In the final quarter of Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, Portland Trail Blazers guard Seth Curry and Denver Nuggets guard Will Barton traded words and shoves after Zach Collins inadvertently crashed into Barton's knees. It seemed like a minor dust-up, but Curry inflated it by calling the Nuggets “sassy” in a postgame interview. Now, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone has come to the defense of his player while underplaying the whole skirmish. Writer Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN summarized Malone's words, which makes the whole incident seem minor:
“It's Will Barton protecting himself from a guy falling into his knees. It's Seth Curry taking offense to it. They get into a little minor skirmish — move on. Game 7 will be hard-fought. It will be emotional because of what's at stake. I don't think it's going to be a carry-over from what happened in last game. It's playoff basketball. It should be a hard-fought game. It should be physical. It should be teams protecting each other.”
Hopefully, Michael Malone is right that the fight will not carry over into Game 7. No NBA fans want to see a winner-take-all game scarred by ejections and multiple technicals.
The Nuggets' head coach was also correct in his assessment of the fight. Emotions always run higher in playoff games, and especially in elimination games. Viewers will be in for a treat on Sunday afternoon when the two teams meet to decide who will advance to the Western Conference Finals in the Pepsi Center.
Michael Malone will have Will Barton's back, and he should have a unified locker room before the Nuggets' biggest game since 2009, the last time they reached the West Finals.
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