The Denver Nuggets went into their Game 7 matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night with both a home-court advantage and an advantage in big-game experience over their opposition. But surprisingly, neither factor ended up mattering, as the Timberwolves came away with the victory in shocking fashion, which led to a not-so-happy postgame press conference from Nuggets head coach Michael Malone.
Denver led by as much as 20 points in the second half. Given that the Nuggets are the defending NBA champions, most would assume that this kind of lead would be too big for them to relinquish.
But in the words of the great Lee Corso, not so fast my friend! Minnesota was able to lock down defensively, limiting the Nuggets to just 37 second-half points to come away with a 98-90 victory to advance to the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks.
“THAT’S IT! THE TIMBERWOLVES HAVE KNOCKED OUT THE DEFENDING CHAMPION DENVER NUGGETS! THEY ARE ADVANCING TO THE WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 20 YEARS!” – Kevin Harlan
Also, a very excited A-Rod. pic.twitter.com/QRTENo4RB3
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 20, 2024
As you may expect, Michael Malone, who is known to deliver some fiery postgame press conferences in the past, wasn’t in the happiest of moods. That was only accentuated when he was asked about losing the 20-point lead by a reporter. He responded as such, dropping an F-bomb in response to the question.
“Next question, man,” said Malone. “The season is over. That’s what’s hard. F*** being up 20. The season’s over. You don’t understand that. The season’s over. It’s hard. Stupid a** questions.”
To be fair to Malone here, he does have a bit of a point. The fact that the Nuggets’ season is now over is the hardest part for him, as it should be. But it is also hard to argue that losing in this fashion when the game was seemingly in their grasp has to hurt even more.
Regardless, the Nuggets’ season is now over. So at least Michael Malone won’t have to deal with more “stupid a** questions” until the start of the 2024-25 season…
