The Nuggets held a moment of silence at the Pepsi Center before Monday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks in remembrance of former Nuggets president Vince Boryla, who died Sunday while recovering from pneumonia.
He was 86.
Boryla was best known for trading Kiki Vandeweghe to the Portland Trail Blazers in a blockbuster deal that brought Calvin Natt, Fat Lever, Wayne Cooper and draft picks to Denver in June 1984. The Nuggets made it to the Western Conference finals the next season and Boryla was named NBA executive of the year.
Praise for Malone. Without being asked, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle let loose on the admiration he has for the performance of Nuggets coach Michael Malone in his first season in Denver.
“This is a very good young team, and one of the real underrated coaching jobs in our league is happening here with Mike Malone,” Carlisle said. “He’s taken a bunch of guys that were viewed as role players and gotten these guys into a system where they are having some success. They are extremely difficult to play. Their stats are very consistent. And going forward, they are in a very strong position here.”
Injury report. On a night when forward Kenneth Faried returned to action after being sidelined because of a bad back, center Jusuf Nurkic wasn’t available to play. He missed Monday’s game because he was ill, the Nuggets said. He set a career high Sunday by scoring 19 points off the bench in the Nuggets’ 105-90 loss to the Clippers at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
