Michael Porter Jr. has been on fire since the All-Star break, and the Nuggets needed it Tuesday night.

Porter is 44 for 101 (43.6%) from three during the break and will face the Knicks in Denver on Thursday. Denver is 12-2 over that run, and Porter has scored fewer than 19 points in only four of those games, including a 14-point performance in a major win over Sacramento, a 13-point game in another double-digit win over San Antonio, and a pair of nine-point performances in wins over Golden State and Boston.

“It’s just a matter of stepping up and knocking them down,” coach Michael Malone explained. “We know Michael Porter post-All-Star break is shooting the ball lights out.”

Denver’s 18-point lead and chance to maintain the season tiebreaker against Minnesota was reduced to a four-point deficit with 7 minutes left.

The 25-year-old sniper then supplied the Nuggets with the spark they needed. In 70 seconds, Porter demonstrated his three-level scoring ability by hitting a step-back 3-pointer off a dribble handoff with Nikola Jokic, cutting for a dunk over two of the Timberwolves’ long defenders, Jaden McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and capping his personal 7-0 run with a step-back jumper from the top of the key. With 5:40 remaining, his rally sent the Nuggets ahead by three points.

The Nuggets’ second unit had more turnovers (two) than shots (one) in the opening five minutes of the fourth before Porter took over.

“It’s a couple of different versions of him scoring, and he got us the lead back in that moment,” Jokic told reporters. “He opened up our play style again.”

Earlier in the season, Porter would get out to a strong start only to have his shots limited late in the game. Part of this is due to Denver’s outstanding two-man game between Jokic and Jamal Murray. That was not the case on Tuesday.

“As soon as I checked in tonight, we performed a play for me. I hit a three. “From there, it was just a steady attack,” Porter explained.

“I kind of knew I had to be aggressive.”

Following his personal 7-0 run, Porter helped the Nuggets fight off a late Minnesota rally by hitting his final three and going three for four from the line in the final minutes. He converted all four field goal tries in the fourth quarter to finish 9 for 15, including 4 of 7 from three.

“The run he had was simply outstanding,” Malone remarked. “He knocked down big, big shots.”