Michael Malone’s No. 1 job: Dad.

Despite being in the midst of the Western Conference finals, the Nuggets coach found family time Wednesday night.

Between Games 1 and 2 in Denver, Malone attended his daughter’s graduation at Red Rocks — even if he’d rather be game-planning.

“Three hours I’ll never get back but it was great to be there and see my daughter walk across the stage,” Malone said. “I’m probably in the minority — I’m not a huge fan of graduations. I think you’re supposed to graduate high school. But I do love my daughter, Caitlin, very proud of her. But it started raining, sitting there at Red Rocks, it’s raining and I’m saying, we’re playing the Lakers tomorrow.

“But it’s all good. Happy graduation, Caitlin.”

Champion in the house

Earlier in the playoffs it was Cale Makar seated next to Kentucky coach John Calipari. Another Avalanche star was in the building in Game 2 as the Nuggets look to hang a championship banner next to the Avs’ three.

Nathan MacKinnon took the ceremonial first shot and forgive him for missing the free throw. He did plenty of scoring over the last few months.

Other stars show up

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of “South Park” and the new owners of Casa Bonita, sat courtside to cheer on their home-state team.

Jimmy Goldstein, a fashionable and successful businessman, also brought some flair to the front row. He’s a fixture at Lakers and Clippers games in Los Angeles but made the trip to Denver for the first two games of the conference finals.

Darvin draws on Detroit days

Lakers coach Darvin Ham is well aware of what it’s like to go against a seemingly unstoppable center.

During his playing days, Ham was a member of the 2004 Pistons team that beat Shaquille O’Neal and the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

Similar to O’Neal, it seems like an impossible task trying to slow Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, but Ham has a few tricks up his sleeve.

“If you can call up Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace, Elden Campbell, tell them I’ve got a one-day or a series-long contract for them,” Ham said prior to Game 2, drawing a laugh from the media room.

“At the end of the day, I think you’re going to see a bit of everything,” Ham said. “It’s not just rumble, tumble. He’s not a rumble, tumble player like Shaq was. He’s skilled. A lot of his damage is being done 25 feet away. He’s able to put it on the floor, a lot of it’s from face-up. So you have to guard him in multiple fashions.”

Lakers switch up starters, Nuggets change rotation

Darvin Ham declined to disclose his starters during his pregame media availability, but the Lakers coach brought a change-up.

Ham deadpanned he would divulge his starting five at the beginning of his media availability before declining.

When the starters were announced 30 minutes before tipoff, Ham went with former Nugget Jarred Vanderbilt, a move that infused added size to the Lakers’ starting lineup. Ham deployed Vanderbilt on Jamal Murray to start the game. The decision was rewarded early, as Vanderbilt got out in transition for a dunk that opened the scoring.

Due to early foul trouble, the Nuggets added Reggie Jackson to the rotation late in the first quarter.