BOSTON – The Denver Nuggets were down 23 points with less than eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter Friday night, and Michael Malone wasn’t ready to concede a loss.
On the second night of a back-to-back, against a team that was undefeated in front of their fans, it would’ve been reasonable to yank the starters and get some of his reserves extended run.
Instead, Malone called for rookie Michael Porter Jr. to check in while starting power forward Paul Millsap sat. If the Nuggets were going to trudge back against the Celtics, it was going to be Porter playing alongside Denver’s typical starters.