Coach Michael Malone says the media narrative is always about the Lakers: ‘No one talked about how Nikola just had a historic performance’

Nuggets stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray have both shared the spotlight in their team’s first two victories of the Western Conference Final series against the Los Angeles Lakers, as the Serbian big man put on a monster stat line in the opener, and his pick-and-roll partner was clutch in Game 2. 

However, their head coach Michael Malone was baffled over the fact that the press is always focusing their narrative on the Los Angeles squad.

Mike Malone not a fan of the Lakers narrative. pic.twitter.com/c8AA7NL8nS

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) May 19, 2023

“You win Game 1 and all everybody talked about was the Lakers,” Malone said. “Let’s be honest, the national narrative was, ‘Hey, the Lakers are fine. They’re down 1-0, but they figured something out.’ No one talked about how Nikola just had an historic performance. He’s got 13 (playoff) triple-doubles now, third all-time. What he’s doing is just incredible.

“But their narrative wasn’t about the Nuggets. The narrative wasn’t about Nikola. The narrative was about the Lakers and their adjustments. So you know, you put that in your pipe and you smoke it, you come back and you know what, we’re gonna go up 2-0.”

Even though his trainer talked specifically about his star center, Jokic redirected the attention towards his teammate Murray, who scored 23 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter, guiding Denver to 108-103 at the final buzzer.

“He was special,” The Joker said. “He won us the game basically.”

The Nuggets dropped in 7 three-pointers in the fourth quarter after only scoring seven during the rest of the game.

“It would have been a lot easier if I had made them in the first half,” Murray admitted postgame, as he also praised his teammates for the win.

Jokic once again added another triple-double stat line to his playoff history, as he hit 23 points, won 17 rebounds and handed out a dozen assists throughout the match.

“For those that don’t know him, he’s got 13 playoff triple-doubles now,” Malone celebrated his star center once the contest was over. “It’s just incredible what he continues to do on a nightly basis on the biggest stage in the world.”

Rival coach Darvin Ham feels his squad ‘caught a bad stretch’ and is positive the Lakers will bounce back in Los Angeles

“Proud of our guys,” coach Darvin Ham started out his postgame interview. “They bounced back. We addressed a lot of the things that we said we were going to try to do better. Still got to be better in transition D. But overall the energy was there, the effort was there, the urgency was there, we just caught a bad stretch.”

However, Lakers superstar LeBron James knows exactly why they lost to the Colorado franchise. “Three-point line is what killed us in the fourth,” he said.

Even though Murray missed 12 of his 17 shots throughout the first three quarters, he finally found himself when his team needed him the most, going 6 for 7, propelling a 15-1 run that gave the Nuggets a 96-84 lead.

“He made shots at the end of the clock,” LeBron James said in frustration. “We guard for 24 seconds and he made two big-time shots, one over (Anthony Davis) and one over me. He had his 3-point shot going in the fourth. It’s no surprise to me, he’s done it before. Sometimes it’s a never-miss league.”