Michael Malone gets brutally honest on Nuggets' defensive collapse vs. Bulls
Yesterday at 09:23 PM
The Denver Nuggets are in a bit of a rut. After previously winning eight of their last nine games, they’ve run into a two-game losing skid.
On Monday, the Nuggets suffered an embarrassing 129-121 loss to the Chicago Bulls. The Nuggets were heavy favorites heading into the matchup against the Bulls. They even had a 68-61 lead heading into halftime. Prior to the game, the Nuggets had a 17-0 record this season when leading at halftime, but now that falls to 17-1.
One of the biggest knocks on the Nuggets was their abysmal defense against the Bulls. More specifically, their three-point defense. The Bulls are known for taking a lot of three-point attempts, and the Nuggets knew that. Despite that, the Nuggets allowed a whopping 24 three-pointers.
“Yeah, it wasn’t good enough,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said of his team’s three-point defense, via the Denver Nuggets on YouTube. “Early in the game I felt we just thought we could just outscore this team, and it was going to be easy. You mess around with the game, this is what happens.”
Michael Malone criticizes Nuggets’ defensive effort
The Nuggets struggling on defense isn’t really a new storyline, as there have been many games this season where they have been carved up on defense.
Following the loss to the Bulls, Malone heavily criticized his team’s effort. The Bulls are a young and fast team, and Malone felt like the Nuggets just stood around defensively.
“Once again, us messing with the game. Thinking that we could just show up and score at will,” said Malone. “You tell them all morning this team’s going to run, this team’s going to run, this team’s going to run. Our inability or unwillingness to get back. Our inability and unwillingness to guard one-on-one, and our inability or unwillingness to rebound the basketball when they did miss the few times they missed was on full display.”
On top of allowing the Bulls to make a ton of three-pointers, the Nuggets allowed Bulls players to just fly by them in the paint. According to NBA stats, the Nuggets allow the fourth most points in the paint on average with 51.1. They rank in the bottom five in the league in this category.
“It was just one-on-one basketball. We couldn’t guard one-on-one,” said Malone. “They just beat us at the point of attack over and over and over again. When they did miss, we had five guys standing watching and not in the fight at all. That team played so much harder than us. Really, really disappointing.”
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