Nuggets Coach Slams Media for Not Focusing on His Team’s Playoff Success: ‘The Narrative Was About the Lakers’

Ahmad Austin Jr.May 19th, 2023, 11:23 am
 

Despite the Denver Nuggets being just two wins away from their first NBA Finals appearance in franchise history, coach Michael Malone is fed up with the way the media’s been covering them.

Speaking after the team’s Thursday win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Malone expressed frustration over the media’s insistence on talking about the Lakers after falling to 0-1 in the series on Tuesday.

“You win Game 1 of the playoffs and all everybody talked about was the Lakers,” Malone said. “Let’s be honest, the national narrative was, ‘Hey, the Lakers are fine. They’re down 1-0 but they figured something out.’ No one talked about Nikola (Jokic) just had a historic [game]. He’s got 13 triple-doubles now, third all-time. What he’s doing is just incredible, but the narrative wasn’t about the Nuggets. The narrative wasn’t about Nikola. The narrative was about the Lakers and their adjustments. So you put that in your pipe, you smoke it, and you come back and we’re gonna go up 2-0.”

The Nuggets were in complete control of most of Game 1 and looked poised to secure the win in blowout fashion. That all changed when the Lakers decided to have forward Rui Hachimura defend Jokic. The matchup allowed center Anthony Davis to move around the floor more freely and execute timely traps against Jokic to force turnovers. With this switch, the Lakers clawed back into the game and nearly won.

Jokic finished with 34 points, 21 rebounds, and 14 assists. It was another historic night for the two-time MVP that was, as Malone noted, swept under the rug in favor of discussions centered on the Lakers’ comeback effort.

ESPN’s Lisa Salters even admitted to not really paying attention to Jokic’s success.

Malone was then asked if he thinks the narrative will change after the Nuggets took a commanding 2-0 series lead.

“I don’t care if it does,” he said, “because we know our narrative in that locker room. We know that we’re not done. We haven’t done anything yet. You gotta win a game on the other team’s home court if you really wanna do something in the series, and we know how great that team is, especially on their home court. So we’re not celebrating. This is not cause for celebration. This is a cause to continue to dig deep and find ways to be better.”

Watch above via NBATV

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