Draymond Green may have unintentionally gifted Nuggets rookie Michael Porter Jr. a doctorate course in NBA pick-and-roll defense.
Late in the third quarter of Denver’s comeback win over the Warriors on Thursday, Porter got hung up on a screen, and Green exploited him for a downhill, two-on-one advantage. Green charged into the lane, and Nikola Jokic was forced to help just enough that it left him vulnerable on a backside alley-oop.
The sequence was triggered all because Porter didn’t clear the screener – one miniscule chapter in the encyclopedia of NBA defense. When Nuggets coach Michael Malone and Porter sit down to examine the film, it’s one lesson to take away from Thursday’s win.