Top Stories

Michael Malone Is Having the Best Week Ever

By Aaronn Sittig
0
Is anyone in Denver having more fun than Nuggets Coach Michael Malone right now?

The Queens, New York, native has been riding high all week after finally doing the impossible on Monday, June 12, securing the team’s first-ever NBA championship win after nearly half a century in the league.

But that was just the beginning.

On Thursday, June 15, Malone appeared to have the time of his life at the Nuggets championship celebration and parade in downtown Denver — sporting a T-shirt with the Larry O’Brien trophy on it and the words, “Put this in your pipe and smoke it.”

Coach Mo stole the show throughout the day: pumping people up during the parade from both a fire truck and the street, and even going so far as to gulp down Fireball shots while on stage during the team rally at Civic Center Park.

Malone went on to praise his players and talk proudly of an impending Nuggets dynasty, telling the hundreds of thousands in attendance: “We runnin’ this shit back! We runnin this shit back!”

Throughout the morning, Malone was caught on camera interacting with fans and parade-goers. At one point, he was on video spraying people on the street with champagne. Another clip showed Malone conversing (adorably) with a baby.

Speaking to AltitudeTV during a street interview, Malone talked about what the day meant to him — both as a coach and a person.

“You know what’s funny about this? Jared Bednar, coach of the Avalanche, told me — I said, ‘When did it hit you?’ He said, ‘At the parade.’ And it’s hitting me right now,” Malone said, crying. “And for me, to share it with our fans, that means the world to me. This is an amazing experience. Something I believed in. I had no doubt that we’d get to this point. No doubt. Because of the people I work with every day.”

Malone added: “For me, just taking the time to reflect and own the moment. Life’s about moments. It is. And what we just accomplished, 47 years in the making. And I am just so, so happy. Not for me, not for our players, but for our fans.”

click to enlarge Denver Nuggets Head Coach Michael Malone speaking at Civic Center Park during the Nuggets championship celebration and rally.

Coach Malone’s speech at Civic Center Park was a highlight of the Nuggets rally.

Evan Semón

He finished the AltitudeTV interview with “a crazy idea” he has for Nuggets Nation and the future.

“I’m kind of crazy [and] I’m a little bit emotional,” Malone said. “Let’s do this shit again. Let’s do this again. I want to be on another float. I want to come down the fucking parade — I’m sorry for my language, excuse me — and experience this again. Because this city, these fans, this franchise, they deserve that. So let’s go, Nuggets! I love you guys.”

While the Nuggets’ win on Monday night and the parade/rally Thursday were likely the most entertaining days for Malone, his best week ever didn’t stop there.

On Tuesday, June 13, one of Malone’s favorite bands — the Grateful Dead — took to social media to congratulate the longtime Deadhead on his historic victory.

The remaining members of the group, who still use the Grateful Dead name online but perform separately, shared a picture of Malone sporting a Nuggets-themed Grateful Dead jersey at a practice, along with a similarly designed tie-dye T-shirt.

“Michael Malone wore a Grateful Dead shirt to Nuggets practice,” said NBC Sports Bay Area reporter Kerith Burke in an April 2022 tweet, which was shared by Nuggets media (but later deleted). “He says he’s a longtime Deadhead and being in SF reminds him of where it all started in Haight-Ashbury.”

The Nuggets were getting ready to play the Golden State Warriors in round one of the NBA playoffs last year when Malone showed up to practice in his Dead gear.

“I don’t know if we can win a game, but everyone likes my attire,” he told reporters. “Grateful Dead shirts and green sweatsuits.”

Malone has at least two different pieces of Nuggets-themed Grateful Dead swag that he’s donned publicly: the basketball jersey that he’s wearing in the Twitter photo that the band page shared — featuring a signature Grateful Dead skull, but with the Nuggets logo in the middle instead of a lightning bolt — and a shirt that shows a dunking skeleton, aka “Slammin Skullman,” in a Nuggets jersey.

The band began designing merch with NBA teams in 2013 as part of a major, first-of-its-kind collaboration for the musicians. No other pro sports league had teamed up with the Grateful Dead prior to the partnership, according to Sports Illustrated. The apparel brand Sportiqe collaborated with the band and NBA to put out gear with different designs, including one with the legendary “dancing bear” figures from the back cover of the 1973 album History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear’s Choice).

The dunking skeleton logo harks back to the Dead’s famous support and sponsorship of the 1992 Lithuanian national basketball team, which managed to win a bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics that year.

While the jerseys the players competed in didn’t feature any band-inspired designs — they were just standard white/green jerseys with green and red trim — their outfits at the medal ceremony bore the Slammin Skullman and a tie-dye colorway based on the Lithuanian flag.

In Denver, Bob Weir and the boys have actually been given their very own “Grateful Dead Night” during the Nuggets regular season, which features free T-shirts similar to the one Malone wore to practice during the 2022 playoffs. The event has gone down for two years in a row, and will surely continue as long as Coach Mo stays in town.

The shout-out from the Grateful Dead on Twitter came on the same day that Malone got to spend time celebrating the Nuggets championship win with one of his favorite pastimes: pickleball.

An Instagram user who goes by @saintwyn captured a photo of Malone playing doubles. The picture was shared online and reposted by The Kitchen Pickleball, a popular social media account and worldwide “pickleball community,” according to its IG description.

When asked about where Malone was playing this week, @saintwyn told Westword he wanted to keep the location private out of respect for the Nuggets leader. He did confirm, though, that the photo was taken on Tuesday, June 13…the day after the championship win.

“That is accurate,” @saintwyn said.

Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our  Twitter, & Facebook

We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.

For all the latest For Top Stories News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! Rapidtelecast.com is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
Aaronn Sittig
Leave a comment