No longer the hunted, can these flawed Nuggets get back in the NBA championship hunt?
When coach Michael Malone stormed off the bench early in the third quarter, he was arguing with the refs to show Nikola Jokic some MVP respect. But Malone's ulterior motive was to rage against the decline and fall of the former league champs.
"Let's keep fighting. We're not going to just go gently into the good night. Let's fight," Malone said, after he got hot and the Nuggets scored a sizzling 124-122 comeback victory against previously undefeated Oklahoma City on a chilly Wednesday night.
In a quest to regain their championship mojo, Denver might eventually have to make difficult personnel changes.
The Nuggets, however, have two untouchables.
We all know Jokic is as essential and iconic to Colorado at Pikes Peak.
But the other person most responsible for this golden age of Nuggets basketball?
Malone, the best coach in franchise history.
"We're both a little psycho in the head," said new Denver guard Russell Westbrook, praising a soul brother from a different mother that he's found in Malone. "That's why we get along."
Against the Thunder, Malone went a little crazy when the Nuggets needed it most.
With eight minutes, 23 seconds remaining in the third period and Denver on the verge of getting run out of its own arena, Jokic was bumped while missing a floater in the lane.
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Joker beseeched the refs for justice until Malone took up his case by stomping on the court and screaming for attention with such force that a technical foul on the coach as guaranteed.
When OKC superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander converted the free throw while Malone fumed, the Thunder extended its lead to 14 points. At the moment, it felt like time to say night-night on a snowy evening in Denver.
"I feel like Nikola is getting beat up and I've got to fight," Malone said. "Everything Nikola has done for this team, this city, this franchise, me and my family, I'm going to fight for that guy."
As has regularly been the case during more than 800 games and nine seasons on Denver's bench, sparks by Malone lit a fire under his players. After his technical, the Nuggets outscored Oklahoma City 41-23 to reclaim a 103-99 lead early in the fourth quarter.
"I say 95 percent of my techs have a plan behind it," Malone said. "From whatever our run was after that tech, we got back in the game. You're hoping to kind of light a fire."
We're early in this NBA season, but it feels as if the Nuggets are already at a crossroads, with a 5-3 record and the oft-injured Jamal Murray again missing time, while stalwart forward Aaron Gordon is expected to be gone for weeks while recovering from a calf strain.
The diamond-encrusted rings Denver won in 2023 are already so far in the rearview mirror they shimmer like a mirage, while the young, hungry and undefeated Thunder have lapped the Nuggets so quickly it's fair to wonder if the former champs can ever catch OKC, in this or any other NBA season.
Denver had lost four straight to the Thunder. In a regular-season game that felt twice as big as the other 82, Jokic was at his triple-double best with 23 points, 20 rebounds, 16 assists. Starting at the point in place of Murray, Westbrook scored 29. Michael Porter Jr. hit six shots from beyond the three-point arc. And two seconds prior to the final buzzer, Peyton Watson preserved the victory by skying high to block Gilgeous-Alexander on a drive.
General manager Calvin Booth, betting heavily on youth to maximize what's left of Joker's prime, will either see this team make a deep playoff run or seriously have to consider breaking up a highly paid core that includes Murray, Gordon and MPJ.
But Malone?
The best coach in franchise history ain't going anywhere so long as Jokic resides in this dusty old cowtown, if Booth knows what's best for the Nuggets.