MIAMI >> Nikola Jokic has one foot in Bam Adebayo’s nightmares and the other on the Larry O’Brien Trophy. And you’re worried about Michael Porter Jr.’s feelings? Now?

If the Nuggets gotta step on MPJ’s ego in order to reach the summit, so be it.

The best move Denver coach Michael Malone made in Game 3 of the NBA Finals was shortening Porter’s window while extending the Nuggets’ rotation. When The Christian Braun Express rolls in from out of nowhere with that much smoke, you ride that puppy ‘til the coal runs out.

“I loved our energy, our effort, our urgency, our discipline,” Malone said after the Nuggets nabbed a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. “I thought we were where we needed to be (Wednesday). We’ll have to be even better come Friday evening.”

And if MPJ doesn’t want to keep getting thrown under the bus, he’s got to get his dang head out of the ditch. If Porter wants to be a factor in Game 4 Friday night at the Kaseya Center, that’s not on Malone. That’s on MPJ.

Porter’s averaging seven points and 8.7 boards in the NBA Finals while shooting at a 25.8% clip from the floor and 15.8% from beyond the arc. Do you keep starting a guy who can’t hit the ocean right now if he fell out of a boat at South Pointe Park Pier? Sure. But you don’t have to close with him.

The Heat are back in the familiar position of taking a right hook to the kisser, only to find a brick wall scraping their backs. They’re never more dangerous than when pinned into a corner. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra will throw the kitchen sink at Joker in Game 4, find out that doesn’t work, then chuck the dishwasher and two toaster ovens at Jamal Murray while demanding that some other Nugget beats them with a big shot.

Which brings us back to MPJ, and wondering if that big shot will fall for No. 1 before the clock strikes midnight.

Zombie Porter, the one who lumbered through the first half of Game 3 and darn near all of Game 2, is unplayable on this stage. How much of that is mental and how much is physical, given all the surgeries, all the rehab, all the pressure, all the doubts?

And it’s fair to ask: What if Malone had publicly put his arm around MPJ and comforted him the way he’s comforted Murray, literally and metaphorically, so many times over the last two-and-a-half years?

Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown and Braun are among the most “Malone” of “Malone” players. Effort guys. Try-hard guys. Guys who find ways to impact a game even if their shot goes in the tank.

Compared to that baseline, MPJ is a conundrum, a beautiful enigma swaddled in bubble wrap. The ceiling is 17 stories high, but the kid might throw his back out trying to reach it. A try-hard coach paired with a star whose body could break at any time sometimes makes for an odd couple, an uncomfortable mix.

Porter’s job is to change Malone’s mind with the minutes he’s given. On the plus side, the evidence No. 1 put up after halftime Wednesday was a heck of a lot cleaner than the game-and-a-half prior, less about sulk and more about sweat.

The trick with Porter is remembering that even when he’s fallen short of looking like a poor man’s Kevin Durant, he’s still 6-foot-10 with a 7-foot wingspan and a 9-foot standing reach.

He can still change shots. Still disrupt. Still box out. Still make winning plays. When he wants to.

“(There’s) Mike on the boards, (Gordon) on the boards as I come and help out (some) down there,” Murray noted late Wednesday night. “(They’re) battling every time, every time, every game. So I think it’s a collective effort. Sometimes you may not get it. But you may be the reason that somebody else gets it.”

It’s OK to be that reason, MPJ. Fourteen wins down. Two to go. The goal is to break the tape at the finish line, then clean up the mess after the parade.

The only feelings that matter are the ones Malone has rumbling in his gut. The hot hand forces a coach’s hand. Not the other way around.