The ‘strange’ Nuggets mix-up that had Denver all out of sorts before Game 4 loss to Lakers

The Denver Nuggets lost Game 4 to the Los Angeles Lakers, their first defeat at the hands of the Lakers in 12 games. And while the Lakers’ strong starts have been a trend all series, the Nuggets may have suffered from a bizarre set of pre-game circumstances before their first loss of the NBA Playoffs.

On the road for their second consecutive game in Los Angeles, a few players on the Nuggets, including Michael Porter Jr., did not have their insoles in time for warm-ups. A team spokesperson told ESPN that the team did not put the insoles on the early team bus, forcing some players to don slide flip-flops until the insoles arrived.

Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said the situation, while not “ideal,” was not why Denver dropped Game 4 to the Lakers.

“If you want to dig into stuff and say, well, we lost because for some strange reason our players didn’t have their shoes when they got here for their normal warmups, that we had guys out there shooting around with flip-flops, is it ideal? No. But I’m not an excuse guy. And I’m not going to point to the reason we got our butts kicked in the paint because shoes weren’t here. I think that’s a reach, personally,” Malone said.

Porter Jr. said he understood it was simply a mistake albeit a “frustrating” one.

“I think the bus that the shoes got loaded onto was the last bus. There was some confusion,” he said. “So all I had was slides. They said we could either skip our warmup or go out there in slides. I kind of knew then that people would probably make a big deal out of it, but it was just because somebody forgot to put the shoes on the right bus.

“It’s frustrating. Pregame routine is very important, but everyone makes mistakes. Everybody’s human, so I’m not too mad.”

Nuggets’ first-half troubles continued in Game 4 vs. Lakers