NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LAKERS VS. NUGGETS

September 20, 2020

Michael Malone

Denver Nuggets

Game 2: Postgame

Los Angeles Lakers 105, Denver Nuggets 103

Q. What is the message to your team after that game? Are there any silver linings in the way you guys fought?

MICHAEL MALONE: No, no silver linings. I mean, this is the Western Conference Finals, so no moral victories, no silver linings.

Gave ourselves a chance to win tonight. Obviously, Anthony Davis hits a big three to win the game at the buzzer. We'll watch the film, see what happened on that last play.

The message is we're down 2-0. Let's go out and win Game 3.

Q. Did you get a look at where the missed defensive assignment happened?

MICHAEL MALONE: I haven't seen it yet.

Q. Can you speak to the decision to play PJ Dozier late in the third quarter, the effect and impact he had on you throughout the rest of the game.

MICHAEL MALONE: Yeah, I thought PJ was great. He gave us a bigger defender, made some big plays for us offensively. He feels awful about the missed free throws. Monte was out there playing well, rolled his ankle a little bit. Wanted to give PJ an opportunity. I thought PJ did a great job.

Q. You rallied around this identity of the comeback kids. This is the first 2-0 deficit. Does it feel different than a 1-0 deficit?

MICHAEL MALONE: No, no, feels like we're down in the series and we've got to win Game 3. That's been our mindset in the first round, the second round. We're in the same situation here. Whether you're down 2-1 or 2-0, obviously the next game is the biggest game for us.

Q. Final shot notwithstanding, is that the pace of the game you want to play, that makes it more your way?

MICHAEL MALONE: Well, we did a much better job of taking away their transition. That was a huge point of emphasis going in. So, to clean that up allowed us to be in the game.

I thought our defense in that second half was tremendous. 22 points, 23 points. That's where it starts with us. Our defense will keep us in games. We're 8-8 in the post-season. Eight wins, our defense has been great.

We gave ourselves a chance tonight. Unfortunately Anthony Davis hit an incredible shot to kind of take that win away from us.

Defensive transition was tremendous. If we can continue that, we'll continue to give ourselves a chance.

Q. When your defense has been right... Tonight the basketball gods didn't reward that. How frustrating can that be for this group? Do you anticipate this group struggling with that?

MICHAEL MALONE: I mean, losing sucks. That's the bottom line, losing sucks. Some guys like to win, some guys hate to lose. I think we're a group of guys that hate to lose. Whether it be by 20 something points in Game 1 or at the buzzer tonight, counts as the same.

The only thing you can talk about tonight is we were in the game tonight. They had to rely on a great shot by a great player to beat us at the buzzer. But as long as we're putting ourselves in position to win games, that's all you can ask for.

One thing I know about our group, even though we are disappointed, frustrated, angry, we'll use that motivation to come out and try to take Game 3. Take it one game at a time.