Just the other day, Denver Nuggets were celebrating Michael Malone’s achievement as the winningest coach of the franchise. Two days after, the coach is ripping his players for not being able to show up in loss to the New York Knicks.
The Nuggets hosted the New York-based team on Monday but they allowed them to walk all over them, leading to a 145-118 loss.
The hosts just were not there since the start of first quarter. The first half ended with 23-point lead by the Knicks.
Malone did not mince words about his team’s performance. He thought they lacked the effort and he rues the fact that they still need to ask for it even after 16 games.
Sixteen games in and we’re talking about effort. We’re talking about toughness. We’re talking about physicality. … Regardless of who’s in (and) who’s out, you know, who do we want to be as a team? So yeah, leadership would be great. Toughness would be great. Physicality would be great. Playing like we actually care would be great. And we didn’t do that tonight.
The coach specifically mentioned Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray as the players who need to show up.
Defense is the main suspect for the Nuggets as they gave up 45 assists for the Knicks while they only have 23. They also failed to stop big man Karl Anthony Town who ran havoc to their defense with 30 points on an impressive 12 out of 15 shooting.
OG Anunoby was unstoppable, too, with his career high 40 points.
For the Nuggets, Russell Westbrook was the only bright spot although it came late, scoring 24 points in the fourth quarter.
Nikola Jokic agrees with Michael Malone
Three-time MVP Jokic recorded 22-7-7 which are all far from his averages this season. He only has himself to blame.
He said the team did not show up they way they are expected.
“It’s always good to get punched in the face, just to wake up,” he said.
Jokic also gave credit to the Knicks but explained it is more because of their effort, or lack of it, as a team.
They scored a lot there and we didn’t make them to do anything the hard way. It seems to be really easy for all of them, they shot 60% from the field, 50 [percent] from 19 threes. Seems like they were just better there, they were making shots… we didn’t show up tonight.
For the latest Basketball Content
Follow us @HardwoodHeroics for the latest and trending news about NBA, college basketball, and more. Stay updated by reading more of our NBA articles by clicking here and college basketball by clicking here!
