Nuggets demanding respect with first-ever NBA Finals berth two wins away

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Melissa Rohlin

FOX Sports NBA Writer

Michael Malone is fed up.

He’s tired of the Denver Nuggets being underestimated despite finishing with the best record in the Western Conference (53-29).

He’s peeved that media members are just now watching two-time MVP Nikola Jokic for the first time.

After the Nuggets took a 2-0 series lead over the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, he was asked if his team had a chip on its shoulder — and he didn’t hold back.

“You win Game 1 of the [Western Conference Finals], and all everybody talked about was the Lakers,” Malone said after the Nuggets’ 108-103 win Thursday. “Let’s be honest, that was the national narrative. [It] was, hey, the Lakers are fine. They’re down 1-0, but they figured something out.

“No one talked about Nikola just had a historic performance. He’s got 13 triple-doubles now, third all-time. What he’s doing is just incredible. But the narrative wasn’t about the Nuggets, the narrative wasn’t about Nikola. The narrative was about the Lakers and their adjustments.

“You put that in your pipe, you smoke it, and you come back, and you know what, we’re going to go up, 2-0,”

That’s exactly what the Nuggets did, beating the Lakers in Game 2, 108-103. Malone is tired of the disrespect. His frustration has been building up over the last seven years at the helm of the Nuggets.

In 2020, the Nuggets became the first team in NBA history to overcome two 3-1 series deficits in the same postseason against the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers to reach the Conference Finals. But many members of the Nuggets felt that instead of getting the credit they deserved, all of the attention was on the other teams’ collapses.

Then, this postseason, the fourth-seeded Phoenix Suns were -140 favorites to beat the top-seeded Nuggets in their second round series, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. And when the Nuggets prevailed anyway in six games, much of the attention was on the Suns’ failure instead of the Nuggets’ success.

Now, the series against the Lakers is only intensifying the Nuggets’ feelings of being overlooked.

The 17-time champion Lakers are the darlings of the NBA. They have the face of the league on their roster in LeBron James. And they’re arguably under the biggest microscope of any team in the league, with a who’s who of celebrities sitting courtside on any given night.

To put things in perspective: Entering this season, the Lakers were slated to have 27 nationally televised games on ESPN, TNT or ABC, while the Nuggets had 16.

Bruce Brown didn’t hesitate when asked why he thinks the Nuggets are underrated. “Nobody watches us,” he said. “That’s why.”

But now that they’re playing the Lakers, all eyes are on the Nuggets — and many are witnessing Jokic’s greatness for the first time.

After Game 1, ESPN sideline reporter Lisa Salters said of Jokic: “I have never seen him play before. I haven’t done a game here in Denver. It’s been at least 10 years. Maybe I had a game of theirs in the Bubble. This is the first time I’ve had a chance to watch him play.”

There are multiple similar examples in recent days.

ESPN analyst and former NBA player and coach Mark Jackson forgot to put Nikola Jokic on his MVP ballot, something he acknowledged was an “absolute mistake.” (Out of 100 media members who voted for the award, Jackson was the only one who didn’t include Jokic in his top five.)

On ESPN’s signature national radio show, Keyshawn, JWill and Max Show, after Jay Williams said that Jokic is proving to be “the best player in basketball,” Keyshawn Johnson acknowledged he has been “forced to” watch the Nuggets “because they were playing the Lakers,” adding that “typically when the Denver Nuggets are playing, it’s a drive-by for me.”

And even after the Nuggets led by as many as 21 points in Game 1 of the conference finals, Shaquille O’Neal said on TNT that the Lakers would win Game 2, “Guarantee it. Guarantee it!” he shouted, emphatically.

You can imagine Malone fuming when he hears all of this.

It might be the reason why, completely unprompted, he brought up Jokic in his postgame press conference after Game 2, saying, “Joker, for those that don’t know him, he’s got 13 playoff triple-doubles now.”

Similarly, Malone’s pregame press conference was spicy.

He took a shot at the national discourse after Game 1 being about Rui Hachimura helping hold Jokic to three points, two rebounds and two assists in the fourth quarter, instead of Jokic finishing with an eye-popping 34 points, 21 rebounds and 14 assists in the Nuggets’ 132-126 win.

Ahead of Game 2, Malone said this is the first time he has been up 1-0 in a series, and it’s “over in everybody’s eyes because they put Rui on Nikola Jokic for six possessions.”

Funny enough, the guy who seems completely unfazed by all of this chatter is the guy who’s at the center of it.

When Jokic was asked Thursday how he felt about his team flying under-the-radar and people acknowledging they’re just now watching him, he was nonplussed.

“Since we make the playoffs it’s like that,” said Jokic, who had 23 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists in Game 2. “So, it’s nothing new for us. To be honest, I like it. We don’t care. Whatever.

“…Even in the bubble when we beat Utah, they were talking how they blow the lead. When we beat the Clippers, how they blow the lead. Nobody talk about how we won the game. It’s normal for us. To be honest, I don’t pay attention at all.”

It was interesting to hear Jokic say that he liked being in the shadows. When asked to elaborate on why he feels that way, he said he’s focused on the task at hand, not the hoopla around it.

“We don’t need the media attention,” Jokic said. “…We’re going to go out there and try to win the game. We’re going to be quiet. We’re not going to not talk about it. Maybe some guys will, but I think [not] in general,

There’s one thing that’s not debatable.

The Nuggets are now two wins away from reaching the NBA Finals for the first time in their 55-year franchise history.

They’re forcing the world to watch them. To appreciate Jokic. To take note of their immense talent.

They know if they win six more games, the entire narrative changes. And in the meantime, they’re using all of the so-called disrespect as motivation.

“The outside noise is the outside noise,” Jamal Murray said. “We’re the Denver Nuggets; we’re used to that. Even when we win, they talk about the other team.

“…Same old, same old. It fuels us a little more — and will be sweeter when we win the chip.”

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.

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