LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — On the day the All-NBA teams were released, it was striking how few are left in the bubble. Likely MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and former MVP James Harden were knocked out in the second round; fellow first-teamer Luka Doncic was gone in the first. Second-team point guards Damian Lillard and Chris…
Lakers keep their guard up, taking upset-minded Nuggets with caution — Press Telegram
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. >> On a recent evening as the clouds had lifted over the lake in the center of the Coronado Springs Resort, Dwight Howard went biking on an off-night. Behind him trailed his 6-year-old son, David, riding with the help of training wheels. It was a temperate evening, and the water reflected…
Dwight Howard brings energy to the bench, while trying to grind out the bubble time — Daily News
Editor’s note: This is the Wednesday Sept. 16 edition of the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from reporter Kyle Goon, who is among the few reporters with a credential inside the NBA bubble. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here. LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — He was all smiles when he was…
Three keys to Lakers vs. Nuggets in 2020 Western Conference Finals — Press Telegram
The outside noise was loud enough that it pierced the Orlando “bubble.”
Nuggets superstar Jamal Murray to Shaq, Barkley: “Start giving this team some (darn) respect” — The Denver Post
The outside noise was loud enough that it pierced the Orlando “bubble.”
Whether the Nuggets admitted or not – and sometimes they did – they saw the narrative of their second round series against the Clippers being carved. After the Game 1 pounding, the Nuggets would be lucky to avoid a sweep. Trailing 3-1 after Game 4, might as well fast-forward to the all-L.A. conference finals. Extend the series to six games? Not gonna happen.
After the Nuggets made NBA history Tuesday night, stunning the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 7 and becoming the first team in history to advance after facing two separate 3-1 deficits, they made it clear how close they were listening.
“You got Shaq, you got Charles (Barkley), I think Zach Lowe his name, I don’t even know,” Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray began, after hanging 40 points in the 104-89 win. “Stephen A. (Smith), all y’all better start giving this team some (darn) respect. Because we put in the work. We got a resilient team. We shouldn’t have been down 3-1 but to come back from 3-1 against the Clippers is a big achievement so it’s fun just to change that narrative.”
A day before Game 7, Nuggets coach Michael Malone cited ESPN’s experts, and mentioned how 19 of them predicted the Clippers would win. Not one said the series would advance to a Game 7.
“Nobody wants us here,” Nikola Jokic said in his postgame interview. “Nobody thinks we can do something. We prove ourselves and proved everybody we can do something. Next is Lakers another tough opponent for us. We just have to be out there and having fun.”
Jokic, himself the 41st pick in the 2014 draft, is the face of a team that’s fought for everything it’s earned, including its newfound respect.
“We don’t have a first pick,” he said. “We don’t have many kind of superstars. Everybody is working to get where they’re at. When we won the game I felt just relief. We did it.”
The Nuggets have a giant chip on their shoulder, and they’ve used it to make NBA history. No fans inside the bubble means players have to find motivation elsewhere. And if it’s in the perceived slights of pundits and prognosticators, they don’t need to apologize.
“It’s just fun to silence everybody,” Murray said. “We love it. That’s what makes it so special.”Popular in the CommunityAdChoicesSponsored
Huh. After all the hoopla, the historically high expectations, the appetizing promise of an all-L.A. showdown … the Clippers go down in the second round? It happened. If you’re a Clippers fan, you might say it happens. A young Denver squad walloped the win-now Clippers 104-89 on Tuesday in Game 7 of their Western Conference…
Clippers’ season of high hopes ends with a disastrous loss to Nuggets in Game 7 — Press Telegram
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — They’re a team that’s faced the firing line six times and seen the other side. The Denver Nuggets are not the team most would have guessed would meet the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, but in the NBA bubble, brute survival is all that matters. And no team has been…
Nuggets stun their way into facing Lakers in Western Conference Finals — Daily News
Doc Rivers said that “there’s no secret” as to why the Los Angeles Clippers continue to blow big leads against the Denver Nuggets, saying it comes down to defensive intensity and free throws. “There’s no secret like potion that something happened. The two things that we didn’t do, clearly defensively, they shot almost 60% in […]
Doc Rivers Says ‘There’s Nothing Secret Or Magical’ About Winning Game 7s — Portal4News
Monstars vs. The Bad News Bears. Game 7. Winner gets LeBron. “I almost feel like we’re The Bad News Bears and I’m Coach Buttermaker,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone offered on the eve of Tuesday’s showdown with the big, bad Los Angeles Clippers. “We’re a team that nobody really looks at and takes us seriously. And…
Keeler: Kawhi’s a Monstar. The Nuggets are the Bad News Bears. And Michael Malone’s built an underdog that America’s falling in love with. — Daily News
One way or another, history. Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinal series between the second-seeded Clippers and third-seeded Nuggets will result either in the Clippers earning berth — at long, long last — in a conference final series for the first time in their franchise’s 50th season. Or the Nuggets will go down as…
Clippers down to their third swing at reaching Western Conference Finals berth — Press Telegram
The Nuggets live somewhere between the brink and a prayer. Their idea of fun? Dancing on a knife’s edge. Without a net. Or so much as a first-aid kit.
Kiszla: Living between the brink and a prayer, Nuggets beat Clippers, earn chance to make improbable NBA history — The Denver Post
This time it’ll be Michael Porter Jr.’s timely shot, block and rebound that’ll come up on sports talk shows, and not any ill-timed postgame comments. The 22-year-old from Missouri shared his frustration after the Clippers won Game 4, 96-85, saying: “We kept going to (Nikola Jokic) and (Jamal Murray) and I think they are two…
Denver’s Michal Porter Jr. makes another statement against Clippers — Press Telegram
mazing players, you can never get mad at that, but I just think to beat that team we got to get more players involved.”
Porter finished with 15 points in Game 4, but got no shots in the fourth quarter.
The talented rookie forward was sidelined last season by a back injury that caused his draft stock to fall to 14th overall, landing him in Denver with the Nuggets, for whom he’s been a contributor this postseason, averaging 11.7 points and 6.9 rebounds.
On Friday, Porter scored all seven of his points in the decisive fourth quarter as the Nuggets staved off elimination with a 111-105 comeback victory over the Clippers. Denver scored 38 points in the fourth quarter to deny L.A. its first conference finals berth in franchise history.
Doc Rivers often reminisces about his first sit-down with Lou Williams after the Clippers acquired the guy known as a professional scorer in 2017. The coach’s message then: “I just want to make it clear, when we’re bringing you in the game, we’re not bringing you in to be a defensive player, we’re bringing you…
Lou Williams helping Clippers clamp down on Nuggets — Press Telegram
The view from left field 