The Denver Nuggets were met with shock and awe in the first two games against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Dropping Games 1 & 2, the reigning champions were down 0-2. Desperate for a win before the series got out of hand, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone revealed how he got a specific video made and edited just to motivate his team. And apparently, it was something that Charles Barkley simply wasn’t on board with, much to Shaquille O’Neal’s disagreement.
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Desperate times called for desperate measures and that is exactly what Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone went with. The 52-year-old native of New York mentioned that it was his way of sparking a fire under his players before Game 3’s tipoff.
“I had an edit made… of every talking head in this country saying that the series was over, the Nuggets are done, it’s a wrap… I knew that this would maybe strike a chord.”
“I had an edit made… of every talking head in this country saying that the series was over, the Nuggets are done, it’s a wrap… I knew that this would maybe strike a chord.”
Michael Malone used the critics’ words to motivate Denver for Game 3 #NBAPlayoffs presented by… pic.twitter.com/B0U1WbwSEd
— NBA (@NBA) May 11, 2024
It ended up working wonders in Denver’s favor as the Nuggets went on to win not just Game 3 but the subsequent Game 4 as well, bringing this series to an exciting two games apiece.
An unorthodox approach to get his players fired up, Malone did not seem to mind going to such lengths in order to give his team the jolt they needed to snap out of the slump they were going into.
But, while Malone’s ways were appreciated by many, Philadelphia 76ers legend and the co-host of Inside The NBA, Charles Barkley did not seem to hold his methods in the highest regard. And so, he went right off on the Denver Nuggets head coach.
“Dude, we get paid to give an opinion. If you watched those first two games, you didn’t think Denver was going to win. They act like we just pulled it out of our a** or something and just made it up. When you watch those first two games, you’re like, ‘Man, the Minnesota Wolves are better than the Denver Nuggets.’”
“Now, Denver’s playing great and he wanna act like he played a tape. Man, I don’t care…We only can go by what we saw. And if you watch those first two games, you said, ‘Damn…’ But don’t act like that tape spurred the Nuggets.”
“Dude, we get paid to give an opinion. If you watched those first two games, you didn’t think Denver was going to win.”
Chuck on Michael Malone using an edit of critics to motivate Denver ahead of Game 3 https://t.co/qrN7zFls65 pic.twitter.com/siKtmQmDYQ
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 14, 2024
While Charles Barkley made a sound argument on how his job required him to be critical based on just the end results, Shaquille O’Neal, on the other hand, did not seem to be on board with his co-host’s take.
The Los Angeles Lakers legend revealed how he felt when Barkley, Ernie, and Kenny Smith used to say the same things about him during his playing days, saying, “I used to hate you [the media]!”. However, he then revealed that it acted as great fuel to his fire, gearing him up to dominate on the court.
Special guest, Draymond Green also jumped into the debate and prompted the panel with a simple question of how long can that factor act as a motivator for players. Responding to the Golden State Warriors man, Kenny Smith might just have given the most adequate answer, saying, “It might light the fuse.”
Whatever the case may be, the supposed video made by Mike Malone ended up doing exactly what he had hoped for. The Nuggets now seem galvanized and hungry to devour, something the Minnesota Timberwolves seem to be lacking at the moment.
And now that the video has served its purpose, the Denver Nuggets seem to be back on track, at home, waiting to host Minnesota for the fifth game of this seven-game series. And something tells us, things won’t be quite as cut and dry as the last the Wolves visited Rocky Mountain High.
