Coach Malone Full Post Game Press Conference vs. Jazz 🎙

Coach Malone Full Post Game Press Conference vs. Jazz 🎙

[Applause] Michael uh you guys allow 44 in the first half and then 44 in the third quarter what was sort of the the message after that third in terms of just what what changed uh defensively and energy wise yeah we stopped playing yeah that was aoke it was embarrassing you know um

I can I can hear my father who’s up in heaven I hope he’s up in heaven but every time we get a big lead he said it you guys are the same old nuggets for nine years now you get a big lead stop playing stop doing what got you the lead

And you let teams back in almost every single night so I I I could my father was right here tonight talking to me saying I Told You So and uh was really proud of our approach to start the game I mean again the way we approach this

Game uh to build a 39-point lead was outstanding unfortunately coming out of the half uh we did not do anything remotely close to what we did in the first half to get that lead and uh do never that that’s a Learning lesson for us don’t get bored with success and uh

You know to allow 44 points in a in a a third quarter 63 from the field five turnovers six offensive rebounds like they’re Pros man they’re going to keep playing and we stopped playing uh I felt that bench unit in the fourth quarter uh they at least played with a little bit

More conviction and um now we were able to pull away you know once they cut it to 14 but uh we’ll take the win you know uh we’ve been struggling within our division so now we’re six and five in our division we’re eight and one out of

The break we have 18 games to go but you know it’s all about creating habits and that second half we did not create good habits so does tonight leave you more frustrated than satisfied with the result I’ll take a win all day I mean this uh an ugly win is better than a

Pretty loss so I’ll take the win but I’m not going to let this slide and say this is acceptable and uh you know again for me it’s well he scored 142 points that doesn’t matter we did not build a half happens that we need in that second half

And uh and our starting five they as veterans have to be a lot better than they were tonight and I I was talking to DeAndre Jordan walking out and I said I’m really nervous about us because we we’re gonna guys are going to go away

From what we did to get the lead and it’s exactly what happened so uh but you know I’m not going to you never are disappointed with a loss this is a wins and loss business so we got to win tonight at a very pivotal time of the

Year but I am not you know uh just going to accept how we played we have to be better we have to hold ourselves to a much higher standard what can you say about the way that the production was dispersed tonight the uh dispersal was great 39

Assists um I think we had 30 fast break points I love how how fast we’re playing Katie uh going into tonight’s game out of the break we’re averaging over 20 fast break points per game that’s been a real real positive for us um and everybody was involved I mean we had

What six guys and double figures everybody contributed um but once again you know this game should never have gotten as close as it did give them credit for making their run you know they’re going to make it run at some point um but you know it shouldn’t have gone from 39 to

14 coach I know Christian Brown fouled out of this game but he gave you guys a lot of good minutes just can’t take him with you I like it can’t take him with you what what do you say about his game and the way that he sort of turned

Things around here yeah well I think he’s been playing well for a while now you know and um I think just kind of for him it’s getting back to being who you are you know I mean like being the best Christian Brown and that means aggression that means physicality that

Means attacking that means rebounding I mean tonight 13 points uh four rebounds and I don’t mind the fouls because they were physical fouls it’s one thing if it’s Ticky Tac reaching soft fouls I felt he was fighting picked up a couple in the post fighting after switching so

Uh I I he five of five from the field shot the three ball with great confidence no hesitation goes three of three so a really complete game for CB and and happy for him have you noticed any difference in Jamal Murray post Allstar in the way that he’s played with that second unit

Um I don’t know you know tonight 37 seven assists one turnover two steals uh he had a Gong early and I thought he was pivotal pivotal in that fourth quarter with that second unit taking a 14-point game and extending it back out and uh you know so now we

Didn’t have to go to our starters right away and we never went to him except we got Nicole in for a cup of coffee there in the fourth quarter but uh no Jamal’s got a you know he’s got a great demeanor confident poised and uh you know we’re

Doing a little bit differently now we get Reggie in but now when I get Jamal back in I’m taking I’m putting him in for Reggie so Reggie’s getting shorter stin but that’s allowed me to get Justin holiday in the game and I think Justin holiday needs to be in the game and uh

And so now you know Jamal loves taking ownership of that unit and um that’s what I see I think he’s just finding ways to make all the guys around him better you talk about 18 games left in the process what does that look like to you I’m assuming qualifying X number

Wins X number losses it it is a process of what you want this team to look like come April 17th yeah I mean it’s uh and I know it’s this is coaching clich 101 but we really are taking this this one game at a time and within those games we

May make subtle changes to lineups to rotations to trying different things defensively trying different things offensively to see what we can use in the postseason um you know going into tonight again we were seven to one I think we had the fourth ranked defense the fourth ranked offense since the

Allstar break and tonight obviously the defense took a step back so going into Toronto I want us to get back to playing defense regardless of the scoreboard I want to play defense for 48 minutes cuz that’s what it’s going to take once you get to the playoffs no matter who you

Play in the first round it’s going to be a hell of a challenge the West is so damn deep and talented um you know we can’t afford to think we can just flip a switch when we want to guard and we don’t want to guard that’s going to be

Our constant that has to be our anchor appreciate it

Hear what Coach Malone had to say after the win over the Utah Jazz.

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Coach Malone Full Post Game Press Conference vs. Jazz 🎙