DENVER — The Denver Nuggets are making history in their first-ever NBA Finals appearance, and new fans are taking notice.
If you haven't paid much attention to the team but jumped on the bandwagon for this playoff run, there might be some Nuggets lingo you've heard that made you stop and think, "What'd you just say?'"
9NEWS photojournalist Bryan Wendland sat down with ALLCITY's Eric Wedum to break down the lexicon diehard fans use to cheer on Mile High's team for years.
Wendland: So, let's start this off with probably one of the most confusing terms that I hope we get to hear in the Finals and that's "munder."
ALLCITY's Wedum: Munder, munder, yeah very confusing. It's really a contraction of two words; When you hold "them under" by 100 points you "hold them under." Hold them under 100 points. It has a little foundation in Game of Thrones, but "Hold the munder."
Wendland: Which brings us nicely to our next one because holding them under 100 points is our coach's favorite thing so what does "Moach" mean?
ALLCITY's Wedum : Moach. We have Coach Michael Malone. Moach. I've learned this long ago, as soon as somebody gets a nickname that means they're beloved. As soon as people stop calling him just Malone, Michael Malone, Mike Malone and started to call him "Moach," it just meant that we love coach Malone, we love "Moach."
Wendland: Michael Malone does not like to be called Mike.
ALLCITY's Wedum: No.
Wendland: But this next one, people are going to be hearing this hopefully a lot in the Finals, "Yeah Mike." What is that about?
ALLCITY's Wedum: So years ago, when Michael Porter Jr. had a great game, in the locker room he was getting doused with water by Gary Harris and they were all screaming "Yeah Mike! Yeah Mike!"
And I saw that clip and thought it was hilarious so we started to make it a thing and there was an idea that Michael Porter Jr. took a very high leverage shot in the "Bubble" and the quote after the game was, "Something just told me to shoot that." And so we made a meme that Michael Porter Jr. was the one telling Michael Porter Jr. to take that shot and so we just have the image of him whispering "Yeah Mike" into his own ear, "Yeah Mike!" So any big three or conversely you'll hear people just going "Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike," from "Finding Nemo," when the seagulls were all perched up and saying "Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine."
Wendland: Next to our beloved Serbian God Nikola Jokic, you're definitely going to be hearing this in the Finals, because it's his signature shot. The "Sombor Shuffle," what does it mean, what does it look like, why is it the "Sombor Shuffle?"
ALLCITY's Wedum: Some people say it is reminiscent of Dirk Nowitzki, some people say it's never been seen before. Basically, Nikola Jokic had an injured ankle and he developed this shot where he's falling back, rises up off of one foot, the opposite foot that you would typically use, and brings his arms up and just fires these rainbows that go in not hitting any part of the rim, pure net. "Sombor," that's the city he was born and raised in, he still lives in.
Wendland: Something that just happened to the Lakers, what is "Take that L on the way out" about?
ALLCITY's Wedum: That is one of, if not the most iconic Michael Malone, Moach moments. After a game, the Nuggets beat the Lakers in what was at that time a pretty Laker fan-filled Ball Arena. That same season the Warriors did the same thing, kind of took over Ball Arena, Celtics fans. So he was interviewed after the game and asked what he thought about all these outside fans coming in and he basically said what we all think which is "Everybody is welcome, you can come and cheer on the Lakers, you can come and cheer on the Warriors, but you could just take that L on the way out." So that became another rallying cry like, "Alright, come through, but take that L on the way out."
Wendland: So when you see a Heat fan after we beat them in games one and two, you gotta tell them to, "Take that L on the way out."
ALLCITY's Wedum: Take that L on the way out.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Sports