Safe to say, the Denver Nuggets were happy with their win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night.
Star player Nikola Jokic and coach Mike Malone, in particular, were quite pleased with their performance. To quote the eminent philosopher Larry David, they felt pretty, pretty, pretty good. The Nuggets blasted the Lakers, 129-118 to improve to 47-32 for a half-game lead over the Utah Jazz for the no. 5 seed in the Western Conference.
The significance of beating the Lakers, who are trying to squeeze into the play-in tournament, wasn't lost on Malone, per the report of ESPN.
“Very satisfying, knowing the situation, four games to go (when) you've got people right behind you, pushing you. This was an important road win. We've been a great road team all regular season long. When it mattered most, we were able to get stops.”
Jokic, who had 38 points, 18 rebounds, and six assists, echoed Malone's sentiments, adding the Nuggets can still shift to a higher gear in the NBA Playoffs.
“I think it's a really important win for us. I'm just glad that we're winning. If we're playing bad and we're winning, that's the most important thing. I think it was really collective play that we did together, but hopefully we can keep it up to separate further and be even better.”
Malone reiterated his dislike for the play-in tournament, but at this point, the Nuggets shouldn't be too worried about that and instead celebrate their win over the Lakers.
The Nuggets will next battle the San Antonio Spurs, another team desperately trying to enter the play-in tournament, on Tuesday.
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