Mike Malone, the head coach of the Denver Nuggets, spoke at a press conference after the 99:106 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
A very poor performance from the Denver Nuggets in the first game. They allowed the Timberwolves to dictate the pace and couldn’t find a suitable defensive answer. Additionally, their defense on Naz Reid was poor, and it feels like he was the one who turned the game around. Mike Malone was dissatisfied with the defense.
“I wasn’t worried about the start, but rather about being down 18:4. We trained all week and couldn’t hit shots. I’m more concerned about our defense in the second half. We couldn’t stop them, in the first half, they scored 36 points from the field. Reggie was great, Holiday, Brown… But then in the third quarter, they shot 90 percent.
Naz Reid was hitting shots, Towns, Conley, Edwards carried them in the first, but then he stalled in the second. I felt in the second half there was no discipline, no desire, and they got what they wanted. Even 71% shooting in the playoffs is unacceptable.”
Special praise was given to Anthony Edwards, who was outstanding with 43 points.
“He’s a great player, he had 25 at halftime, it was his show, but then he slowed down while others picked up, they became dangerous. Anthony had 43, Karl-Anthony Towns had 20, Naz Reid had 16 points. If we allow four players to have such a game, it’s an easy end. We need to do much better in the next game. I think we got what we deserved and what we needed,” Malone said.
Finally, he emphasized that to win, the team needs to perform at a high level for all 48 minutes.
“To fight for 48 minutes, you can’t play half in the Western Conference semifinals. They are talented, that’s why they are here, why they were first, they came and won. We can regroup and even the score in Minnesota, but as I said, we started 18:4, took the lead, and played without defense in the third… We’ll look at the tape and see how to be better.”