Nikola Jokic's brother celebrates Denver's NBA Finals qualification with Michael Malone (from Twitter)
Their ticket to their first-ever NBA Finals, the Denver Nuggets secured in the most convincing way possible. The Colorado team's last four visits (out of five ever) to the Western Conference Finals were against the Los Angeles Lakers, but only this time did they overcome the hurdle from the City of Angels with a convincing sweep, despite all four games being pretty tight.
Now the Nuggets are enjoying more than a week's rest, as the NBA Finals won't get underway until Thursday night. The reigning Western Conference champions still don't know who their opponent will be in the battle for the Cup after the Boston Celtics revived the Eastern Conference Finals and slumped to 3-2 against the Miami Heat with two straight wins. However, it should be noted that even if the Eastern Conference Finals had already ended, the Finals would have been scheduled to get underway on the same date and not be premature.
Malone prepares for the final
Meanwhile, Denver returned to practice after a brief recovery and coach Michael Malone stood in front of reporters to talk about preparations for the Finals. "We can't keep pace when we're not playing," Malone admitted, "You can do whatever you want in practice, but it doesn't compare to a playoff game. We've been playing two days apart for so long, and suddenly there's a break of over a week."
"The goal is to win a championship and that's still in front of us," Malone continued, "We enjoy the moment and the company of the people we go to war with every day, but my mission is to remind the players not to listen and read everyone who says how good they are. It can make us soft, I want us to stay hungry and disciplined, that's the biggest challenge."
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Low draft pick? That's not what motivates him. Jokic (Photo by Getty Images, Harry How)
The one who shines above everyone else in the Nuggets' run to the Finals is Nikola Jokic, who after two straight wins lost MVP honors to Joel Embiid this year. It didn't really bother the Serbian, and he proved his dominance with eight triple-doubles so far in the playoffs, already the most ever for a single playoff.
The center was selected only 41st overall in the 2014 draft, when on draft night his pick was not even read out and instead an advertisement was broadcast. Malone was asked if Jokic is carrying the low pick on his back as a desire to prove, as Jimmy Butler, the 30th-ranked pick in 2011, whom he might meet in the finals, carries the underdog label that wants to answer everyone.
"Some players use it as motivation to keep going, but in eight years with Jokic on and off the pitch I haven't felt that from him," Malone admitted. He doesn't look back, only forward, he challenges himself. That's not what motivated him to become a two-time MVP winner and a player averaging a triple-double in the playoffs. What motivates him is not the individual awards, but to be an NBA champion." Now, for the first time in his career, Jokic is just four wins away.
- sport
- NBA
Tags
- Denver Nuggets
- Nikola Jokic
- Michael Malone