Coach Malone Postgame Press Conference vs. Minnesota Timberwolves 🎙

Coach Malone Postgame Press Conference vs. Minnesota Timberwolves 🎙

Seeing the film where did this thing get away from you and why well the the why was easy for me uh we we were um not ready to play we weren’t physical we weren’t aggressive um yeah that that first half you know we deserve to be booed off the court to be quite

Honest um you know and I challenge that guys at halftime because that first half was unacceptable across the board you know and and that’s my job as a head coach to start with me getting guys ready to play um making sure they understand what’s at stake and you can

Tell them about it but still you know if your players don’t perform that’s starts with me first and foremost and then our players obviously uh in the first half not even close to the necessary level of energy physicality urgency that you need against a very good team a team that’s

Been in first place most of the year and uh you know challenged them at halftime and uh they came out like grown ass men and you know we played a second half like we cared and uh you know never really got back in the game you know uh

It may have appeared that but at least we played hard at least we defended at least we hit somebody I’ll give you the one stat that kind of tells that sums up first half and second half how many turnovers did they have in the first half zero you know what that means they

Didn’t feel us at all not at all second half nine turnovers 10 points for us so um you just can’t show up you know and as I reminded there guys this is not last year we do not have a cushion to hey we can take a game we can rest guys

Like we’re in a dog fight we’re in a dog fight and obviously Jamal being out that’s not ideal but we have to get him healthy and um I can live like you know what Reggie Jackson was 45 tonight Reggie it all out there I I was really impressed with Christian Brown went two

For 10 tonight loved how he played so we struggle to make shots but when you struggle to make shots as we all know then everything else has to be great has to be elite in the first half you know we didn’t make shots we didn’t guard we did

Nothing is that disappointing that you didn’t see the effort immediately with you know what’s at stake like you said the seating like you guys are in a battle for you know the number one SE with what do you think Harrison yes were you disappointed as a fan absolutely exactly I mean that’s why

I said I mean the fans had every right to be disappointed with that first half it’s you know again going into this game We’re Half game up in first place and uh you know the only chance we have of winning uh the tiebreaker against Minnesota is to beat them three

To one because we’re not going to catch them and the conference wins just not so you know you let a golden opportunity slip through your hands and it’s one thing if a team comes in here and beats you I think we can all walk at her and

Say you know what they were better than us tonight you know but tonight I don’t think that was the case I felt uh yes so to answer your question yeah it was disappointing and I I hope that when you speak to our players I think they’ll be hopefully equally as disappointed and it

Doesn’t get any easier you know we got Cleveland coming in here on Sunday so we’ve lost two in a row and uh you know we’ll see what we’re made of was Nicole’s RIS bothering him at all oh he I was surprised he played tonight to be

Quite honest yeah his uh his wrist is really giving him a lot of trouble and you know that you know as we know you know Nicole is a guy that plays through a lot of things that most guys wouldn’t play through um so yes to answer your question his wrist was bothering him

Tonight you guys have pried yourselves on playing through a lot in tough situations had a lot of scheduled spots this year but with the out does this outcome tonight change anything about how you’re going to approach the final eight games of the Season uh I don’t

Think so I mean like right now obviously uh I have to make sure that I take my blinders off once in a while because I get in that Foxhole and I’m thinking about Cleveland right now um you know but sometimes you have to come up for

Air and think that we have eight games to go and like I was just talking with Jamal and like he apologized to me I said don’t don’t apologize man you’re not trying to be hurt and your health is more important than a win right now uh

Because as I said many times to you guys I have complete confidence that our group regardless of seed can be anybody anywhere when we’re healthy because we’ve done it um so but I I’ll have to think about that one Matt about kind of where it at but I I just want to

Win I want to get back to playing 48 minutes of Denver Nugget basketball so we can walk out of here feeling really good about ourselves playing the right way and you think about it I think we’re 15 and four now since the break overall it’s been phenomenal phenomenal like

That’s incredible to do you know but I just hate losing two in a row like that that really bothers me if you can’t tell what about their defense stood out in terms of holding you guys to 98 points and that beat the number one R defense

In the yeah I mean just their size their length um and obviously we really struggle to make shots we another night where we were two for n in transition opportunities uh Phoenix game we were one for seven so even when you think you have it an an Avenue to the rim there’s

A Rudy Gober there’s a Jaden McDaniels there’s um Nas Reed you got a great athlete in Edwards so there’s a reason they’re the number one defense in the NBA through 70 plus games and uh when you’re not getting stops you know you only have four transition points know

Since the break we’re averaging over 18 but if you can’t get a stop then it’s going to make it really hard to get out and run um so now you’re playing against a half court defense and their Elite in the half court so uh you a lot of things

That we can clean up for sure one more on on nights like tonight where Jamal’s been out for a few games now where can Mike and Aaron like scale up their scoring especially in matchups like this one where Nicole is facing double teams as often as he is and where where can

They continue to get back well I I think you know the way they guard us obviously Rudy goar just roams the paint you know they put Nas Reed or towns when he’s healthy on Nia and they you know they assign Rudy goar to Aaron and he just kind of plays free

Safety owns the paint so in those instances obviously Aaron like you did early tonight you know uh finding the gaps finding the openings in the paint playing behind the defense as well as looking to create two-on-one opportunities on and off the ball U because go bear is just roaming he’s

Like a free safety out there and and obviously you know McDaniels is draped all over Michael Porter um not letting him come up the floor so obviously we can screen better to free him up um and then obviously you know just I think if we can get some easy

Ones in transition that helps everybody you know again it’s it’s tough playing against that defense in the half court for 48 and I felt for most of the night it was a just a A slugfest in the half court and that’s to their advantage thanks everybody

Hear what Head Coach Michael Malone had to say following our loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at home.

Find Denver Nuggets news, gear, tickets and more right here: https://linktr.ee/denvernuggets

#nba #denvernuggets #basketball
Coach Malone Post Game Press Conference vs. Minnesota Timberwolves 🎙