Jimmy Kimmel’s sidekick in awe as Nuggets' Mike Malone subtly slams refs after Nikola Jokic's 0/0 stat

Late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live's hidden camera prankster Cousin Sal was in awe of Mike Malone's subtle slam on the NBA referees officiating the Denver Nuggets' Game 5 against the LA Lakers on Monday. Cousin Sal took to X, formerly Twitter, to laud the Nuggets head coach on his workaround for expressing discontent with the NBA officials without incurring a fine for doing so.

"Nuggets coach Mike Malone demonstrating the perfect way to troll the refs without incurring a fine. Bravo..." Sal tweeted.

During the post-game interview after the Nuggets' 4-1 series win, Mike Malone talked about Nikola Jokic not receiving a single foul call for free throws in the game. The Nuggets coach highlighted that Jokic did not miss a single free throw, subtly taking a hit at the game's officiating.

"I mean Nikola, 25/20/9 tonight and the most amazing stat was that he was 0/0, he didn't miss a free throw tonight," Malone said.

The Lakers received 27 free throws in the game, of which they converted 18. On the other hand, the Nuggets only received a third of the Lakers' free-throw attempts and converted eight of the nine shots.

Nikola Jokic registered 25 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists to lead the Nuggets. Jamal Murray had 32 points and made the clutch shot in the final seconds to secure the game for the Nuggets.

Mike Malone and Denver Nuggets advance to NBA Playoffs Round 2

With the gentlemen's sweep to clinch the series against the LA Lakers in the first round of the 2023-24 NBA Playoffs, the Nuggets became the second team to advance to the second round and will face the Minnesota Timberwolves.

In the same interview, Mike Malone commended their to-be opponents, the Minnesota Timberwolves, for their series sweep against the Phoenix Suns. Malone also expressed concern for Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch after he suffered a right knee injury during the final minutes of the final game of the Timberwolves-Suns series.

"Give Minnesota credit, they handle their business, you know, four-game sweep, I believe the first sweep in T-Wolves history. And shoutout to Chris Finch, I hope he's okay with that scary injury on the sideline last night," Malone said.

The Denver Nuggets (No. 2 seed) will have home-court advantage as they face the Minnesota Timberwolves (No. 3 seed) for their second-round playoff series. The opening game of the series is scheduled for Saturday.