Coach Malone Full Post Game Press Conference vs. Celtics 🎙

Coach Malone Full Post Game Press Conference vs. Celtics 🎙

About the resolve of your team’s defense down the stretch I don’t think you guys made a shot in the last 250 from field but uh making clutch plays at the other yeah that was the whole second half not just down the down the stretch obviously

Kcp that last play tried to get the ice off for Tatum and he fought him battled him and we able to get the uh the stop there but uh first half they made 10 threes second half they were four for 18 from three so I give our guys a lot of

Credit in realizing who we were playing and we we can’t give them 10 more threes uh porzingis had 15 in the first quarter had six the rest of the game we picked up our defense on him but I think in the second half they only scored 39 points they shot 38% and

Um you know guys stepped up and made big play after big play I thought Jamal Murray was outstanding today um that kid’s an Allstar you know I hope everybody out in nuggets Nation you know pick up your phone pick up your computer call your Aunt whoever you got to call

Man that kid’s an Allstar um nicoa was terrific and then guys just stepped up and made big plays you know um I I thought kcp his defense on Tatum he was one of nine from three I thought um Aaron’s defense on Jaylen Brown he was one of eight from three um they stepped

Up so it was a quality win but I think this started after I lost in Philly to be honest with you a game that we felt we should have won and we let we let kind of let go and the message to our team at that point was I told them you

Know all right we gave one away tonight let’s go up there and their first loss that was our expectation to come in here and get a win and the guys found a way to do that so very proud of our group uh you played or I mean Aaron

Practically all the second half you primarily played Seven guys um you know you did things you know in terms of you know starting joic on on Drew in the second half with some of those switches you know what went in some of those matchups and you know just kind of how

In terms of how important this game was for you guys yeah I mean yeah you’re playing against the best team in the NBA it was like a playoff game you know I know this is only game 43 44 whatever it is but kind of like a playoff game

Playoff atmosphere and two really good teams you know they were in the finals two years ago they were in the Eastern Conference finals last year they have High Hopes as do we and um you know I had every intention of playing DeAndre but you know I thought Aaron was playing

Well and um we got into crossmatching you know uh porzingis kicked our butts in that first quarter so we switch matchups up and it it proved to be very effective throughout the rest of the game um so yeah uh it was a game that we

Uh we we were all in we put all red chips in and we were lucky enough to get the the outcome that we desired the load that yic and Murray carried offensively tonight how would you describe the way they were producing but also connecting and just finding

Their Rhythm yeah it was uh it was outstanding you know um you know with Nico I thought first quarter he set the tone you know so nicoa was the first quarter I thought second second quarter that was Jamal Murray’s turn and those guys kind of um and I really felt it was really

Important how we Clos that second quarter really decisive nine to2 run to kind of keep us in because this place can get loud and crazy and the game can get away from you in a hurry so I love to how we close the second quarter going

Into the half and how he started the third quarter we carried that into the start of the third um yeah had nicoa 14 of 22 Jamal 15 of 21 against an elite defense um they were efficient they made plays for themselves that made plays for other people um it was you know high

Level basketball from two All-Star players when you decide to keep riding with Aaron five there do you do you tell him like this might be a whole game thing pretty much at at a certain point and how up to this are you or or is it something that you’re pretty much

Continuously feeling out throughout the game and then again yeah no Aaron Gordon is like an elite athlete he can play half a basketball he played the whole second half um he’ll be a little bit tired tomorrow a little bit sore tomorrow but you know if you want to

Beat good teams you got to play your guys and that’s what we did tonight and um that’s not a conversation that you need to have with ag he wants to be out there and I know he was over for six from the field but you know those 10

Rebounds um a block shot three assists I think he did a lot of other things especially on the defensive end to help us get the win but you start asking people about that you know you give them room to give you an answer and I wasn’t going to hear that answer he’s playing

The whole second half is obviously playing with a heavy heart tonight um did you notice anything different about him pregame or did you say anything to him or did you just kind of give him his space and no you know last couple of days just been supporting

Him um comforting him um giving him a hug and as I mentioned to our team after the game you know uh I couldn’t be more proud of Nia for for playing the way he played with with the tragic pass of decki and that’s what you do though I

That’s why I’m proud of Nia like you just lost somebody that you love and you care about that meant a lot to you that was a mentor and a coach to you so go honor him you know what I mean and Nicole went out there he honored dey’s

Memory and his legacy by playing at the level he played at so not easy to do with a heavy heart but um Nicole is a special person obviously and uh it was incredible to watch him play with that heavy heart and the level he played against when you consider who we were

Playing uh and you added everything else to the mix and that’s why Nicole is the best player in the world two two plays of make unnoticed in this game but Michael Porter’s offensive rebounds Michael Porter’s two offensive rebounds big were they I just told him you know I

Thought he had a chance uh Nicole had a chance to get the triple double on the kick out to Michael great look in the corner I thought it was going in maybe has a chance to kind of ice the game right there doesn’t get that but I told

Him Michael you know that that’s a great example of all right if I didn’t make a three how else can I help this team out two huge offensive rebounds Second Chance opportunities another possession for us um you know that that was impactful he had eight rebounds tonight

Scott and four those were on the offensive end so uh when you beat a team like Boston in their house their first home loss of the Year second half every play was impactful and um you know we we uh we found a way to survive and now we

Have three more games on this uh road trip and we just got keep on trucking man we got a lot of work in front of us Michael how do you it seems like you guys are all over the offensive boards even when you’re not setting guys there

Like just seems like your guys are often in the right spot even the other night in the game you didn’t win in Philly were getting all sorts time offensive rebounds is that a matter of like your guys having good awareness of sort of how things are going to go is it be on

String like or is it a emphasis for you guys like what what what what sort of lead you guys to be so effective in in those situations well a really good question obviously we only had 10 offensive rebounds tonight but we did get 15 second chance points off those

And I think a part of it could be you know especially when our our Starting Fire they’ve played so much basketball together 82 and then 20 more in the postseason that we have a pretty good feel for how we’re playing in the shots that each other are taking and if you

Have an idea of where the shots taking you got have a pretty good idea of where the Miss is going to be and you put yourself in position um and it’s a fine line with a team like Boston you know getting on the glass and then getting

Back but um you know we just talked about Michael’s timely offensive rebounds uh which were really deciding type plays tonight so um it it’s something that was uh helped us out tonight and uh we’ll take it and what did you guys do in specific over the final 5 minutes to shut them down

Offensively uh I mean I I think we were switching a lot more I think our guys last year we had the number three clutch defense in the NBA and I know we finished a regular season I think 15th overall but when the game was on the

Line we proved over 82 that we could get timely stops and I think everybody’s antenna went up we communicated we blacked and I just thought we were a lot more physical you know we made them feel us in that St we were pushing the catch out further on the floor getting the

Switch porzingis is trying to post us up pushing him out on the floor and uh you know you know as John Starks used to say man you got to make him feel you and I thought we did a pretty good job of that in that second

Half Tatum got rolling for a few minutes when he came back in late first quarter early second quarter ends up being nine for 24 for those 22 points but what was what were your guys whether was kyp was pton doing against him as the game went well second half we tried to match

Pope’s minutes with him I mean so in the first half they took him out around the S minute Mark I kept hoping the game so now he was going against you know some of the guys on our bench I think Jason Tatum is a first team all NBA caliber

Player so the second half we talked about it halftime let’s try to Monitor and mirror Tatum’s minutes with kcp he’s our best matchup on him when he goes out Pope goes out when he comes back in Pope comes back in and you just try to make

Life hard for him and uh you know we we think Pope is one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA for a reason

Hear what coach had to say after the road win.

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Coach Malone Full Post Game Press Conference vs. Celtics 🎙