If the Nuggets want to win the title, they need Michael Porter Jr. to keep playing like he did in Game 5 against the Suns.

It took a full minute for anyone to put the ball in the basket in Denver on Tuesday night, but Michael Porter Jr.. she finally broke the seal when she went into an open 3-pointer in transition and caught nothing but the net. That was just one shot, but it turned out that he told you everything you needed to know about Game 5.

Porter hit five 3-pointers and had 19 points and eight rebounds in one of his best performances of the postseason, and the denver nuggets rolled past the phoenix suns118-102, to stay perfect at home in the playoffs and take a 3-2 lead in their second-round series.

This has been a series of ups and downs and a postseason run for Porter. His overall numbers entering Tuesday night (14.4 points and 7.8 rebounds on 39.7 percent 3-point shooting) were strong enough, but he had as many single-digit scoring games (twos) as 20-point performances. Plus, he was coming off a Game 4 outing in which he scored 11 points on 13 shots and was 2-for-9 from deep.

In other words, there was no telling which version of Porter the Nuggets would get in Game 5, but he quickly made it clear that he would be the good version. After scoring the first basket of the game, he scored 14 points in the first quarter to help the Nuggets to an early double-digit lead, which they would hold for most of the night.

“We met as a staff today and we were talking about how we need someone to show up like Lonnie Walker did for the lakers last night, we need someone to step up like Landry Shamet he did for the Suns in Game 4,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone told reporters in Denver after the game. “Michael Porter got us going tonight. I think Michael Porter’s first quarter was a huge boost for our team and helped us get off to a great start.”

Porter was certainly helped at times by the Suns’ porous defense, but he was in such incredible rhythm that his 3-pointers didn’t even touch the rim. It’s also worth noting that while his final line may not look all that impressive, he left the game for good in the third quarter because the Nuggets were winning so easily.

That won’t happen in every game, but the chances increase exponentially when Porter plays like this. In both the regular season (18-6) and playoffs (3-1) this season, the Nuggets win 75 percent of their games when he hits at least four 3-pointers, as he did in Game 5. same is true. when you look at the points; when Porter scores 15+, the Nuggets were 28-10 in the regular season and 4-1 in the playoffs thus far.

Porter’s status as an X factor for the Nuggets has been obvious for years, but this is the first season where it really matters.

He was a rookie when they reached the Western Conference finals in the bubble, and it was unfair to push him too hard under the circumstances; the team never had a chance in the 2021 playoffs due to by jamal murray injury and were defeated by the Suns in the second round; last season, Porter himself was injured and did not play in the postseason.

This time, the Nuggets finally have a legitimate shot at a title. They have home-field advantage throughout the Western playoffs (and maybe all the way if the boston celtics can’t pull off a comeback against him Philadelphia 76ers), a completely healthy roster with no monsters to get in the way.

If this group is ever going to win a title, this is the season to do it. To do that, they’ll need Porter to play like he did in Game 5 more often than not.