LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The worst joke floating around the NBA “bubble” is that the Nuggets have the Lakers exactly where they want them.
Down 3-1 for a third time this postseason ahead of Saturday’s Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, the Nuggets aren’t foolish enough to think that way.
“We would much rather be up 3-1, but it is what it is,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said bluntly. “We put ourselves in this position.”
And even though it’s LeBron James and the Lakers on the door step of the NBA Finals, the Nuggets aren’t approaching this daunting challenge any differently than they did against the Jazz or the Clippers.
“No, not at all,” Malone said. “Obviously, we have been here twice and we have answered the call, if you will. To be honest, I think in the second round against the Clippers, the Clippers were the odds-on favorite to win the whole thing, ahead of the Lakers. The Clippers are a great team. The Lakers are a great team. We’re down 3-1, again, unfortunately.
“Our team has shown tremendous resiliency and grit in getting out of these before,” he said. “I have no doubt that tomorrow night we’ll bring that same fight to the game and hopefully we can keep this series alive.”
The aftermath of Game 4 turned into an exhausting night for Malone. After the game, he vowed to take the “proper channels” in submitting plays to the NBA he felt were questionable. It was the exact same protocol the Lakers used following Game 3, when Frank Vogel disclosed to reporters that his team submitted plays on behalf of LeBron James. Nothing about what the Lakers did was sinister or out of the ordinary. It’s common practice around the NBA.
Malone said early Friday afternoon that his team already submitted its clips. One play in particular, a no-call on Jamal Murray’s fourth-quarter drive against James, left the Nuggets incensed.
But late Thursday night, as Malone was still decompressing from the loss, he returned to his room and called his family. He wished his wife a happy anniversary (today) and his daughter a happy birthday. The realities of almost three months inside the bubble are grueling, even at this late stage in the NBA playoffs.
It wasn’t until 4 a.m. that he got to bed, after watching film and taking his notes.
“So a lot of this now is just so much more mental,” Malone said. “I think there are probably people out there that maybe thought we would wake up today and go to practice and do rebounding drills. And as much as I would love to do that, that’s just not realistic.”
Malone wasn’t wallowing at his team’s unfavorable outlook. Instead, in the hours following Game 4, he broke down the defensive lapses and the rebounding miscues that cost them the game. Specifically, it was Dwight Howard’s impact and the 25 second-chance points that gnawed at him.
The Nuggets can only control so much from an officiating standpoint. But their urgency on the glass needs to improve if they’re going to entertain the idea of another historic comeback.
“So we can get caught up in that and use the refs as an easily, readily available excuse if we want,” Malone said. “I’m not going to, because we didn’t lose the game last night because of anybody except ourselves.”
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