All-Star weekend wasn’t exactly must-see television for the defending champion team that was thinly represented in Indianapolis.
Not that it was appointment viewing for anyone else, either.
“I didn’t spend one minute watching anything from the All-Star weekend,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said, “and I’m glad I didn’t.”
The Nuggets (36-19) reconvened for their first practice Tuesday night to gear up for the last third of the season after a long weekend, but Nikola Jokic — their only rotation player named an All-Star — was given the evening off. On Sunday night, he contributed 13 points and nine assists in a 211-186 loss for the Western Conference.
He also was one of only two players with multiple steals in a game devoid of defense; the Eastern Conference All-Stars were the first team to break the 200-point barrier in NBA history, illuminating the ongoing lack effort and competitiveness in what is supposed to be the league’s marquee mid-season event. Malone wasn’t in a position to make educated comments about the issue based on this year’s game, but he’s plenty familiar with the topic after coaching the West in 2023.
“Probably more of the same,” said Malone, who said he enjoyed his break watching his daughter play volleyball in Kansas City. “I know the league is doing everything they can to try and make it more of a competitive game, and that wasn’t the case. So I don’t know what the league can do. You can’t force players to play hard. You can’t force players to care. And I think a lot of the players, in their defense … you also worry about injuries. Your No. 1 duty and obligation is to your team, so I’m not sure. Maybe they should do it like the Pro Bowl. Have an All-Star weekend after the season’s over, and everyone can go there and have fun. There’s nothing competitive about it.”
“I know the fans want to see a really competitive game, but dudes aren’t robots,” said Michael Porter Jr., who said he watched a little bit of the game. “They want to relax and have a little break going into the stretch. … Yeah, but it is kinda tough to watch sometimes.”
Even players such as Aaron Gordon, whose past slam-dunk contest appearances are the stuff of legend, sat out the Saturday slate of events, according to Peyton Watson, who was spending time with Gordon in Aspen. Gordon tweeted after a controversially judged series of dunks that “I probably could’ve got second in this year’s dunk contest,” but that wasn’t to be mistaken with him having eyes glued to the TV.
“We had bigger fish to fry,” Watson said. “We were out in Aspen having snowball fights.”
Injury update as Nuggets return
Nuggets guards Jamal Murray and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who were out with injuries going into the break, both went through practice Tuesday. Malone said the team’s goal is for everyone to be healthy and available Thursday when the Nuggets host the Washington Wizards in the first game out of the break.
“They look good, and hopefully they feel good enough tomorrow to where we can keep building and having them back in the lineup,” Malone said. “Because obviously we know we’re a much better team when they’re available.”
Murray has been dealing with bilateral tibia inflammation, which caused him to miss the second half of Denver’s loss in Milwaukee and the entirety of the next game against Sacramento. Caldwell-Pope has been dealing with right hamstring tightness dating back a couple of weeks.
“Quick turnaround tomorrow morning for practice, but hopefully they’ll be able to go tomorrow,” Malone said. “And then we can take it on a game-by-game basis.”