"It kind of woke us up": How Paul Millsap and the Nuggets got their edge back

Marcus Morris picked the wrong guy to try and punk.

Not Paul Millsap, the Nuggets’ grizzled, 14-year veteran who’s had to fight for everything throughout his NBA career. Not the 2006 second-round pick out of Louisiana Tech who’s had to earn every bit of respect and recognition he’s gotten after arriving in Utah as an unknown and unheralded rookie.

Four All-Star appearances and over $100 million later, Millsap is still fighting for every foul call. I can’t remember a multi-time All-Star who gets a worse whistle than he does.

Maybe Morris thought that if he knocked Millsap down, he’d knock the Nuggets out. Denver after all is built in Millsap’s underdog image. Twelve of the 17 players the Nuggets brought to Disney World were either undrafted or selected in the second round. Denver’s rotation includes just one top-10 pick in Jamal Murray.

Unfortunately for the Clippers, the Nuggets don’t back down. Denver doesn’t give in even when its odds look almost insurmountable. The Nuggets could have packed it in three weeks ago against the Jazz when Denver was two quarters away from leaving the monotony of the NBA bubble for good. The Nuggets found themselves in a similar position Friday, trailing the Clippers by 16 points with less than a minute until halftime.

As Nikola Jokic hoisted a three-pointer, Morris and Millsap jockeyed for position under the basket. Then, Morris’ right elbow connected with Millsap’s right temple. Upon further review it looked every bit as intentional as it seemed live.

The scuffle changed Game 5 and also Millsap’s night. Millsap’s performance across the first half of Friday night’s matchup was largely forgettable, much like his play throughout most of the playoffs has been. He logged 15 minutes over the first and second quarters of Game 5 and scored just three points on 1 of 6 shooting.

The Nuggets, and Millsap, were a different team after halftime. Midway through the third quarter, Denver cut LA’s double-digit halftime lead to six points and kept its deficit to single digits through the rest of the period. Millsap also exploded for 14 points in the quarter on 5-6 shooting.

“I left my rhythm back in Denver,” Millsap said following the Game 5 win. “I kind of found it. It kind of woke me up. I was able to get in my zone, get out there and just play.”

It was more than just Millsap’s scoring that changed Denver’s makeup over the third and fourth quarters of Game 5. The Nuggets played with a different mentality and edge after halftime. Instead of Morris’ elbow acting as the finishing blow to the Nuggets’ playoff hopes, it got Denver’s juices flowing.

“It’s the words that they’ve been talking all series,” Millsap said. “I know the word is we’re soft. We’re not going to let these guys come in and just push us around. I think that’s what really sparked it. We want to prove a point that we’re not going to be bullied. We’re not going to be intimidated.”

“They started running their mouth a little bit. And it kind of woke us up.”

In the fourth quarter, Nikola Jokic poured in 11 points on 4-4 shooting. Jamal Murray added nine points, three rebounds and four assists in the deciding frame. Michael Porter Jr.’s clutch three, block and rebound in the final minute of regulation sealed the Game 5 win.

Would it have happened if Millsap didn’t go chin-to-chin with Morris?

“You have a seasoned veteran who has had enough and wasn’t going to sit there and take it. And he stood up,” Michael Malone said. “I thought his response to that situation really helped our team respond to that.”

“I think some of our younger guys kind of stuck their chest out a little bit more after seeing Paul do that.”

The Nuggets’ second-half comeback in Game 5 was eerily similar to how Denver battled back from a double-digit third-quarter deficit in Game 5 against Utah. Like the Clippers, it felt like the Jazz held a mental edge over the Nuggets throughout the first half of that series. Utah was getting anything it wanted against Denver. Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert were the ones forcing the issue, until they weren’t.

The Clippers no longer hold a mental advantage over the Nuggets. By now, Denver knows it can play with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

“I think that just changed our mentality,” Millsap said of the dust-up with Morris. “We’ve got to carry that on to Game 6 and just come in from the start and not be pushed around, not be bullied, not be intimidated and just do what we do.”

Who knows if the Nuggets can pull off the unthinkable and come back from another 3-1 deficit. If Denver somehow did, of course the Nuggets would become the first team in NBA history to accomplish the feat twice in the same season.

No one thinks the Nuggets will. Even after a spirited Game 5 win, the Clippers are still heavy favorites to advance. But that’s fine with Michael Malone and his players. They don’t need anyone to believe other than themselves.

It’s not like anyone other than Millsap believed that a 6-foot-7 power forward out of Conference USA could have carved out a 14-year NBA career either.

“I know everybody’s excited about the Lakers playing the Clippers in the Western Conference finals. But we’re hoping to have something to say about that.”

“We believe in ourselves.”