Nuggets Notes: Nikola Jokic, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Malone

Shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said he’s not surprised the Nuggets eliminated the Suns to advance to the Western Conference Finals.

“Just being around these guys every day — practice, shootaround — I can just see it in them,” Caldwell-Pope said, via Mike Singer of the Denver Post. “The confidence is there.”

Caldwell-Pope guaranteed that the Nuggets would advance after Game 4 in Phoenix, which the Suns won to tie the series at 2-all. Denver won the next two.

“(The Game 4 comment) was just all about leading,” Caldwell-Pope said, via Singer. “Getting out there and showing them.”

Here’s more out of Denver:

• Center Nikola Jokic said he has no preference on who the Nuggets play next — either the Lakers or Warriors. “Both teams beat us in previous years,” Jokic said, via Singer. “… There are no favorites.”
• Coach Michael Malone suggested the blowout win in Game 6 shows just how far the Nuggets have come. “We looked like a championship team,” he said, via Singer. “We were so focused. … Well, I guess I don’t know how a championship team looks. But I think that was how it’s supposed to look.”
• Of course, you don’t win in a rout on the road without a little good fortune. And the Nuggets had plenty, as everything they through toward the hoop seemed to go through it.
• Malone on that very thought: “There were some shots we made where I said to myself, ‘Man, the gods are with us tonight.’ … Somebody’s looking down upon us, and we appreciate that.”

The Denver Nuggets have officially advanced to their second Western Conference Finals in four seasons ?

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) May 12, 2023