Nuggets coach Michael Malone ripped into his team’s defensive effort in Game 2. During the team’s film session on Tuesday, Malone encouraged his players to talk through their mistakes and take responsibility for their assignments. Forward Michael Porter Jr. didn’t mind the tone, he told Mike Singer of the Denver Post.
“You definitely gotta own it,” he said. “You can’t be sensitive. Me personally, I know I gotta play better. If my teammates tell me that, I’m not going to be sensitive. If I tell that to someone else, like, ‘Yo, you gotta tell me if we need to work on switches.’ They’re not going to be sensitive.”
Porter knows he has to ramp up his game. He is shooting just 3-for-17 beyond the arc during the series, along with some defensive lapses.
“I think intensity and energy wasn’t where it needed to be from me personally or really the team as a whole,” he said. “We can talk about the mistakes that we had defensively, but really, it’s about intensity.”
We have more on the Nuggets:
- Malone wants to see his team increase the tempo in Game 3 on Wednesday but they have to play better defensively to make that happen, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN writes. “We want to play fast; they want to play slow,” he said. “When you’re not getting stops, advantage Miami Heat because now they have their 2-2-1 press back to the zone. We’re playing way too slow to try to attack that, which is forcing a lot of late-clock situations for us.”
- Veteran forward Jeff Green, who will be a free agent after the series, said he made a point of taking Aaron Gordon and Bruce Brown under his wing. “I’m here to push them to be better,” Green told Rob Mahoney of The Ringer. “Make sure that they’re doing what they need to do for us to win, but also for their career to go to the next level. Together we’ve been great, and that’s just a culmination of our relationship and trying to understand each other.”
- Ish Smith has barely played in the postseason but the journeyman point guard, who is on his 13th team, could win his first championship ring if Denver takes the series. Smith will be a free agent after the season and hopes to get another opportunity. “Until they cut off the lights and say don’t come back, I’m going to be out here playing,” he told Ryan McFadden of the Denver Post. “You’re still going to see No. 14 running fast.”
“Six Degrees of Jeff Green”. The Jeff Green article on The Ringer, written by Rob Mahoney, is sensational. It’s one of their more entertaining pieces in a while.
That picture of Green they used is priceless!
He’s had a super interesting career. He’s gone from a guy who was considered a disappointment to a valued role player.
I love guys like Jeff. Great glue guy. Maybe become a coach or analyst is in his future.
Porter JR might be the softest player in the nba.
He definitely isn’t.
He is soft. If he isn’t #1, he is #1A.
Are you thinking of the Rocket guard ?
Nope, that’s the guy who claimed sitting on the end of the bench in Cleveland was the equivalent of “modern day slavery”. He is a knucklehead
Green had major heart surgery. Otherwise he would have been an all star. He’s still a solid rotation piece.
Porter had a bad gm. His D was terrible. Other players have to step up and pitch in for Nuggets. It can’t just be Jokic and Murray.
Heat can’t guard Jokic (who can ??). So others and the offense have to play off of that. Gotta give Heat credit for shutting that down. Nuggets should be picking up 3/4 and half court more often.
Nuggets coach better step up.
Maybe its me. But I would have called a time out. And took the ball out at their end. Imo he didn’t want to give Spoelstra time to set up his D. That’s too much respect.
Malone said as much, that the HEAT defense was too good at that point …… also, Murray already hit consecutive 3’s the previous plays, so best to just leave it all to Murray’s hand.
Heat struggled a bit as the rotations changed leading into that 2nd quarter, where Denver was playing Murray, Brown, KCP, Jeff green, and Gordon. If I’m Denver, I’m actually considering starting Brown over Gordon, even though Gordon is a really big deal matchup wise in the series. A bench unit of Gordon, Braun, and Green makes a lot of sense matchup wise for them, assuming the Heat play the same way
For the Heat, they probably need to keep using those multi guard lineups when Denver has certain guys on the floor. I personally thought Strus would be extremely important in the matchup, assuming all the rotations were what they were, so I would actually like to see more attacking offensively from him