionAt the time, this contract was very controversial. In the first year of his contract, which was his fourth-year seasonPorter Jr. played just nine games due to injury before the season was reimbursedFor a while, there were not a few fans who thought that he was at a premium, cheating money, and being afraid of money; However, looking at these two seasons, Porter Jr. has completely reversed such a review. 
Last season, he helped the Nuggets win the first championship in team history as a core player, and this season, Porter Jr. is still the Nuggets' unbeatable starter, and he has been able to win every game so far16.6 points 72 rebounds 15 assists and 48 three-point shooting1%/39.8%/82.1%, true hit rate 599%。And his annual salary last season was 30.91 million, and this season is 33.39 million, and there are three years left35.86 million, 38.33 million and 40.81 million(12 million guarantees), in this era of big contracts flying all over the sky, such a ** is really not expensive. 
Porter Jr.'s shortcomings are, because of a back injury, his lateral movement and defense are indeed worse, but with height, his defense at least has a lower limit, the point is,Porter Jr.'s shooting is really unreasonable, the kind of existence that can ignore defense。As we said, this Nuggets, Jokic is the basic plate, Murray is the ceiling, but core players like Porter Jr. and Gordon are also critical, and the tacit understanding of these four is very rare in the league.