Last night, the Denver Nuggets went into New Orleans favored by four points on the road to take on the Pelicans. Remember, the Pelicans are an easier get right now because they are without Zion Williamson.
However, the Nuggets still lost 122-107 in a game they trailed by just a couple points at the half. After halftime, they came was never really close. Following the road blowout loss, their head coach had some choice words about his team. Certainly you can appreciate the authenticity of a guy like this.
Michael Malone: “We’re a great talk team. We can talk before the season starts about all the things we want to accomplish, we want to be a championship contending team, it’s all bullshit. Don’t tell me about it, show me.”
— Mike Singer (@msinger) November 1, 2019
Now, head coach Mike Malone has one of the great quotes of the early NBA season. Already, I like this guy.
“We’re a great talk team. We can talk before the season starts about all the things we want to accomplish, we want to be a championship contending team, it’s all bullshit. Don’t tell me about it, show me.”
Still, he wasn’t done there.
“I’m embarrassed,” Malone said at his postgame news conference. “That was an embarrassing effort defensively. Gave up 37 fast-break points. You can give all the transition defense rules that you want. To me, transition defense boils down to one thing — effort. Get back. You can tell them. You can lead a horse to water, whatever analogy you want to use. We did not get back.”
Obviously, Malone ended up benching his starters late in the game; a sign of his pure frustration. Due to the Nuggets’ inept play, New Orleans got their first win of the young season to move to 1-4. Currently, Denver is at 3-2 on the year.
I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Nuggets come out sharp in their next game which will be tomorrow against the Orlando Magic. Finally, when a coach lays into his team like this and sets the tone early; it tends to have an effect if he’s the right guy.
Indeed, if Malone is the right guy for the job and early indications are that he will have this team playing hard on the road or not; Denver will respond.
