Michael Malone compares Nikola Jokic to a “marathon runner”
Coach it’s so rare to have practice days it feels like now what have you guys kind of been focusing on when you have had them and how did today go yeah today went well you know to your point since Christmas I think we’ve had a few two
Day in between games and uh like we never had that going into Christmas so being smart taking off yesterday guys coming in getting their PD treatments uh lifts in but then today just being not going long but making sure we’re getting work in concentrating on things that
Maybe are giving us some trouble but also with tomorrow night with golden state being such a unique team with unique players you know covering some of their not play calls necessarily but their Concepts and how we need to guard them and um now we get on that plane and
Hopefully we can uh have some follow through from what we worked on today into the game tomorrow night coach you mentioned before teams a little bit worn down physically just over the course of a a very tough beginning of the Season stretch just how are they doing just
Couple couple off days and a couple practice yeah it seemed to be pretty good you know I think uh once again I think getting Aaron back was uplifting for everybody um obviously you know one because you’re getting your starting power forward back but just when a guy
Is away from the team and he comes back I think everybody um brings a smile to their face if you will so um but yeah you’re right I mean it’s uh you’re getting through the holidays now everybody’s kind of looking towards all right how do we get to Allstar break and that’s the
Ways away and I was looking at the month of January in terms of theity of opponent we have some really tough games in the month of January and obviously uh you know we always talk about one one game at a time and tough back to back coming up probably the worst backto back
In the business in terms of playing a national TV game and then coming back and playing the very next night uh but you know we just focused on Golden State one game at a time but I think the guys are in a pretty good place mentally and
Knock on wood physically as well do you feel do you find that it helps players to sort of fragment the season like that almost in terms of like okay make it from Christmas to allar make it from beginning of season to Christmas is that is that something that sort of naturally
Happens Health that and you’ll realize that too as you’re around this business long enough that if you look at it as 82 game Monster it’s could be overwhelming so you have to really try to take it in you know you cliche one game at a time
But you know five game increments uh get through the month we have a five game Road Trip coming up in the middle of January we take small bites and that’s how you kind of get through the season but there’s a lot of emotions that go into
It and you know the holidays can be draining because everybody’s got family in town so now that you’re through the holidays now you got to you know just kind of get back to focusing on the task at hand and um and hopefully our guys are able to do that did you see anything
Different from Reggie on Mond or just how good was it to see him kind of Poss yeah he just had a really good game you know nothing different you know but Reggie’s had a great year for us he had some games where he had been struggling
To make shots but it was just him finding that rhythm going out there and playing at a high level level just curious how black go progressing oh really well you know it’s funny we were talking the other days of staff and I really feel there is some kind of uh
Connection between your mind and body in terms of recovery and I remember I texted the blo the minute uh the the moment that happened in this past summer and from from day one through today his his Outlook and perspective have been so positive I think he ahead of schedule
He’s doing things that um I’m surprised that he’s doing in terms of running on the treadmill coming out here going through a workout and shooting the ball so unbelievable uh positive mindset uh his recovery is going well we’ve tried to keep him engaged by doing a few of
The Personnel reports to where that guys and I think he enjoys that and he does a really good job with that so uh I couldn’t be more proud of lco and uh just who he is and how he’s attacking his uh return to play did you get to
Listen to any samples of his work when he uh when he was doing a couple games on the radio no no I don’t listen to to radio or TV sorry uh I’m sure Katie and CA and Scott and Chris all viig Dempsey do a great job but uh I
Have not gotten a chance to listen to vos’s radio Insight but uh that’ll be like 1,27 on my to-do list how do you feel like Nicole has paced himself through through this season and just where he’s at you know mentally with the the stress that that’s
On him you know week in week out yeah I think he’s year N I think he understands the grind of the NBA and uh you know when Jamal was out with injury I think he realized that he had to step up and be really aggressive which he was and
Now that we’re back kind of whole um you know I think he’s he understands what he needs to do um I don’t know I wouldn’t use the word Pace I think guys that I learned a long time ago man everybody says Hey the NBA season a marathon I’ve
Run marathons and I’ve seen the guys that win marathons they don’t Pace themselves they’re running sub five minute miles so you can talk about oh it’s a marathon you can I I think pacing yourself is what losing teams do nla knows the appropriate level he needs to
Play at and I think he plays hard every single night and depending upon the situation he may look to be a little bit more aggressive at times but um when you’re an MVP candidate one of the best players in the NBA um I think they’re
Ups and downs to a season but I don’t know if Pace would be the word I would use when you call timeout or the other team call a timeout in a game what’s the first thing you’re looking at when you get a stat she uh for me it’s usually uh what are
They shooting you know what’s our field goal percentage defense um how many do they have have pain so I have a list of questions for rival and he’s probably like the guy is such a good coach and he’s got to be so sick of me because every every time out
What are they shooting how many in the paint how many offensive rebounds how many turnovers do we have so though it’s it’s kind of like a broken record by now but those are the things and actually I think we’re trying to get some of those these systems are
So tired of me asking that they’re trying to get it put up on our big screen so they can just say it’s up there us so you know they they they don’t want to work as hard as they used to but uh it all depends on the flow of
The game you know I mean how are we playing but for me it’s the first question is always going to be a defensive and if I if I know that we’re getting a bus kicked from the three-point line is how many threes do I have so if so the questions will kind of
Go into the flow of the game but always a defensive Minds for first and for most you this w got to dive on that man it’s a 50/50 ball dive on that that was a test and you failed kcp had this wraparound pass to Nia against Charlotte have you felt like
His that part of his game is a since he’s become a nugget you know what’s funny when you talk to him he’ll tell you back in Detroit he was like a uh much more of a playmaking guard they put him in more picking roles but there have
Been times this year again maybe when Jamal was out and we were playing some funky lineups with no true point guard out there I think kyp’s playmaking is uh vastly underrated he’s done a really good job the pass you mentioned but overall just sometimes coming off and
Just making the really simple play and anytime you know if you want to get an assist I think put yourself in twom Man game with Nia and throw him that pocket pass and something good is going to happen you’re going to get a great look Nicole is going to score or he’s going
To find the guy who’s open on the weak side but yeah I think kcp um offensive game is is not just his three-point shooting it’s also his ability to make plays off the off the dribble and uh that’s been kind of fun to watch that
Part of his game be uh be shown this year thanks everybody
Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone spoke to media following today’s practice. He spoke on the Nuggets mentality at this time of year and compares Nikola Jokic to a “marathon runner” who doesn’t necessarily pace himself.
