Monte Morris exploded for 28 points off the bench in Denver’s Game 5 victory over Portland. The veteran’s poise was at a high level, as he knocked down 4 three-pointers and went 10-11 from the free throw line. Nuggets head coach Michael Malone applauded Morris for his confident play down the stretch during postgame.
(Via Denver Nuggets):
“There’s a reason we gave him the contract that we gave him. Not just to be Jamal Murray’s backup, but to be a guy that can close games with Jamal. That was our thinking at the time. Well obviously, there’s all the injuries right now. Monte’s been here before, I mean he’s got 33 playoff games under his belt going into this series and I felt in the first four, to be very honest, I just thought he was playing very passive. I thought he was playing East-West.
“He understood that, he embraced it, he owned it, and I thought he was a different player tonight. Obviously, Nikola was phenomenal, Aaron had some great moments, Austin made some big plays, Michael Porter we talked about, but Morris and Nikola down the stretch was our two man closing duo, and Monte embraced it and was great. You know obviously going out to Portland now for Game 6, we’ll need more of the same from Monte.”
