September 25, 2020 By: Karl Wimer

Cartoon: ‘The Bad News Denver Nuggets’

“Denver Nuggets: The Bad News Bears of Basketball”

The Denver Nuggets keep confounding the basketball sages, with gut-wrenching wins and series comebacks that have made history.

And yet they continue to be written off.

Coach Michael Malone last week in the middle of the Clippers series said, “I almost feel like we’re The Bad News Bears and I’m Coach Buttermaker. We’re a team that nobody really looks at and takes us seriously. And our guys, I think, have taken that personally.”

This week’s cartoon went to the famous movie poster created by the late, great Mort Drucker (famous for his MAD Magazine work), and faithfully recasts the misfits from the 1976 movie.

The Nuggets don’t look like much on paper, especially against the NBA standard bearers. One of the youngest teams in the league, they’ve got up and coming players like Jamal Murray, who seems destined to be a future All-Star, a real All-Star in Nikola Jokic (who doesn’t really look the part) and then a deep cast of supporting players. But often a well-coached team with great chemistry knocks off the team loaded with talent.

And Malone also made a hugely valid point that this team was second in the West for much of the season, and that a record should count for something.

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But right now, being that underdog team isn’t the worst thing, and it’s pretty clear that Malone continues to mine that for motivation. So, Charles Barkley and all the other haters can keep on hating, as long as the Bad News Nuggets keep on winning.

But let’s hope this story doesn’t follow the script of the original movie. The Bears lose in the championship, but decide to throw a party anyway.

I’m looking forward to the party, but with a different outcome.