Michael Porter Jr. reveals REAL reason behind training in sliders before Lakers game 4: “The bus was delayed”

The Nuggets might have had the worst warmup experience.

Michael Porter Jr. reveals REAL reason behind training in sliders before Lakers game 4: “The bus was delayed”

Michael Porter Jr.

Michael Porter Jr. and the Denver Nuggets finally fell to the Lakers who avoided a sweep at home. After three tough losses, the Lakers managed to beat the Nuggets at home, forcing Game 5. Looking at the stat sheet, the Lakers had four players score 20+ points, with LeBron James leading the way with 30, whereas Anthony Davis dropped 25 and grabbed a massive 23 rebounds.

Though before the game, the Nuggets were warming up wearing sliders. The first impression made it seem like they were taking the Lakers not as seriously. However, Michael Porter Jr. did clarify why the players were forced to warm up with what they had in the post-game press conference. 

We definitely don't wanna come off like we're taking anybody lightly... We just didn't have our shoes. Yeah, I didn't have my shoes to warm up and I think the bus that the shoes got loaded onto was the last bus, I think there was some confusion so, all I had was slides. So they said we either skip our warmup or go out there in slides. And I kind of knew the people probably make a big deal out of it but it was just cause somebody forgot to put the shoes on the right bus.
Michael Porter Jr. said

Warming up in sliders can be risky as players might slip on the court. It was a one-of-a-kind situation where the team management forgot to load the shoes on the right. Players often have their shoes handled by the team’s management, as they’re sent directly from the brands that the players have signed the endorsement deal with. For the ones who don’t have an endorsement deal, they send a few pairs to the management before they leave for the road games. MPJ himself has an endorsement deal with Puma.

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Michael Malone also backed Michael Porter Jr.’s statements

Following the game, head coach, Michael Malone highlighted the missing shoes as a reason for their loss. However, the Lakers simply outperformed the Nuggets in Game 4. MPJ on the other hand, finished the game with 27 points and 11 rebounds.

As the Lakers force Game 5, the Nuggets will look to finish things off at home on Monday. MPJ stepped up big time in Game 4. Porter Jr. had the best game so far into the postseason. Nikola Jokic, on the other hand, dropped a 33-point triple-double with 14 rebounds and 14 assists.

Hopefully, the Nuggets make sure that there are no errors while managing the players’ shoes in their next road game. It will be interesting to see the Nuggets make a gentleman sweep against the Lakers.

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