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Michael Malone and the Denver Nuggets have wrapped up the Western Conference finals after winning four straight games against the LA Lakers. While the series is over, the media has constantly brought up the Lakers in numerous instances since.
Recently, a reporter asked the Nuggets' head coach regarding the narrative between the Lakers and his squad during the WCF. Based on his look, it's obvious that Malone is tired of getting questions that involve the Lakers. As he answered, he redirected the topic and decided to talk about Denver's recent achievement instead.
He said:
"Well, if anybody's still talking about the Lakers in the NBA Finals, that's on them. They've gone fishing, we're still playing." Malone said.
"The narrative should be on whatever two teams are still alive. Because to get to that point is historical in nature for us. It's the first time in franchise history the Denver Nuggets have made the NBA Finals and we're not satisfied with that."
"But I just hope that the narrative is on the two teams that are representing their conferences and let's salute and appreciate the greatness of each and every one of those players on the court. And let's appreciate the journey each of them has made to get to this point. We have guys that'll be their first time in the Finals... that should be the narrative and let's get all the negativity out of the way because this is a tremendous accomplishment and I hope that they're celebrated for that."
Malone led the Nuggets to a 53-29 record to secure the top seed in the Western Conference. Together with two-time MVP Nikola Jokic's brilliance on the court, they have both guided the franchise to its first NBA Finals appearance.
Also read: Michael Malone bashes ‘stat padding’ narrative around Nikola Jokic - “Give him his damn respect”
Michael Malone wasn't happy with how the media focused on the Lakers in the Western Conference finals
Throughout the 2023 NBA playoffs, Michael Malone made it clear that he isn't happy with how the media controlled the narrative. In their series against the Lakers, the head coach of the top-seed team commented on how the media kept focusing on Los Angeles winning the title despite being outmatched by the Nuggets.
After Game 2, Malone commented on the media's lack of reporting about Jokic's historic performance in Game 1.
Malone said:
"The national narrative [after Game 1] was that the Lakers were fine. No one talked about Nikola having a historic performance. The narrative wasn’t about the Nuggets." Malone said.
It looks like Malone is determined to win against any team and isn't taking any second chances to blow their opportunity to win a maiden NBA championship.
Guess the Lakers players!
