Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone has not been shy about voicing his opinions so far during this Western Conference Finals. Following Game 1, there was a lot of talk about the Los Angeles Lakers’ defensive game plan against Nikola Jokic in the fourth quarter and this rubbed Malone the wrong way.
The Nuggets coach felt that the media focused far more on the Lakers as opposed to the impressive performance by Jokic himself, almost as if it were the Lakers who won Game 1 and not Denver. And Malone believes all of that outside talk has led to the Nuggets playing with a chip on their shoulder.
“I hope so. Yeah, I hope so,” Malone said after Denver’s Game 2 victory. “Whatever we can use for motivation. I think a lot of our guys, to be honest, they may not admit this or not, you win Game 1 of the [Western Conference Finals], and all everybody talked about was the Lakers. Let’s be honest, that was the national narrative was hey, the Lakers are fine. They’re down 1-0, but they figured something out.
“No one talked about Nikola just had a historic performance. 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. You put that in your pipe, you smoke it and you come back, and you know what, we’re going to go up 2-0.”
The Lakers did a better job on Jokic in Game 2 as he shot just 9-of-21 from the field for 23 points, though he did have another triple-double. For three quarters, the Lakers had also contained Jamal Murray as well, but he dropped 23 points in the fourth alone to lift Denver to a 2-0 series lead.
Now heading back to Los Angeles, Malone insists he isn’t concerned with whether the outside narrative changes and the focus switches from the Lakers to the Nuggets, but rather what’s going on in the Denver locker room.
“I don’t care if it does because we know our narrative in that locker room,” Malone added. “We know that we’re not done. We haven’t done anything yet. You’ve got to win a game on the other team’s home court if you really want to do something in a series. We know how great that team is, especially on their home court.
“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.”
The Nuggets held serve on their home court, but Malone understands there is still a lot of work to be done and the Lakers are going to come out fighting at home in hopes of turning this series around.
Austin Reaves says Lakers can’t get down on themselves after Game 2 loss
The Lakers had an excellent chance at stealing Game 2 on the road in Denver before the Nuggets, particularly Murray, got hot in the fourth. For the first time this postseason, the Lakers now find themselves down 2-0 coming home and guard Austin Reaves stressed that the team can not get down on themselves.
“Don’t get down,” Reaves said of the message in the locker room. “I mean, Denver’s the one seed for a reason. They’re a really good basketball team and quote, unquote they did what they were supposed to do here.
“Obviously, we don’t love that, we wish we could have got one, two, whatever. But it’s time for us to lock in on Game 3, see what we did in this game, last game that worked, didn’t work, areas that we could get better, watch film and like just move on. Can’t, I mean, I wish you could win them all, but it’s not the nature of any sport.”
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