The National Basketball Association (NBA) championship-bound Denver Nuggets are not smiling.
“It’s hard to stay in the game,” Denver head coach Michael Malone said on Sunday (Nov. 27), according to the Associated Press.
The Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 113-111 in Game 4 of the best-of-seven 2022-2023 NBA Western Conference Finals at 스포츠토토 Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California (USA) on Wednesday to sweep the series and advance to the championship game for the first time in franchise history.
Denver will face the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics in the championship game on March 2.
Game 1 of the championship series comes 10 days after the Nuggets played their last real game.
“We’ve been playing every other day, but unexpectedly we have 10 days off,” Malone said. “It’s impossible to stay in game shape if you don’t play,” he said.
“Practice is practice, but it’s definitely not the same as the game,” he said.
Furthermore, the championship game opponent has yet to be determined.
Initially, it looked like Miami would sweep Games 1-3 and advance to the championship game with ease, but Boston rallied back in Games 4 and 5.
While Miami still leads the best-of-seven series 3-2, and no team in NBA history has ever come back from a three-game deficit in the playoffs, there’s an odd feeling in the air.
For Malone, it’s a concern.
“We have no idea who our final opponent is going to be. We can’t prepare a game plan for them,” he sighs.
