Prior to the game, Nuggets coach Michael Malone shrugged his shoulders and dismissed the notion that his short-handed team against the defending Western Conference champion was anything other than an opportunity to shock the NBA world.
“Whoever’s available, let’s go out there and play, man,” he said. “Don’t go out there defeated. Go out there and accept the challenge. Let’s go out there and play with the belief that we can win this game.”
Well.
They did.
And then some.
Playing the most inspired basketball of the season, the Nuggets minus Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, Wilson Chandler, Darrell Arthur, Emmanuel Mudiay and new acquisition Mason Plumlee pulled off what most thought would be impossible: Beating the Warriors.