Malone: Nuggets can’t be satisfied with getting to LeBron and Lakers
It’s almost as viperous as LeBron James. It’s invisible, yet looms almost as large as Anthony Davis. And it’s one of the things, as a coach, that Michael Malone fears most.
Are the Nuggets just happy to be here?
Are they content with the fact they made NBA history, becoming the first team ever to erase back- to- back 3- 1 postseason series deficits? Are they appeased with just getting to conga with King James and AD in the NBA’s Western Conference finals?
“I think the biggest question, aside from the scheme and plays and personnel is, ‘ Are our guys satisfied?’” Malone said Thursday in advance of Game 1 of NuggetsLakers, which tips off Friday night in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
“’ Hey, man, we just made playoff history. Down 3- 1, down 3- 1, we got to the Western Conference finals ( for) only the ( third) time in franchise history.’ PHEW! ( You) manage to take a breath, come up for air.
“And the Lakers aren’t coming up for air. They’ve been waiting. And I know LeBron, having been around him. They’re going to come out and try to send a message ( Friday). And I don’t think their guys are satisfied.”
The top- seeded Lakers, who squashed Houston over five games in the semis and did the same to Portland in the first round, are on a mission. The Nuggets are on a magic carpet ride, having upset the second- seeded
Clippers to reach the franchise’s first conference finals in 11 years.
They’re also dancing with history yet again. Although the precedent ain’t pretty: Denver has never beaten the Lakers over six postseason meetings alltime. And the only other occasions in which the Nuggets have reached a conference final — in 1985 and 2009 — they were eliminated by the Lake Show.
Then again, for a roster that’s made most of its hay with one arm tied behind its back, it wouldn’t be the Nuggets if they didn’t have some psychological hole to crawl out of first. Right?
“Well, we actually did petition the league to see if we could get right to it and just get 3- 1 down and save everybody a lot of time and catch up to the Eastern Conference,” Malone cracked. “But that was shot down.”
Two days after celebrating his 49th birthday with one of the biggest victories in Nuggets history, Malone was loose and jocular with media early Thursday afternoon. But he also grasps James intimately from his tenure as an assistant coach in Cleveland from 2005- 10. And grasps full well that if the third- seeded Nuggets act like they were thrilled just to be invited to the prom, King James is going to dance them straight out of the gym.
“That’s going to be our greatest challenge ( Friday),” Malone said. “Can we match their intensity? And I thought in Game 1 against the Clippers, we did for a quarter- and- a- half, ( we) just did not sustain it. I think we were just gassed. And I think, hopefully, we’re able to put forth a 48- minute effort.”