The five most iconic moments of Michael Malone’s time in Denver
Apr 9, 2025, 5:14 PM | Updated: 5:15 pm
The best coach in the Denver Nuggets’ history, Michael Malone, was fired on Tuesday. He led the most memorable era of basketball in the Mile High City, with his brash New York voice resonating as rallying cries through fans of the Pickaxes as Malone’s messages became lore.
From turning back the Los Angeles Lakers to having Nikola Jokic’s back, these are the most memorable moments during Malone’s 10 years leading the Nuggets.
The first true Nikola Jokic believer
“Well, every time I think he’s kind of reached his rookie ceiling, the game he had tonight, I mean you can talk about some of these very young bigs who are very talented, the kid in New York, Minnesota, Philly. I don’t know any of their names. I know this kids name, though. I know Nikola Jokic, and I wouldn’t trade him for anybody in the world. He’s a special young man, he’s a special young talent, and he’s only going to get better as he continues to get stronger, learn the NBA, finishing around the basket, defensively. But he’s a heck of a young talent. I give a lot of credit to Tim Connelly and the front office for finding him and making him a part of this.”
Malone shared these thoughts on Feb. 1, 2016, after Jokic had a career-best night at the time of 27 points and 14 rebounds. Of course, he does that all of the time now. But Malone was out in front of everyone in realizing Jokic was a special talent, instantly comparing him to recent top picks Kristaps Porzingis, Karl-Anthony Towns and Joel Embiid. It was Malone’s announcement to the world that the second-rounder from Serbia belonged in the conversation for best — in this case, best young big. About 10 months later, Jokic entered the starting lineup on “Jokmas” for good, and the Nuggets never looked back. Without Malone’s careful development of and instillation of belief in Jokic, does he ever become the three-time MVP?
@bleacherreport Mike Malone knew 🔮 (h/t theyalreadyknew/X) #nikolajokic #jokic #nba
“Take that L on the way out”
“You’re either with us, or you’re against us,” Malone said in November of 2018 after beating LeBron James and the Lakers. “LeBron is arguably the best player ever. When he comes to town, the Lakers and their fans carry. As long as their fans go home disappointed, that’s all I care about. The Warrior fans can come in here, the Celtic fans can come in here. The Laker fans can come in here. But take that L on the way out.”
The most iconic of many memorable Michael Malone bars as the head coach set the tone early in his Nuggets tenure of not being little brother to the Lakers. Despite a 2020 conference finals exit to the Lakers, in the long term, this played out beautifully as Denver fans had the confidence to go after Los Angeles, and it would result in two playoff losses. But it’s this quote, the phrasing and mentality, that was a big characteristic of the Nuggets era. It was Denver against everyone else. The Nuggets were going to be great, and they were going to make sure Ball Arena had the best home-court advantage in the league. Denver didn’t care about your star players or your big market; it was just as good as you, and if you didn’t think so, you were about to take that L on your way out.
3-1 comebacks
One of the most iconic moments in Nuggtes history happened in a COVID-bubble as we all watched on our TV screens. Jamal Murray and the Nuggets against Donvan Mithcell and the Jazz stole the show initially, but Jokic captained not one but two comebacks from down 3-1 series to take Denver to the Western Conference Finals. Denver became the first NBA team to come back from a 3–1 deficit in a back-to-back series during a playoff run. Jokic’s hook-shot winner in Game 7, Paul Millsap’s fight, Murray’s absurd shot-making and so many more memories are core to this Nuggets group, and it all happened as Malone inspired not one but two miraculous comebacks.
Lakers Daddy
This season, Malone passed Doug Moe’s mark of 432 wins with the Nuggets to become the team’s winningest coach ever. Moe coached the team from 1980 through 1990, defining what the golden era of Denver hoops was before Malone’s tenure. Moe’s up-and-down teams captained by Alex English in rainbow jerseys is a lasting image. Moe led the franchise to the conference finals in 1984-1985, where the team lost to the Lakers. A story all too familiar in Nuggets history where the franchise’s high water mark was losing to Los Angeles in the West Finals. They did that in 2008-09 when George Karl’s best team flamed out against the Lakers there. Karl coached the Nuggets to 423 wins during his nine years at the helm. Malone was the first to break through that barrier, though the Nuggets lost in their first conference finals to the Lakers during his time. They came back a few years later and swept the Lakers en route to the 2023 championship then they topped Los Angeles again a year later in the 2024 postseason.
It wasn’t just the long-awaited breakthrough of beating the bully Lakers but Malone’s willingness to talk smack in the process. As the Nuggets dominated on the court, Malone rocked the microphone off of it. From “put that in your pipe and smoke it” to other big quotes, it culminated in a parade where he was called the Lakers’ daddy. He went to bat for the underdog Nuggets to make sure they got the respect they deserved, and on top of it, he celebrated just about as hard as anyone could after Denver finished the job. It included a summer-long back and forth with the Lakers, where the coach kept talking his stuff.
“Oh, they’re talking about us? That was what, four months ago?” Malone said from Nuggets’ training camp in Southern California at the start of the following season. “I can’t speak for anybody in L.A., but if they’re still worried about us, that’s on them.”
The Finals run
The only coach to ever win a basketball championship in Denver. What more is there to say? This is his lasting image.
Malone is wilding! Amazing pic.twitter.com/jHwalgVmhV
— Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) June 15, 2023
