Mike Malone on Will Barton, Seth Curry Game 6 Scrap: 'It's Playoff Basketball'
In 1984, Boston Celtics power forward Kevin McHale clotheslined Los Angeles Lakers forward Kurt Rambis in midair during the NBA Finals and only received a personal foul:
McHale would have been tossed, fined and suspended today, but memories of a more physical game give Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone some perspective after his team engaged with the Portland Trail Blazers in an on-court confrontation during Game 6 of their second-round playoff series, with Denver guard Will Barton and Portland guard Seth Curry acting as protagonists.
"It's Will Barton protecting himself from a guy falling into his knees," Malone told reporters. "It's Seth Curry taking offense to it. They get into a little minor skirmish—move on. Game 7 will be hard-fought. It will be emotional because of what's at stake. I don't think it's going to be a carry-over from what happened in last game. It's playoff basketball. It should be a hard-fought game. It should be physical. It should be teams protecting each other.
"Again, that's a different era when you think about my father when he was with the 'Bad Boys' and all that. That [incident in Game 6] was nothing in my opinion."
Malone's father, Brendan Malone, was an assistant coach for the late-1980s and early 1990s Detroit Pistons. Known as the Bad Boys, they bulled the NBA with their physical style and won two NBA championships.
Barton agreed with the "playoff basketball" sentiment after the Nuggets' 119-108 loss.
"It's competitive playoff basketball," Barton told reporters. "Some things are going to happen. If we are all out there just being friendly, it ain't going to look like nobody trying to win."
Curry wasn't too happy:
"[Barton] waited for a few people to get in between us, and when a few people were in between us, he put his finger in my eye," Curry told reporters postgame. "You know what I'm saying? I can't allow people to put their fingers in my eye.
"That's real sassy. They got a few sassy dudes over there. Front-runners. And we can't allow that."
We'll see if there's any spillover on Sunday, when the Nuggets host the Blazers for Game 7 at 3:30 p.m. ET.
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