NBA FINALS: HEAT VS. NUGGETS

May 26, 2023

Michael Malone

Denver Nuggets

Practice Day

Q. Mike, I asked Bruce and Jamal this, what they could share about the plane ride home. They said there was a lot of intermingling and a lot of partying up and down. What can you share about the scene coming home sweeping the Lakers and making history?

MICHAEL MALONE: Yeah, I didn't see anything. I didn't hear anything.

No, I remember everything. I was sitting there with my coaches. It felt like it took forever to take off, and the front of the plane had some music playing, sounded pretty lively. But the back of the plane was -- I was nervous to go back there. They said, Coach, you don't want to go in the back, so I stayed away from the back and kept my head down. Watched part of the fourth quarter, all the plays that we made down the stretch, which was just incredible.

Have we come up with a name for Nikola's shot? Is there going to be like a historical name for the shot he made? A Sombor Sling. All right.

It was eventful. But for me, it was just trying to soak in the whole moment, and kept on asking myself, Is the series really over? Let everybody else have some fun, but we've got a lot of work to do.

Q. How do you not lose the rhythm that you guys had throughout that Lakers series and balance that with getting you guys the rest you need heading into the Finals?

MICHAEL MALONE: Well, it's impossible to keep your rhythm if you're not playing games. You can do whatever you want in practice, but there's no way you can replicate playing an NBA playoff game. We gave our guys off Tuesday. Wednesday was an option day. A lot of guys showed up.

Then just yesterday had everybody come in, get some conditioning in, PD, and today we got a good practice. Didn't go long. But for us, my biggest concern is the rhythm, as you mentioned, but more importantly conditioning. You're playing every other day, every other day for so long, and now all of a sudden you have an eight-, nine-, 10-day break, whatever it is. I wanted to make sure we got up and down, conditioned.

The energy in the gym was great. It's a tough situation because you're just kind of preparing for an opponent you don't know who you're going to play. So right now as I told our players, this is about us. We have to shore up who we are and address the areas that we have not been maybe good enough or areas that we can clean up.

It's really hard to keep your rhythm when you're not playing NBA games, but we'll do everything we can to try to keep the rhythm as best as possible.

Q. From the outside looking in, it looks like this team really likes each other. What's it been like to coach a team that generally seems to like each other?

MICHAEL MALONE: Well, I think for eight years now, I think it's kind of been a part of our culture. In this business, you have to bring in talented players; that's a given. But I think we've always done a good job of identifying guys that will fit into this culture.

What I also love about this franchise is that when guys don't fit into the culture, they're not here anymore. We have guys that understand that being selfless is a huge part of being a Denver Nugget and guys who continue to buy into that, whether they're playing or not playing.

If you're going to win at a high level, you can't have distractions, to your point. You have to have guys that get along -- on the court, off the court -- and come together and share in a common goal. I've seen that for years now. What's different this year is we've added some great pieces, and we have Michael and Jamal back healthy.

Q. What's it like for you to just be a part of the historical nature of this whole thing, just being on the first team that's made it to the Finals for the Nuggets, and what do you expect out of the atmosphere that's going to surround that?

MICHAEL MALONE: Yeah, I mean, it's a delicate balance because I think in life, not just in sports but in life, you have to enjoy moments. I think if you don't enjoy the small victories and the moments along the way, I think you're missing something.

At the same time, we have much work in front of us. Our goal wasn't just to win the Western Conference championship. It wasn't just to get to the NBA Finals. Our goal was to win a championship, and obviously that's in front of us still.

So you enjoy the moment and you enjoy the people you're working with and go to war with every night, but at the same time, I think it's my job to remind our guys that don't read and listen to everybody telling you how great you are because then you're going to get a little soft with success, and I don't want us getting soft with success. I want us staying hungry. I want us staying desperate and urgent and disciplined.

That's our biggest challenge right now, because we don't even know who we're playing. That's going to be our biggest challenge as we approach next Thursday night.

Q. Two ideas. The first one was inspired by what a coaching nerd you are. You have a celebration on the plane and you're watching plays in the fourth quarter. That's awesome. The Sombor Sling or the Aaron Gordon and Jamal challenging LeBron in the final second, which is an invitation to a foul, which of those two plays impressed you the most?

MICHAEL MALONE: Well, obviously that last four seconds was an eternity. I took that technical foul in that second quarter on purpose because it was -- which is most of the time when I get a tech, it's on purpose.

As I told one of the officials at the end of the first half, I said -- I let him know I did that on purpose, and this is why. I just felt it was getting out of hand.

Then you allude to the last play of the game where they get LeBron the ball in the high post. He drives to his left hand, Aaron Gordon on his hip and Jamal Murray in front of him. Puts his hands in there, makes a great defensive play, correct no-call. But we always know in those situations, a great player a lot of times will get those calls.

Kudos to the referees for realizing it was what it was. I think all of us were somewhat stunned when the buzzer went off, there was no whistle, holy s---, we won. I think I speak for a lot of people. So that was amazing.

Nikola's shot, I mean, that's what I wanted to watch because just all the key plays down the stretch, things that -- Nikola's drive, which wound up being the winning basket of the game, just guys stepping up with a potential sweep on the line.

You and I talked about this, Kis. You reminded me of the history this franchise has had with the Lakers, and it hasn't been a history that Nuggets fans are proud of. So to do it against that team in that building made it even that much more special because of the guys like Dan Issel, Doug Moe, just the great players, great people that have represented this franchise for so many years. So this was for them, as well.

In the moment, it's us, our coaching staff, our players. But this was for all Nuggets. That was what was really cool about it.

Q. Kind of a two-parter. You said you're focused on yourself, but you have coaches scouting both teams, drilling down on Boston and Miami --

MICHAEL MALONE: No, we're just going to show up for Game 1.

Q. But can you also give me maybe a quick thought on each team, not knowing who you're going to play yet?

MICHAEL MALONE: Yeah, I mean, each round we have one coach dedicated to the opponent. So right now obviously we have two coaches, one working on Boston, one working on Miami. We have been talking about both teams every day. Obviously watched the game last night, and we'll watch again tomorrow night to see if Miami can close it out.

If you talk about Miami first and you look at what they've done this postseason, being in the Play-In, upsetting Milwaukee 4-1 in the first round, beating New York in the second round and jumping out to a 3-0 lead over Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals. Erik Spoelstra is a hell of a coach. Won a championship. He's been there forever. Jimmy Butler has been played at an extremely high level.

But when I look at (Miami), I kind of see a lot of similarities between (Miami) and us. People talk about Jimmy, and Bam was an All-Star, but to me they have guys stepping up every night.

Gabe Vincent has been phenomenal. Him being out last night was a big advantage for Boston because Gabe Vincent has been playing so well. Caleb Martin has been playing so well. Kyle Lowry has had a great postseason. Kevin Love, Duncan Robinson. Tyler Herro may come back.

You know that that game is going to be -- if it's Miami, that series will be hard-fought, very good defensive team and with a guy in Jimmy Butler that has shown that, kind of like Nikola and Jamal, the biggest stage, he takes advantage of the opportunity.

Then obviously in Boston you have a team that was in the NBA Finals last year. We know what they're capable of on both ends of the floor. Jayson Tatum is one of the best one-on-one players in the game. Jaylen Brown, that two-headed attack that they have. But their other guys, their role players, if you will, the Al Horfords, the Marcus Smarts, the Derrick Whites, the Malcolm Brogdons, those guys, Robert Williams.

You don't get to the Finals with just one player. I think ourselves and, whether it's Boston or Miami, have complete teams and have quality depth.

No matter who it is, we know that we'll have our hands full trying to bring home the first championship in franchise history.

Q. You've seen Joker come in from being a young man, a long, long ways from home to being a married dad now. What are you most proud about with him outside of ball?

MICHAEL MALONE: That he's never changed. I think we all see it in all walks of life. How does fame, fortune affect you, and for most people, it goes to their head and they become something different. Sometimes they forget where they've come from and who helped them get to where they've gotten to. And the one thing I really love about Nikola, just forget basketball, to your point, just as a young man who is a proud father and a husband, as you mentioned, but through all the success, the MVPs, the max contracts, all that stuff, he's still the same guy. I marvel at that because I've been in the league and around this game a long time.

That is a rarity in this business. And for a celebrity, a superstar in general. The fact that Nikola is still a humble, selfless person and he cares about home, he cares about family, he cares about his horses -- like the guy is just who he is. I couldn't have more respect for him as a man because of that.

Q. Do the Playoffs make a team better, and if so, in what ways do you feel the Nuggets were better in Game 4 of the Lakers series than they were in Game 1 of the Minnesota series?

MICHAEL MALONE: Interesting question. You have to find ways to improve from series to series and round to round to try to advance. But every round and every opponent is a completely different problem and challenge.

Every team is built differently.

I think our guys, if anything, over 15 playoff games now being 12-3, their confidence. I think the defense has been -- I know that was the biggest question mark probably for our team was well, can they defend well enough in the Playoffs, and I think we have.

You think about the first round with guys like Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, you think about the second round with two unstoppable players in Devin Booker and Kevin Durant and you think about LeBron and AD. I think overall our defense has really passed that test to this point.

Then you think about our offense, we played the Lakers, who had the No. 1 defense in the Playoffs, and our offensive rating after four games was 122.3, which is historical. So that speaks to how potent the offense is. When you combine a capable defense with that offense, that allows you to do great things. That's what we've been able to do.

But I see just kind of a real consistency from our group, from Game 1 against Minnesota through Game 4 against the Lakers. That's what you want at this time of year.

Q. Coach, you've brought attention to something that bothers the fans for sure, which was the narrative while you were playing the Lakers. Do you think this will change in the Finals, depending on which teams you guys will face?

MICHAEL MALONE: Well, if anybody is still talking about the Lakers in the NBA Finals, that's on them. They've gone fishing. We're still playing. 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. We're not satisfied with that, but I just hope that the narrative is on the two teams that are representing their conferences. Let's salute and appreciate the greatness of every one of those players on the court. Let's appreciate the journey each of them has made to get to this point.

We have guys, it'll be their first time in the Finals. We have guys in KCP that have won a championship before. That should be the narrative. Let's get all the negativity out of the way, because this is a tremendous accomplishment. I hope that they're celebrated for that.

Q. You spoke about your defensive achievements so far in the Playoffs, shutting down KD, shutting down Booker, shutting down LeBron James, but "Playoff Jimmy" at the moment, in Miami, no one seems to be able to shut him down at the moment. He's averaging 27 points a game. Miami hold the hot hand. How difficult of a challenge is he going to be for Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. in terms of locking down Jimmy Butler?

MICHAEL MALONE: Oh, it'll be a hell of a challenge. To your point, if you look at Jimmy Butler's body of work and what he's been doing since that first round against Milwaukee, upsetting the No. 1 seed four games to one. Milwaukee has got some really good defensive players. I think I heard Jrue Holiday say the other day it didn't matter who was guarding Jimmy in that series, he was in a zone and he was unstoppable.

You don't stop a guy like Jimmy Butler with one player. It's not going to be just on Aaron Gordon. It won't be just on Michael Porter or whoever is guarding him. You have to guard guys like that, and you mentioned them, the KDs, the Anthony Edwardses, the Devin Bookers, the LeBron Jameses. That is five guys defending as one to try to stop a player with that kind of talent. That's going to be the same mindset if it is Miami trying to stop Jimmy Butler. You have to give him different looks and you have to keep him off balance and you have to have five guys locked into that task one possession at a time.

Q. You were talking about the momentum of the players with this gap in time before the Finals. What about for yourself? Are you able to switch off a little bit, or do you not switch off? Are you watching all the games like it's a live film session, or are you watching them in a normal way? Do you want to keep yourself sharp, or do you feel like you needed a little break yourself?

MICHAEL MALONE: Well, no, I can't go home and be in like Game 7 mindset because my wife and kids would leave me. I have to force myself to take a deep breath and remind myself that I am a husband, I am a father and to be a part of my family. My family keeps me balanced. My family keeps me grounded. I think that's so important at this time of the season.

We spend a tremendous amount of time preparing our players, preparing ourselves and getting ready for each and every game. But I think you also have to take time to enjoy the moment and be a regular person. If that means me going home today and beating my wife in pickleball, so be it. But I have to make sure that I'm taking a deep breath once in a while and enjoying the view while also maintaining an eye and a perspective on what we have in front of us. That's our attitude as a team right now.

Q. Michael, you spoke about Jimmy a couple minutes ago, and I think part of the chip he's always carried is he was a 30 pick. Being a 41 pick, is that an under-talked-about part of Nikola's story? We get the sense from afar that not much really seems to bother him. Do you think that ever bugged him? Do you think that's part of the reason why he became this guy was to say, I'm not No. 41?

MICHAEL MALONE: You know what, I've never heard that question before, and I think it's a great one because I've never even thought about that. It's funny how different players use maybe a perceived slight -- I was drafted, I was traded -- they use it as motivation to carry them forward.

In the eight years I've been with Nikola, and I spend a lot of time with him not just during the season but in the offseason, off the court, I've never felt him have any kind of perceived slight about being drafted 41.

I think for him it's been more about somebody took a chance on me, even though I guess he was drafted during a Taco Bell commercial. Maybe that was what pushed him forward, was it didn't even have his pick on the draft.

But I think Nikola, it's never about looking backward. It's always about looking forward and challenging himself to become the best player that he can be.

Early on, being the best player he could be was not necessarily about a skill set. It was about maturing, growing up, handling adversity, dealing with the referees, getting into the best shape of his life, losing weight. I think once that all happened, that kind of coincided with our rise to where we've been the last five seasons now.

I can't speak for Nikola, but I've never felt that being picked 41st in the second round has been his motivating factor for him to be a two-time MVP and to be a guy that is averaging a triple-double in the Playoffs. I think what really motivates him is no more individual accolades and awards; he wants to be a world champion. I think that's what motivates Nikola Jokic as well as everybody else in this building.