The Denver Nuggets celebrated their NBA championship victory during a parade on Thursday and took time to throw some shade at the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Denver Nuggets won their first-ever NBA championship on Monday, as they defeated the Miami Heat in five games. Next up before entering offseason mode was the championship parade on Thursday, a date that the NBA world discovered when Nikola Jokic asked when it was being held since he wanted to go home.
Nuggets fans gathered in Denver for the parade, where they got to watch Kentavious Caldwell-Pope have a beer-drinking contest with a fan and Christian Braun holding a WWE championship belt. But during the ceremony, the Nuggets threw some shade at the Los Angeles Lakers, who they swept in the Western Conference Finals.
Altitude TV reporter and host Vic Lombardi introduced Nuggets head coach Mike Malone by saying, "He came into this world as the son of a coach, but in these playoffs, he became the Lakers daddy!"
Nuggets throw shade at Lakers during NBA championship parade
Lombardi also said, "NBA put that in your pipe and smoke it." This is referencing Malones' comments about the national media narrative about the Lakers making adjustments instead of the Nuggets' Game 1 victory in the Western Conference Finals.
Here is Malone's full quote for context:
"A lot of our guys, to be honest, they may not admit this or not. You know, you win game one of the playoffs and all everybody talked about was the Lakers," said Malone, h/t The Big Lead. "Let's be honest, that was a national narrative was, hey the Lakers were fine. They're down 1–0 but they figured something out. No one talked about Nikola just had a historic performance. He's got 13 triple-doubles now, third all-time. What he's doing is just incredible, but the narrative wasn't about the Nuggets. The narrative wasn't about Nikola. The narrative was about the Lakers and their adjustments. So you know, you put that in your pipe, you smoke it, and you come back and you know what, we're going to go up 2–0."
Malone even wore a shirt with the quote "Put that in your pipe and smoke it," featuring a photo of the Larry O'Brien Trophy, at the parade.
The Nuggets were the best team in the Western Conference entering the NBA playoffs, and they certainly looked like it. Malone's squad had never gone more than six games in a single playoff series. The Phoenix Suns were the only team to defeat the Nuggets twice in a series during their second-round matchup. Now, they have the Larry O'Brien Trophy to show for it.
Once the celebrations are over, Malone and the Nuggets organization will look to find ways to ensure they have a legitimate chance of repeating as champions.
