Michael Malone was anything but happy after the Denver Nuggets blew a 25-lead point against the struggling Los Angeles Clippers. They suffered an 87-85 loss against the Californians, who are playing without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
That wasn’t a problem for the Clips, who exploited every advantage the Nuggets gave them, stealing a big win at Crypto.com Arena after everything seemed to be lost for them. Amir Coffey led the Clippers with 18 points, giving Tyronn Lue a big satisfaction and a headache to Malone.
After the game was over, the 50-year-old reflected on the development of the game, blaming his players for the final outcome. He called them out following the match, saying they’re more worried about their nightlife instead of games.
“Losses like this are gonna keep me awake for weeks,” Malone said, via The Denver Post. “I think today’s NBA player, they’re worrying about where they’re going out tonight.”
Malone also said that some players hid when the big moments arrived.
“… We had a lot of guys running away from the ball in big moments,” he said.
The team’s inability to finish the plays was concerning for Malone, too.
“Our execution was poor, so if we’d called a timeout, we’d have been doing them a favor,” he said. “Probably wouldn’t have gotten the ball inbounds, the way things were going for us.”
The Nuggets have had incredible performances this season, but also disappointing games where they couldn’t do the job. Last night they suffered a big loss against a team without their biggest figures. Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon combined for 32 of Denver’s 44 points in the second half. The rest of the team didn’t score more than 5.
Malone wants them to be and do better if they aspire to compete for the championship in a couple of months. They don’t have Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., so losing these ‘easy’ is unacceptable for them.
