Coach Mike Malone Reacts To Nuggets/Heat Game 2 | 2023 NBA Finals

First question on the right side. Brandon Cristal from KOA here in Denver. Can you kind of, I don't know, figure out why do you think your starters that weren't Joker struggled scoring, I guess? Well, I don't think that's the biggest question. No, let's talk about effort. I mean, this is the NBA Finals and we're talking about effort. That's a huge concern of mine. You know, and you guys probably thought I was just making up some storyline after game one when I said we didn't play well. We didn't play well. And tonight, you know, the starting lineup to start the game, it's 10-2 Miami, start the third quarter, they scored 11 points in 2 minutes and 10 seconds. And we just got, you know, we had guys out there that were just, whether feeling sorry for themselves for not making shots or thinking they can just turn it on or off. This is not the preseason. It's not the regular season. It's not around. This is the NBA Finals. And that to me is really, really perplexing, disappointing. And I asked the team, I asked our players, you guys tell me why we lost. And they knew the answer. Miami came in here and outworked us and we were by far our least disciplined game of these 16 or 17 playoff games, whatever it is now. So many breakdowns and they exploited every one of those breakdowns and scored. So if we're gonna try to go down there and regain control of this series and get home court advantage back, we're gonna have to outwork Miami, which we didn't do tonight. And our discipline is gonna have to be off the charts. Mike, here on the left. Michael, Mike Singer with the Denver Post. You mentioned the breakdowns, 17 of 35 from three Miami shot. I mean, how many of them were defensive breakdowns? You seem to call timeout on several of them. Maybe it's some miscommunications. Oh, there's no maybe. No, there was definitely miscommunication. There was game plan breakdowns, personnel breakdowns. You know, there were guys like Max Struths. And you know that Max, and I said it after game one, he's 0-9 in game one. You know, he's gonna make shots. And he got off to a really hot start tonight, cooled down a little bit. But he gets 10 threes off. Gabe Vinson gets six off. Kevin Love gets six off. Duncan Robinson gets three off. And those are guys that we're supposed to have a heightened awareness to. As I mentioned after game one, the fact that they got 16 wide open threes was concerning. They didn't make them. And so we got lucky in game one. Tonight, they made them. So it was definitely a breakdown in communication. It was definitely a breakdown in our game plan. And like I said, we just were not nearly as disciplined as you need to be in the NBA Finals. Third row on your right. Coach, Dan Devine, Yahoo Sports. It seemed like you had some success earlier in the game, smothering that Bam Robinson DHO, and it seemed to give you a lot more trouble in the fourth quarter. I'm wondering what changed in terms of the way you were approaching that or the guys were executing that? Well, I have to watch the film. I mean, give them credit. They play with tremendous pace and they never let up. And so we got to make sure we're doing a better job of getting our energy up and not letting them outwork us and create separation and kind of put us in a spin cycle, which they did quite a few times. I mean, fourth quarter defense, I felt for three quarters tonight. Actually, the defense is pretty good. I believe going into the fourth quarter, they were shooting 43 percent. But in the fourth quarter, you give up 36 points. I'm 69 percent from the field. That's that's not going to cut it, man. That's not going to cut it. Oh, back left. Michael Omiyama, ESPN. How did they make everything such a struggle after that big run in that first second quarter? It looked like they were content to let Yoko just kind of score and take away everybody around it. But how did they make everything such a struggle in the offensive end? Well, I felt, you know, I felt the way Nicola closed that third quarter was tremendous. You know, I mean, it kind of got us a little bit of rhythm going into that fourth quarter, gave us a little bit of breathing room. And then they started the fourth quarter 13 to two. To me, the wheels fell off, really fell off to start that fourth quarter. And they were getting whatever they wanted, threes, layups. And that allowed them once again to sit back in their zone offense, slow the game down. And we had a hard time getting stops. And then we had a hard time getting made baskets on the other end. So our defense has to be held a lot better. That's two fourth quarters now in game one and two, where a fourth quarter defense has been non-existent. Right here in the front. Coach, Mateo Mayorga, Five Reasons Sports. Sticking with the three point shooting. How much higher do pickup points have to be against Miami's three point shooters following up in the series? Well, you have to understand who you're guarding, the KYP discipline. You know, so if you're guarding a Duncan Robinson, a Gabe Vinson, a Kevin Love, a Max Struce, you have to guard them at the four point line. I believe talking about lack of discipline, I think we fouled at least three jump shooters tonight. So then you have to have the discipline to contest without fouling, getting a hand up, giving them a place to land, whatever it may be. So, you know, Jamal had a great look at the end, you know, and and I told the guys if we would have won this game tonight, you know, we would have stole one. And it didn't happen. The shot didn't go in and we lose by three points. But yeah, the three point line is a huge concern coming in. The number one three point shooting team in these playoffs and did a decent job in game one by the numbers. But tonight, you know, they buried us. Yeah. Chris Thomas and Denver Gazette, everybody. You've been so good at home in these playoffs. Everybody talks about the altitude, all that kind of stuff. How surprised were you that they had the final closing kick there tonight? Yeah. One, I think the altitude is too much is made of that. You know, I think and Miami's been here for probably like a week now. So they're acclimated. And so I really don't think that that's the reason why we've won games at home. I think our players deserve credit. Our fans deserve credit. But yeah, they they came out in that fourth quarter with a huge sense of desperation, and we didn't match that. Once again, 13 to two start. They kind of take control of the game and just our inability or unwillingness to get stops and have a defensive mindset in the fourth quarter was very problematic. I mean, again, the numbers speak for themselves. 36 points in the fourth quarter on 69 percent is is we're going to make it really hard to win a game in the NBA Finals. Last two over here. Michael Mike Singer, Denver Post. You said Jamal got a good look at it. Did you at all consider calling a time out there? Do you like it when it's in transition and you kind of scramble the defense and maybe catch them a little bit? Yeah, I think it's dependent upon the situation, you know, and their half court defense was giving us a lot of trouble in that fourth quarter. You know, and you take a time out. You let them get set. You let them review whatever play they think that we're going to run. And there's a great chance that we don't get a quality shot like Jamal got, which is online. And from my perspective, look like it had a great chance of going in. And we've seen Jamal make shots like that before. So some nights, yeah, I think, you know, we can take the time out. Other nights give our guys the freedom to get out and run. But with how well they were guarding in that quarter and how hard it was for us to generate great looks. I felt in that transition, we're going to have the best chance to get the look that we wanted. Last question, Michael. Second row here. Michael Pino, the ringer. 28 shots and a postseason low four assists for Jokic. Was that something Miami did defensively or just guys missing shots? Well, it's probably a combination. You may have to give them credit. And we scored 108 points, 52 from the field, 14 turnovers and 19 points. That's a concern in the fourth quarter, four for ten. But, you know, I trust Nicole. He's going to read the game. He's going to read how he's being guarded. And he's also going to pick a spot where he knows regardless of how he's being guarded, we need him to score and be aggressive and look to score. So whether it's 41 points, only four assists or it's 25 points and 15 assists. Nicole, the one thing I trust about him is that he's going to make the right read time and time again. Thank you, coach. Thanks, everybody. Jamal will be up next.