JaVale McGee’s mom is an intense woman (VIDEO)
Denver Nuggets center JaVale McGee has been the subject of jokes and goofs throughout this season. You've probably seen the "highlight" where he ran the wrong way after a missed shot back when he was on the Washington Wizards, and there have been many more similar "highlights" throughout the year. However, as our Kelly Dwyer noted, McGee was pretty great in the Nuggets' Game 3 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, entertaining viewers with active, athletic play and putting in 16 points, 15 rebounds, and three blocks in 28 minutes.
Yet McGee was often overshadowed during the ESPN broadcast by his mother Pam, one of the greatest players in the history of women's basketball and still an ultra-intense woman. In the video above, you can watch her react to one of her son's best baskets with an epic staredown. But she did a lot more than that, and you can join us after the jump for more.
Throughout the game, Miss McGee patrolled the baseline with the singleminded focus of a great competitor. She reacted to one of JaVale's first impressive plays by high-fiving virtually everyone in her immediate seating area (available at this GIF from SB Nation) and had a look of remarkable intensity on her face during most of the game. If you don't believe me, just looked at what happened when this guy tried to talk to her during game action (via the same SB Nation post):
In a way, her actions during the game aren't too surprising. We've discussed Pam at BDL before in the context of a must-read Sports Illustrated profile of JaVale, and if anything she held back some of her passion on Friday night. When her son was younger, she made him wake at 6 AM every day to train and used to hit him in the chest after mistakes. And, of course, a woman doesn't get to the highest levels of her sport without being an extremely competitive person.
It's as yet unclear if Pam will return to her spot along the baseline for Sunday night's Game 4, but we can only hope she does. For much of the game, she was more entertaining than the pretty great up-and-down action on the court. Beyond any reasonable doubt, she proved that the McGee family, while different, is full of the sort of idiosyncrasies that make people worth watching.
