MILWAUKEE – Jamal Murray, clad in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, sat at his locker room stall smiling in the postgame locker room.
Wearing similar attire, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope munched away on a postgame meal.
Nikola Jokic, who sat at the end of Denver’s bench on Wednesday night in a jacket and dark jeans, had already vacated the locker room by the time the doors opened to media members.
All three players were out on Wednesday night, Denver’s second game of a back-to-back, which began Tuesday night in New Orleans. Michael Porter Jr.’s absence had nothing to do with rest or injury.
Unsurprisingly, the Nuggets lost while facing Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton, who together accounted for 63 of the Bucks’ 107 points. Led by Aaron Gordon’s 26-point, 14-rebound effort, the Nuggets managed only 99 points.
If the Nuggets (34-15) and Bucks (31-17) represent two of the legitimate title contenders from each conference, Wednesday’s matchup was effectively a dud.
“You would hope that they would set this game up to be a little bit more of a marquee matchup, but again, that’s easy for us to say,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said, diplomatically, after the loss.
After his careful, yet insightful, comment, Malone joked he was going to be a politician.
What could’ve been a matchup of the last four MVPs instead featured a relatively healthy Bucks squad taking on a Nuggets’ starting lineup that was gutted. Jokic warmed up prior to the game but was officially out due to a tender left hamstring.
What hamstrung one matchup, though, may have only ensured another. Following Wednesday’s loss, the Nuggets will head to Philadelphia, where the 76ers were on the exact same Wednesday-Saturday game schedule as Denver. Both teams should be fully rested by the weekend.
“They’re setting that game up for Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid, ABC,” Malone said.
He joked that every year when the schedule comes out, he always hates it. He said it was probably the same for 29 other coaches. That’s the nature of the beast, where the NBA can’t appease 30 teams.
“The league has an impossible job,” Malone said.
From a media and marketing standpoint, Wednesday’s game may have been a letdown. But from the players’ perspective, it was hardly that.
The Nuggets fought hard before bowing out late in the fourth quarter. Starters Zeke Nnaji, Christian Braun, and Vlatko Cancar played valuable minutes that wouldn’t normally be there when fully loaded. Nnaji’s been a constant source of energy since being added to the rotation, and Braun continues to make strides as a rookie.
Ish Smith came off the bench and sparked the reserves with 10 points and three assists. He didn’t have the same agenda as fans eager to see two of the best, most unique stars in the NBA.
“That’s how it goes,” Smith said. “… You never know in the playoffs when you might have to count on somebody.”
The other flipside that Malone acknowledged was that Wednesday offered a chance to hone Denver’s identity. The offense didn’t flow as smoothly as normal, and the fouls were up, but the Nuggets were within two possessions with five minutes remaining.
“You’re gonna find out about your team – what is the makeup of our group?” Malone said.
Despite the loss, he was proud of how his team competed. With 10 games to go before the All-Star break, he said these are the times when teams’ eyes start to wander toward vacation. And regardless of who’s available, the Nuggets intend to distance themselves even more from the rest of the West.
“We are keeping our eyes on the prize,” he said.
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