BREAKING: “He Showed Why He’s The MVP” Said – Former Nuggets Coach Michael Malone Went On TV Praising SGA’s Game 1 Performance And Took A Clean Shot At Nikola Jokic
It’s funny how quickly things can change in the NBA. Teams come and go, championship windows open and close, in a blink of an eye, everything can change.
That’s also true when it comes to recently fired head coaches going full scorched earth and taking direct shots at their old team on national television after a playoff game.
This is pretty funny for a few reasons. For starters, this wasn’t an accident. And even if you want to spinzone this by suggesting that Michael Malone, the former Denver Nuggets coach, is simply stating the truth assuming we’re only days away from the announcement that SGA won this year’s MVP, don’t be an idiot. Sure, maybe he’s just filling a TV role and talking like any other talking head, but if you believe that I don’t know what to tell you. That was about as intentional a dig as you’re going to find from a guy who is 1000000000% pissed at the Nuggets organization for firing him a few weeks before the playoffs despite him leading them to their only title just a few years prior.
The best part? This was the same Michael Malone on March 11th!!
“Obviously, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a great player, and if he wins his first MVP, he’s deserving of that. My thing is this: If you didn’t know that Nikola won three MVPs, and I put Player A and Player B on paper … the guy that was averaging a triple-double, the guy that is top-three in the three major statistical categories, things that no one has ever done, he wins the MVP 10 times out of 10. And if you don’t think so, I think you guys are all bulls–ting.”
Well, well, well, imagine that! To think of where we were just a few months ago with Malone/Jokic/MVP to that clip is kind of insane. It almost makes you wonder if Malone is pissed that Jokic didn’t step up and save his job. Do the Nuggets still make that move if Jokic does everything he can to prevent it? What about if he says if you fire Malone, then he’s demanding a trade? This is a guy who has done NOTHING but back Jokic whenever the MVP debate came up (and rightfully so), so to see him talk like that just a few months after it was his job to campaign for Jokic is pretty wild.
You get why he’d be pissed at the franchise, but shots at Jokic? That’s spicy.
Again, it’s not even that Malone was simply saying what we all know is eventually going to happen and is just filling his role as a fill in TV analyst. We all know the NBA is a petty league. We all know Malone got boned by the Nuggets to some degree. But you’re kidding yourself if you don’t think that was intentional, which means there’s definitely more to this story that we don’t know. My guess is it’ll eventually come out, and I cannot wait to to see what it is.
In terms of SGA’s performance, as you saw above, he had himself a night while also finding himself on the right side of a very friendly MVP whistle.
but what else is new? It wasn’t why OKC blew doors in Game 1 (that was more MIN TOs and horrible shooting), but it’s hard to argue his whistle wasn’t also bullshit. I guess that’s just the benefit that comes with being the MVP. Those are Michael Malone’s words, not mine.
