Nuggets fans can't believe Michael Malone's timeout blunder vs. Spurs
01/04/2025 12:06 AM
The Denver Nuggets’ frustrating season was perfectly encapsulated on Friday night. Nikola Jokic was phenomenal, but the Nuggets struggled to find lineups that gelled together. When Jokic was on the floor, the Nuggets outscored the Spurs, but the bench got crushed in the minutes he sat. In the end, the Spurs knocked off the Nuggets in Denver 113-110.
Despite the struggles without Jokic on the court, the Nuggets still had a chance to win this game. They trailed by one with the shot clock off, but Denver’s final possession was cramped and the lack of spacing forced a Jokic turnover. Even though the contest appeared to be over, Spurs forward Devin Vassell elected to run down and throw down a dunk on the other end with just under two seconds to go, giving the Nuggets another life.
However, Michael Malone and company inexplicably refused to take the lifeline. Even with two timeouts left, Malone elected not to call one and the Nuggets’ desperation heave for the tie missed on the game’s final play. After the game, Nuggets fans couldn’t believe that their head coach quit on the game with time remaining.
“Michael Malone saving his timeouts for tomorrow,” one fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Not the first time he has done this. Loses his mind in late game situations.”
“Still no one will ever blame Malone, no one is even talking about him not taking a timeout with 2 secs left down 3. He will always be a bottom tier coach, but now he's been for too long and won a championship so they won't fire him no matter what,” another fan added.
With a timeout, the Nuggets would have been able to advance the ball past half court for a potential game-tying 3-pointer off of a designed inbounds play. Instead, Jamal Murray frantically chucked the ball to Michael Porter Jr. who barely even got a shot off.
This is a very frustrating loss for the Nuggets after holding a late lead, and you hate to lose any game where your star player plays like Jokic did in this one. The superstar big man finished with another insane stat line: 41 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists. Victor Wembanyama led the Spurs to the win on the other side with 35 points and 18 rebounds.
The post Nuggets fans can’t believe Michael Malone’s timeout blunder vs. Spurs appeared first on ClutchPoints.
