Malone wants Nuggets to stay hungry
The Nuggets had just defeated the Clippers for the third time in four games this season Thursday night. They had won a fourth consecutive game for the first time all season while moving to within two games of .500 (33-35) for the first time since November. They had increased their lead over Portland for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference to 2K games with 14 to play.
They had also drawn the ire of their coach.
“We have to hold ourselves to a higher standard, not just be satisfied with a win,” Michael Malone said after the Nuggets’ 129-114 victory, their seventh in nine games. “We have to hold ourselves to a higher standard if we want to not only be a playoff team but also be a team that can make noise in the playoffs.”
The message was clear. There is no break in the clouds as Denver begins the final stretch of its season with an eye on its first postseason appearance since 2013.
“We had 31 assists,” Malone said after Denver improved to 63-2 in its last 65 games when reaching at least 30. “Mason (Plumlee) and Nikola (Jokic) were fantastic in terms of sharing the ball. Will Barton was great off the bench. And not to belittle all of those things, but big picture? Our defense took a big step backward. I thought we let go of the rope. With Houston coming in here next, we will have to find a way to try and get it back.”
The Nuggets play the high-powered Rockets, led by MVP candidate James Harden, twice in the next three days, beginning with Saturday night’s game at the Pepsi Center. Then they host the defending NBA champion Cavaliers on Wednesday. The stakes are only getting higher for the Nuggets as the schedule intensifies, and their hope of entering a potentially season-defining, fivegame road trip March 28 in good standing in the race hinges on whether they can meet the chal-
lenge defensively in the next three games.
“It’s good to learn in a win,” Plumlee said Thursday after Denver allowed the Clippers to shoot 75 percent in the fourth quarter. “Our defense wasn’t what it had been, but to learn from a win is always better.”
Most of the players contributing to this Denver playoff run are playing meaningful games in the season’s final month for the first time. That’s why Malone was pointed Thursday night in emphasizing to his young team that it has put itself into an advantageous position over the last two weeks because of its defense.
In eight games before the victory over the Clippers, when the Nuggets were tied for the second-best record in the NBA at 6-2, they were 10th in opponent scoring at 103.5 points per game and 13th in opponent field-goal percentage at .459. Those numbers took a hit in the second half Thursday, when the Clippers hit 24-of-40 shots (60 percent).
The next three games will illustrate whether the Nuggets look closer to the defensive team they were in the eight games before the victory over the Clippers or the one they were in the second half of that win.
“Defense will be the difference,” Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried said. “They are both high-octane offenses that can score the ball in bunches. It’s going to be interesting to see. We’re going to go out there and do our thing.”