Most of the time in the NBA playoffs, the healthier and more durable team moves on. The Denver Nuggets are trying to be the outlier against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Nuggets lost two consecutive games to fall into a 3-2 hole, but a huge Game 6 win at home on Thursday night forced a Game 7 and kept their season alive. Unfortunately for the Nuggets, they have played more playoff games than any other team this season, and it is starting to show.
Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. is playing with a severely injured shoulder, and following Game 6, he revealed that he received a shot of lidocaine pregame and will be doing it again ahead of Sunday’s Game 7.
Porter Jr. initially injured his shoulder in their first-round matchup against the LA Clippers, and he has been wildly inconsistent since. Through six second-round games, Porter Jr. has scored three or fewer points three times, but also exploded for 21 points with five three-pointers in Game 3.
Porter Jr. was diagnosed with a Grade 2 shoulder sprain, which would typically sideline him for an extended period, but he has played through it.
“They said it would be 4-6 weeks. I’m not doing that,” Porter Jr. said after the injury.
Porter Jr. has not let his shoulder injury sideline him once this postseason, and even if it takes getting a shot of lidocaine to keep him on the floor, he is dedicated to being out there with his team.
The Nuggets are traveling to Oklahoma City for Game 7 on Sunday for a chance to punch their ticket to the Western Conference Finals.
