Tag: Michael Malone

Michael Malone, Nuggets react to Joel Embiid sitting out for Sixers

Michael Malone and the Denver Nuggets react to Joel Embiid being a late scratch after a win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

When one saw who was missing for the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday when they visited the defending champion Denver Nuggets, one would have assumed the game was a blowout.

The Sixers were missing Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris, De’Anthony Melton, Robert Covington and Mo Bamba. Joel Embiid joined that list shortly before the tip. Despite the absences, the Sixers had a lead in the fourth quarter and almost pulled off a big win before the Nuggets closed it out, 111-105.

There is some controversy surrounding Embiid’s absence. He was not on the injury report before the game, and he appeared to be active in warmups. The decision robbed everybody of an Embiid vs. Nikola Jokic matchup, but the Sixers certainly gave the Nuggets everything they could handle.

“We found out very late and I don’t know how you go from being active, available, to out,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone told reporters after the win. “I’m sure the league will do its due diligence because that’s frowned upon. And we have had situations this year, we have talked to the league, and they have told us if a player goes from active to out, there is going to be an investigation. I’m sure that will happen.”

One has to wonder whether Embiid tweaked his troublesome left knee in the loss to the Indiana Pacers to begin the trip.

“Joel hurt his knee in the Indiana game, that’s real. If you watched the game, he hurt his knee in the Indiana game,” Malone added. “I’m sure he is hurt, but it’s really tough when a player and a team like us are preparing for them, and then all of a sudden at the last minute he’s out.”

It looked as if the Nuggets were going to run away with this one. Jamal Murray hit three triples in the first quarter and Denver built a 10-point lead in the opening frame before the Sixers made it a game.

“We have to do a better job handling those situations and I felt we did, Jamal made three 3s in a row, we are up 10, and I think everyone was like ‘Oh yeah this is going to be a cakewalk tonight.’ Well, it wasn’t; this was a tough, tough win and not satisfied.”

Jokic, who expressed his admiration for Embiid after the win, downplayed the reigning league MVP sitting out. The two giants have respect for one another: They know what they bring to the table.

“I mean I think they have really good, professional players,” Jokic said of the Sixers. “Maybe it looks like on paper that it’s supposed to be an easy game. There is no easy games for us. We were fighting, they were fighting. It was an interesting game. I’m just glad that we won in the end.”

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Nuggets coach Michael Malone impressed with Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey

Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone is impressed with Philadelphia 76ers star Tyrese Maxey’s offensive ability.

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers are led by one of the best players in the game. Joel Embiid is one of the top talents in the NBA regardless of position.

However, Embiid is joined by one of the rising stars in the NBA: Tyrese Maxey.

In his fourth season in the league, Maxey is averaging 26.1 points, 6.7 assists, and 3.7 rebounds while shooting 45.1% from the floor and 38.5% from deep. He has done a phenomenal job of taking his game to the next level.

Before Philadelphia knocked off his Denver Nuggets, 126-121, Nuggets coach Michael Malone had some thoughts on Maxey’s game.

“Speed, quickness, open floor, his ability to change ends,” Malone said of Maxey. “Just really, really quick. His ability to draw fouls, get to the free-throw line. He can knock down the 3 if you go under him and if you chase him, he can get downhill and really, I think, underrated finisher.”

Maxey has a knack for getting into the paint and making creative finishes. He has an innate ability to finish over taller defenders while absorbing contact, which benefits Philadelphia.

“His ability to get into the paint, create contact, absorb that contact and finish are all things that kind of jump out to me,” Malone added. “Yeah, that guy, he’s capable of putting up 50 on any given night.”

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Denver’s Michael Malone sees Rockets forming ‘new identity, new culture’ under Ime Udoka

“They have a new identity, a new culture,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone says of the #Rockets under Ime Udoka. Houston has now won six straight games.

Courtesy of Sunday’s thrilling win over defending NBA champion Denver, the Houston Rockets (6-3) have won six straight games and are among the league’s best teams by numerous metrics.

For the season, Ime Udoka’s new-look Rockets rank No. 7 in net rating, including a No. 10 mark on offense and No. 5 on defense. Exclude an opening night clunker on Oct. 25 in Orlando and focus solely on the last eight games, and Houston’s marks rise to No. 5 in net rating, No. 4 on defense, and No. 7 on offense.

So, how are the Rockets — who finished last in the Western Conference in each of the past three years — doing it? Michael Malone, who coached the Nuggets to last season’s title, has an idea.

Here’s Malone, via Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle:

They’re a different team. Anytime you add an All-Star in Freddy VanVleet, and an all-defense player in Dillon Brooks, a veteran in Jeff Green who helped us win a championship, a new coaching staff — obviously, Ime, his guys, have done a great job — they have a new identity, a new culture.

The Nuggets had won 10 of their final 11 games against the Rockets under the guidance of former head coach Stephen Silas.

As for whether Udoka’s team can keep its progress going, the next test comes Friday night in Los Angeles versus former franchise icon James Harden and the Clippers. Tipoff is at 9:30 p.m. Central.

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Jamal Murray had a funny reaction as fans chanted ‘Who’s your daddy?’ while beating the Lakers

Jamal Murray blamed it all on his head coach.

After receiving their NBA championship rings on Tuesday night, the Nuggets defeated the Lakers at home in Denver at Ball Arena.

NBA Finals MVP big man Nikola Jokic returned to his elite form during the game against Los Angeles, recording a triple-double during his first game of the season.

During the fourth quarter of the victory, Nuggets fans began showering the court with an overwhelmingly loud chant. Even on the television broadcast, those watching at home could clearly hear those in the arena shouting “Who’s your daddy?” at the Lakers.

Nuggets guard Jamal Murray reacted appropriately when he heard it.

At first, the guard made a shocked face as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing:

Then, he flagged down Nuggets head coach Mike Malone and put the blame on him. Here is what he said:

“This is you. This is your fault. … We gotta go to [indecipherable] and this is what you started.”

Murray then shared a laugh with Malone, though his assessment probably isn’t entirely incorrect.

During the playoffs last season, Malone called out the media for attempting to spin some sort of narrative about the Lakers. Malone was then introduced at the parade as “the Lakers daddy” after the Nuggets won the title.

As my colleague Prince Grimes wrote, it seems that the Lakers vs. Nuggets have a chance to become the best rivalry in the Western Conference.

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LeBron James: ‘There will be a time’ to respond to Nuggets’ trash talk

LeBron James played it coy when asked about responding to the Nuggets’ trash time over the last few months.

The Denver Nuggets swept the Los Angeles Lakers in last season’s Western Conference finals en route to their first-ever NBA championship. After clinching the world title, and even before doing so, they spent a lot of time talking trash to and about the Purple and Gold.

Head coach Michael Malone whined a lot about the supposed disproportionate media focus on the Lakers as opposed to his team, even after it had put the Lakers away for the summer. He then strutted around like a peacock on steroids during Denver’s championship parade.

In addition, Bruce Brown, a key reserve on last year’s Nuggets, said the Minnesota Timberwolves, their first-round opponent, and not the Lakers were their toughest playoff opponent.

More recently, Denver guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who won a ring with the Lakers in 2020, said his current team “had to give them that butt whooping” (h/t Lakers Daily).

LeBron James was asked about all this trash talk and when he will respond. He said, “There will be a time,” but that the time isn’t now.

One thing a team in the Nuggets’ position should never do is give a team such as the Lakers any added motivation or bulletin board material, especially since the Lakers seem equipped and very capable of knocking off the Nuggets in this season’s playoffs.

The two teams will kick off the regular season on Tuesday in the Mile High City after the Nuggets receive their 2023 world championship rings in front of their fans.

Lakers and Nuggets go back and forth on Michael Malone’s trash talk

The Lakers and Nuggets, last season’s Western Conference finalists, are already chirping at each other a bit as training camp gets underway.

Last season was a dream year for the Denver Nuggets. Although they had their doubters for a good portion of the regular season, they finished with the best record in the Western Conference and powered through the postseason to win their first NBA championship.

Along the way, they swept the born-again Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals. Even as Denver was being overwhelmingly picked to win it all, its head coach, Michael Malone, kept going off on the media for what he perceived as disrespect and a disproportionate amount of focus on the Lakers.

Malone was very peacocky during the Nuggets’ championship parade, which apparently ruffled the feathers of a few Lakers players. Austin Reaves was one player who responded as training camp opened this week (h/t Lakers Daily).

“I think everybody knows it was pointed at us,” Reaves said. “They can do it indirectly if they want, but I think it was very obvious to the public eye. That’s why everybody was talking about it. You see stuff – me personally I try my best to stay off social media and look at all that stuff. To me, I go play every game the way – you know I’m gonna go play the first game against them. But I think it adds a little bit of motivation to go play really well.”

Anthony Davis also responded, saying he and LeBron James are motivated to get back at Denver.

Los Angeles will get its first crack at the defending world champs when it opens the regular season against them in Colorado on Oct. 24.

Lakers-Nuggets has a chance to become one of the NBA’s best modern rivalries

The Lakers are using all the trash talk from Denver as motivation this season.

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Prince J. Grimes.

NBA media day is in the books, training camps are underway and basketball is back in the headlines.

One of my biggest takeaways from all the hoopla and player interviews this week is just how damn salty the Los Angeles Lakers are about their Western Conference Finals loss to the Denver Nuggets. Or, more specifically, the swipes some people on the Denver side took at them after going on to win the NBA title.

Anthony Davis called all the talk “very motivational.”

“It was just a lot of like, the talking. It was just so much of that going on,” Davis said Monday on Spectrum Sportsnet. “Like, alright, we get it, y’all won. But me and [LeBron James] had some conversations like, ‘We can’t wait.'”

Austin Reaves said similar things Tuesday, addressing some of the comments that came from Denver.

“I think everybody knows it was pointed at us,” he said. “They can do it indirectly if they want, but I think it was very obvious to the public eye. That’s why everybody was talking about it.”

It’s unclear which exact comments set off the Lakers, but the chirping began even before their series loss, when Denver was leading 2-0 and head coach Michael Malone called out the media for continuing to spin a narrative about the Lakers. And he wasn’t wrong about that, but it continued from there.

After the Nuggets won the title, Malone was introduced at the parade as “the Lakers daddy.” Then, Malone mocked reports that LeBron James was considering retirement by joking on the Pat McAfee Show that he was thinking about retirement.

Apparently while all of us were laughing and allowing the Nuggets to enjoy their moment, the Lakers were keeping receipts. Now, they can’t wait to embark on their own title run and ruin the Nuggets’ ring ceremony on opening night to get it started.

To be clear, Malone and the Nuggets earned the right to talk whatever smack they wanted to because they won the championship, and they swept the Lakers on the way to that title. But I am very much here for the Lakers taking it all personally. They should. This is the type of stuff rivalries are built on, and we don’t get too many good rivalries in today’s NBA with all the player movement that happens.

The Lakers and Nuggets have now met in the conference finals twice in the last four years, with each team winning a series and going on to win a title that same year. The teams and their respective stars are very familiar with one another, and now they have added smoke to bring into this new season. I can’t wait to see how that plays out on the court. It may not be Lakers-Celtics or Bulls-Pistons, but it’s quickly becoming one of the best rivalries of today’s NBA. This season can cement it as the best.

Nikola Jokic is back on the clock

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

As much as the Lakers have apparently thought about the Nuggets, it’s highly unlikely Nuggets star Nikola Jokic has given as much thought about them.

I’m not even sure Jokic is happy to be back in the United States after appearing to have the time of his life celebrating back home in Serbia. Just look at how dispirited he looked arriving for media day.

The nonchalant walk. The fake smile that just screamed “here we go with this again.” The dude looks like he doesn’t want to be there, and judging by his response to a question Tuesday about all the fun he had this summer, he doesn’t. Because apparently he didn’t have all that much fun this summer, not relative to what he’s used to anyway.

“Because we played 2 1/2 extra months,” Jokic said. “It was good, but I had summers that I had more fun.”

Cool. So, Jokic is back in his normal ornery mood. Excellent. Bring on the Lakers.

Shootaround

— James Harden is back with the 76ers for training camp

— Stephen A. Smith said Harden talked himself out of a max deal with the Rockets

— Chris Paul may not mind coming off the bench for the Warriors

— Joel Embiid intends to play in the Olympic and we’ll know who he’s playing for soon

OK, ya’ll. That’s it from me. Catch you next week.

Lakers head coach Darvin Ham on competing against the Nuggets this season

Darvin Ham had some comments about the Lakers’ upcoming efforts to knock off the NBA champion Denver Nuggets this coming season.

The Denver Nuggets are the reigning NBA world champions, and they earned the title this past season in part by sweeping the born-again Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals.

Though an empty finish for Los Angeles, it was oddly encouraging.

After struggling for much of the season to tread water while several games under .500, multiple midseason trades transformed the team into a title contender, and that’s where it finds itself.

There are 29 teams looking up at the Nuggets, and Lakers head coach Darvin Ham agrees with most people that Nikola Jokic and company will be heavyweights for at least a few more years. Yet, Ham also seems to feel his team can win it all this season, and he talked about what it will take to beat Denver during an interview with Chris Haynes and Marc Stein.

Via Sportskeeda:

“I just think we gotta fight fire with fire. The big thing about Denver is you can’t turn the ball over, you have to finish at the rim, you gotta get to the free throw line and make free throws. But you can not have any, what we call self-inflicted wounds, you can’t beat yourself, they’re tough.

“We’ll see because their core is young. They’re set up to make a run for plenty more years.”

The Lakers certainly seem to have a roster that can knock off the Nuggets, and that roster could be even stronger this fall, winter and spring than it was late last season.

Did LeBron James fire back at Nuggets head coach Michael Malone?

LeBron James may have taken a shot at Nuggets head coach Michael Malone after the latter mocked him and his Lakers.

The NBA champion Denver Nuggets had a wild time at their victory parade on Thursday, and a lot of the wildness emanated from an unusual place: head coach Michael Malone.

Normally, head coaches are level-headed and make sure their players don’t get too cocky in victory or too low in defeat. However, Malone was clearly flaunting his swag in victory.

He dropped some curse words at the parade while expressing his desire for a repeat championship next year, and he was introduced there as the “Lakers’ daddy.”

The day before, the coach mocked LeBron James’ suggestion that he may retire during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.”

Malone has been salty ever since the start of the Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. In his mind, the national media has been focusing mostly on James and the Lakers rather than giving his team the credit he believes it deserves.

James was recently in France to wave the flag at the start of Le Mans, the iconic auto racing event. He found the time to take to social media for what some feel was a subtle shot at Malone (h/t Lakers Daily).

There is no word on whether James will return for his 21st NBA season, but just about everyone expects him back in a Lakers uniform this fall.

Nuggets coach Michael Malone trolls LeBron James and the Lakers

Michael Malone, the head coach of the NBA champion Denver Nuggets, continues to throw shade at LeBron James and the Lakers.

What was turning into a very promising season for the Los Angeles Lakers ended with a whimper when they were swept by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals.

In retrospect, there was no real shame in getting swept by the Nuggets. They were clearly the better team and went on to win the NBA championship by brushing past the Miami Heat in the finals.

Dating to the conference finals, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone has seemed salty at what he saw as the outsized media attention focused on L.A. rather than his team.

On Wednesday, two days after his team was awarded the Larry O’Brien Trophy, Malone decided to throw shade at LeBron James by joking he was thinking of retiring (h/t Silver Screen and Roll).

Of course, just after the Lakers were swept, James passive-aggressively suggested he would consider retirement this offseason, which dominated a good part of the headlines for the next few days.

Then came Thursday’s championship parade, during which Malone was introduced as the “Lakers’ daddy.”

The Nuggets are a very, very good and impressive team, but they’re not unbeatable. A few tweaks and additions by the Lakers, along with some good health and fortune, could result in them getting revenge on Malone next year.