George Karl said in a recent interview that he believes Andre Iguodala was the “mole” who told Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson about the Denver Nuggets’ plans to play dirty during the playoff series between the teams last season.
The Warriors beat the Nuggets in six games in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs last season. It was a tough series, and you may recall that the series was extremely physical. Jackson even accused the Nuggets of sending “hitmen” after his star player, Stephen Curry, in an effort to injure the sharpshooting guard. Jackson said at the time that he had an inside source from the Nuggets who told him that was the case.
“I’ve got inside information that some people don’t like that brand of basketball, and they clearly didn’t co-sign it so they wanted to let me know that they had no parts in what was taking place,” Jackson said after Game 5.
Iguodala signed with the Warriors in the offseason, which is one of the reasons Karl believes Iguodala was the “mole.”
Here’s what Dave Krieger wrote about his interview with Karl:
Q: Do you think Andre Iguodala was Mark Jackson’s “mole”?
A: No question.
Q: Does that bug you?
A: I just think that’s media hype. I mean, that series was not a physical series. Everybody wants to be more aggressive with the guy kicking your ass, so . . . .
Q: The media didn’t say it. Jackson said it.
A: I thought Mark had a lot of tricks in that series that were bush- . . . I don’t know. I don’t know what they were. Almost high-schoolish. They were beneath the NBA level. And they might have worked. They might have motivated his young team in a good way. You know, he’d announce a starting lineup and start another guy. C’mon, man. You think we’re not ready for that?
Maybe Jackson did have some bush league tricks, but that’s minor stuff. Playing a mental game is much different from intentionally trying to injure a player. What the Nuggets did was dirty and inexcusable. It was simply unsportsmanlike, and I don’t have a problem with Iguodala not going along with it.
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