Denver, CO
In his first season as Nuggets coach, Michael Malone saw Doug Moe’s banner and thought: “I’m gonna break that record”
The banner above Michael Malone was impossible to ignore. So the coach from Queens fixated on it as a physical representation of his ambition in a new city.
“I remember early on, first year, you look up at the rafters and you see all the great names,” he said. “And you see ‘432’ staring at you. And there was a little part of me always, a competitive side of me, that said: ‘I’m gonna break that record. I’m gonna break that record.’”
For 10 years, Doug Moe’s 432 wins literally loomed over Malone, an increasingly difficult milestone to chase in the modern NBA. But when Malone looked up at the Ball Arena rafters last Monday, for the first time, he was no longer chasing it. With a 127-102 rout of the Lakers, he had passed Moe’s all-time record for the most regular-season wins by a Nuggets coach.
Now a banner of his own is in Malone’s future.
“When I first got here, growing up a son of a coach, you know that job security is something that doesn’t kind of go with our profession,” he said. “And that’s why my father tried to talk me out of becoming a coach.”
“He’s a really passionate guy,” Nikola Jokic said. “He likes to win. He doesn’t like to lose. (The record) is something that’s going to be there for a long time, probably.”
Malone’s only previous stint as a head coach had ended a fraction through his second season in Sacramento. Even his late father, whose accomplished career in the NBA spanned multiple decades and multiple championships, lasted just one year in his only head coaching job. Before the Nuggets played in Toronto this October, Malone retold the story of watching Brendan Malone’s Raptors shock the 1995-96 Bulls. “Great memory,” he said, pausing for comedic effect. “And then unfortunately, obviously he got fired.”
Needless to say, there was very little reason to believe 432 wins with any one franchise would be attainable when Michael took over the Nuggets in 2015. That didn’t stop him from envisioning it during a 33-49 season.
If someone had told him at the beginning that he would eventually become the franchise’s winningest coach, how would he have responded?
“Damn right,” Malone said, grinning.
He’s now the fourth-longest tenured coach in the league, behind San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra and Golden State’s Steve Kerr. With 473 wins between Sacramento and Denver, he ranks 43rd in league history and eighth among active coaches.
“That’s a byproduct of having a tremendous coaching staff, outstanding players and the support of our front office and ownership group for 10 years,” the 53-year-old said before Denver hosted the Knicks last Monday. “So I never take that continued belief lightly, because I know how the profession can be.
“… For my daughters to move here in third grade and fifth grade and to go all the way through high school, that’s incredible. And that’s why this place has become home. And I couldn’t ask for a better position with better people and a better city, and we truly love it here.”
What happened next was a fitting example of Malone’s competitive fire that helped him win 433 games in 56 fewer tries than Moe. The Nuggets allowed 145 points in a loss that night, their worst defensive performance of Malone’s tenure, and the coach proceeded to rip his team’s effort in a passionate postgame news conference. Any talk of the franchise record was suddenly in the distant past. It was back to business as usual.
“He keeps everybody accountable,” longtime point guard Jamal Murray had said a few days earlier, “which I love the most.”
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DENVER (KDVR) — With the mild winter and warm start to spring, beekeepers are seeing swarms earlier in the year and expect the season to be longer than usual.
Gregg McMahan is a dispatcher for the Colorado Swarm Hotline. It’s usually his job to send a beekeeper to collect a swarm when someone calls, but on Sunday afternoon, he decided to handle one himself.
“Nice little swarm,” McMahan said. “It’s tricky, though, because it’s hanging on a fence.”
A warm winter and spring mean swarm season has begun four weeks early.
“Never seen it like this ever,” McMahan said.
This call is to a house on Denver’s east side. When McMahan arrived, he saw a swarm had taken up residence on the fence.
“Absolutely typical, it is on the small side,” McMahan said.
He got to work, first luring them into a box when he spotted a good sign.
“See all these girls, they got their butts up, they’re fanning their wings. That’s telling us the queens in here,” McMahan said.
With the queen in hand, the rest began to follow her into the box.
McMahan said two years ago, he had 400 calls like this. Last year, only 100, the Swarm Hotline was as unpredictable as the weather, which has caused bee activity earlier in the year than ever.
“It makes it hard on the bees, you know? Two days ago, I’m collecting swarms in the snow,” McMahan said.
Rescuing them is integral to Colorado’s ecosystem. McMahan hopes people give a beekeeper a call instead of spraying them or harming them in any other way.
“They do a phenomenal amount of pollination within this state. Not only our native flowers but all the other flowers that people bring in,” McMahan said.
Slowly but surely, the swarm left the fence and moved into the box. McMahan loaded them into his truck to deliver them to their new home.
“Westminster to the Stanley Lake Wildlife Refuge, so these girls will have lakefront property tonight,” he said.
As he wrapped up, McMahan’s phone was buzzing more than the bees. Just another call to start a swarm season, he thinks, could be a long one.
“This year I’m already 20 swarms deep, so I’m expecting way more than 100 this year,” McMahan said.
To have a bee swarm removed for free from your property anywhere statewide, the Swarm Hotline number is 1-844-SPY-BEES.
For the first time in the team’s history, Altitude Sports is broadcasting Denver Nuggets home games in Spanish. Kroenke Sports and Entertainment announced it has contracted a team to broadcast its games in Spanish for the playoffs.
“I think that is what the public wanted,” said Ivan De La Garza, producer for the broadcast team.
A team of three people, two commentators and a producer, sit in a press box at the top of Ball Arena. Their commentary is then synced with the traditional Altitude broadcast video and shared on the Altitude Plus application.
“With the Nuggets winning in the last five years, there is a tremendous amount of following from Latino people trying to listen to and watch the games in Spanish,” said Andres Casas, color commentator for the broadcast.
Casas said he strives to bring the same energy fans get during soccer broadcasts into the basketball broadcasts.
“That excitement that gets you. We want people to feel they are at the game,” Casas said.
“It has been so amazing to be a part of the Spanish broadcast for the Nuggets. I have been a fan of the Nuggets for my whole life,” said Jena Garcia, play-by-play commentator.
Garcia said it has been a dream come true to help bring this broadcast to her community.
“I’ve always desired to hear a Spanish broadcast, just as a fan. To be a part of it is just incredible,” Garcia said.
Those working in the broadcast said they are honored to help expand the reach of the Nuggets and sports in accessing diverse communities.
“We love sports. We are passionate, we are loud. We like to get together and enjoy sports,” De La Garza said.
“The Nuggets have a huge following, especially on the Spanish side. So, it is great for them to be able to listen to what is going on, game by game, especially into the playoffs,” Casas said.
“It is just another step of access that they are getting to be a fan of basketball,” Garcia said.
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