Thanks, Joe Mazzulla.
That’s all my internal monologue could muster as I sprinted back in transition again, legs on autopilot by now, after our fourth — fifth? — consecutive live-ball turnover. If I were lucky, Aziz Leeks would try a highlight dunk too ambitious this time. Maybe I would fetch a long rebound on a botched windmill.
I was not lucky. The Nuggets’ support staff was not bored yet. We had not reached that stage of the proceedings.
Thanks, Joe Mazzulla.
His idea was equal parts earnest and diabolical. Coaching staff vs. Media. Player development specialists against beat writers and podcasters. A good-natured exercise in relationship-building that doubled as an admittedly amusing experiment in the basketball talent gap between NBA coaches and the people who cover them.
Mazzulla, the mysteriously intense head coach of the Celtics, surprised the Boston media last week with news that his staff would be scrimmaging against them. This quickly descended into hilarity when the coaches further ambushed their unwilling challengers with a full-court press for the entire 12 minutes. The final score went predictably viral: 57-4.
“I did see that,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said when asked how the Nuggets beat would hold up.
“I have a lot of former NBA players on my staff, but no, that would be interesting. It would be fun,” he continued, with enough hesitation in his tone to indicate to us what was already obvious. “I don’t know. I think we would do OK.”
And a few days later, there I was, experiencing a real-life record-scratch moment, helplessly trying to chase down Leeks on a fast break for the sixth — seventh? — possession in a row.
Turns out, a lot of people who work in media are masochistic when it comes to #content. I’ve never seen a Nuggets practice so packed. I’d estimate there were almost twice as many credentialed journalists at Ball Arena for this event than for Game 7 of the Nuggets vs. Clippers playoff series five months ago. Because of this, we all took abbreviated shifts and rotated out every four minutes. Probably for the best, because it ended up being four minutes of running suicides.
My mistake was playing in the very first group, when the coaches were fresh and motivated, with no cushion on the scoreboard yet. No, I’m not good enough to be a starter, even at the Denver Press Club. But ace photographer AAron Ontiveroz and I have irreplicable pick-and-roll chemistry, so we were a package deal.
This is where I admit that Adelman’s two most recognizable assistants, JJ Barea and Jared Dudley, did not participate. (Neither did Adelman, who cited a torn Achilles tendon he suffered once in a pickup game. None of them wanted the smoke, I guess. Sad.) Barea and Dudley were not just NBA players but really good ones. I suppose that makes it more embarrassing to reveal that my lineup lost our minutes 14-0, setting the tone for a 114-16 smackdown.
But look, they have a deep roster over there. Barea and Dudley’s minutes went to guys like Leeks, Cam Griffin and new video coordinator Ben Potts, who were basically competing against each other in a dunk contest more than against us by the end of the proceedings. After I was done, the game turned into a conveyor belt of bounce-pass alley-oop attempts and reverse jams. Griffin’s hops are considerable. Potts posterized my fellow Mizzou alum Matt Moore, who refused to make a business decision because we are a press corps with integrity.
Adelman stopped in to gawk at the scoreboard for a bit, and who knows, maybe to scout for candidates to fill the Nuggets’ 15th roster spot as well. The media MVP trophy went to 104.3’s Zach Bye, who contributed both points and rebounds to the cause. He’s waiting for Denver’s call, I’m told by sources familiar with the situation.
Also making an appearance to watch was Nuggets guard Christian Braun, who apparently had nothing better to do with his time after signing a five-year, $125 million contract extension 24 hours earlier.
On the day of that 57-4 demolition in Boston, Braun had been one of the first to suggest that we set up our own version of the matchup in Denver. “Put Bennett in the action,” he said as reporters entered the locker room after a Nuggets preseason game.
I’m sure they would have tried, but there just weren’t enough opportunities for the coaches to run their half-court sets because they were getting too many easy points in transition. I’ll say this in defense of myself, though: I was not responsible for any turnovers during my stint (unless I’m forgetting one, it truly was a blur), and I recorded one defensive rebound after contesting a missed shot. Other than a 3-pointer that I bricked, it was about as successful as four minutes of getting outscored 14-0 can be. And I’m just in it for the individual stats anyway.
My only regret is that players and coaches weren’t instructed to file an instant story at the buzzer, conduct postgame interviews, update their gamers with quotes on deadline, then do a second story. Maybe next time.
In all seriousness (since this was a deeply serious game), it can be refreshing to let yourself be humbled sometimes. When my job involves asking players and coaches about an inadequate performance on some nights, there’s something to be said for being willing to do so with a little self-awareness and humility. I’ll happily run it back next year. Denver’s coaching staff should be hungry after failing to push the margin to 100 this week.
I’ll be in the lab in the meantime — 2026 is the year I introduce some off-the-dribble scoring to my game.
