Nuggets Exec Says 'No Way We're Even in a Game 7' Without Firing HC Malone, GM Booth
The Denver Nuggets shocked the NBA world when they fired head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth with just three games remaining in the regular season, but it may be paying off.
"If we don't make the changes, there's no way we're even in a Game 7," a Nuggets executive said after the team's 120-101 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in Saturday's decisive contest of their first-round playoff series, per ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.
Big man Nikola Jokić echoed some of those sentiments.
"I think the owner ... wanted to change something, to change the energy, and probably he did," he said of Nuggets governor Stan Kroenke. "He got the result he was looking for."
That Denver outlasted the Clippers in seven games may have come as a surprise to some, as Los Angeles went 18-3 in its final 21 regular-season games ahead of the playoffs. By comparison, Denver lost four in a row before firing Malone and Booth and seemed to be playing out the string to a disappointing campaign.
Yet the shocking moves may have lit a fire under the team, as it is the Nuggets and not the Clippers advancing to the second round to face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jokić impacted the game in a number of ways like he always does with a near triple-double of 16 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and three steals, but it was far from a one-man show as Denver cruised past Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and Co.
Six Nuggets scored at least 15 points with Russell Westbrook (16 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals) providing a lift off the bench and Aaron Gordon scoring a team-high 22 points. Throw in 21 points from Christian Braun, and the supporting cast played a major role in the Game 7 triumph.
That group will need to be equally dialed in against the Thunder if Denver is going to continue the momentum it has built since the shocking firings.
