NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LAKERS VS. NUGGETS

September 22, 2020

Michael Malone

Denver Nuggets

Game 3: Pregame

Q. You have been down in these Playoffs before. How much trust do you have in your team's ability to bounce back mentally from an emotional game Sunday?

MICHAEL MALONE: Yeah, I think they've earned my trust. We've been down 3-1, 3-1 back-to-back series. To respond to a devastating loss at the buzzer takes a special team. I think that's what we have, a special group of guys.

That was our message yesterday as we watched the film. Look at all the positive things we did to put ourselves in position to win the game. So, we have to replicate that for as close to 48 minutes as possible.

Our group still believes. We were right there. We should have won that game, in our opinion. Anthony Davis made a great shot, give him credit. But we have confidence that we can beat this team.

As we all know, Game 3 is huge. You do not want to go down 3-0 to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

Q. When you had a chance to look at the film, what clicked in the second half specifically on defense?

MICHAEL MALONE: I thought we were just a lot more aggressive. To hold that team to 45 points in the second half, 40% from the field, 30% from the three, and most importantly I think it was keeping them in the halfcourt. That was a huge point of emphasis Game 1 going into Game 2. We cannot let them run like they did in Game 1, which is after misses, makes, turnovers, you name it.

I thought we had a much greater sense of urgency to get back, to show a crowd to LeBron, to show a crowd to Anthony Davis. That ignited our offense. We've seen that time and time again.

We won 5, 6 and 7 against Utah, 5, 6 and 7 against the Clippers. A big part of that was the defense igniting our offense and playing at a high level.

Q. I think 19 turnovers in Game 2, 13 offensive rebounds you gave up. How much of what you saw is correctable going into tonight?

MICHAEL MALONE: I think it's correctable. I think as far as the turnovers, we actually had 21 turnovers, but luckily only 15 points. That's been a point of emphasis. They're long. They're active. We have to take care of the ball at a much higher level.

When we do make a mistake, we have to have the resiliency to get back. The goal has always been to give up less than one point per turnover. 21 turnovers, 15 points is not bad.

As far as the rebounding, that's a concern. It's not just our big guys. Danny Green has five offensive rebounds in two games. He had three in Game 2. LeBron, AD had two each. We can't give them extra possessions.

The turnovers they come down, the offensive rebounds they come down, now we're going to give ourselves a much better chance to win the game because they're too talented. They don't need extra possessions.

We have to control the areas that we can control. It's not just on our bigs to rebound, we need all five on the floor to do so.

Q. You are 40% from three-point range. Are you happy with the looks you're getting on the three-pointers? What do you see in that area of the game?

MICHAEL MALONE: Overall, yes, happy with the shots we're getting. Game 1, I know that game got away from us in a hurry in the third quarter. I thought we got some quality looks, open looks. The way they're guarding us...

Someone asked today, how come Nikola is not getting more threes off? If you look at the Utah series, how they guarded him, he was open on the pick and pop. Look at the Clippers series, how they guarded him. He was open.

The Lakers are switching a lot. They are switching his pick'n roll and catch and shoot. Now when we do post him or isolate him, there's going to be a double-team. When they put two on the ball, that's a great chance to get a three-point shot. We have to space the floor correctly, react to the double-team, step up and make shots.

I think we're getting quality looks. We'd like to generate some more attempts when possible. But overall it's been okay to this point.

Q. At the end of that game I think I counted in the third, fourth quarters four times the Lakers hit a shot with no time left on the shot clock. Is that bad luck, great defense, combination of the two on your part?

MICHAEL MALONE: Caldwell-Pope made a big three in the corner. Jerami was there. He missed a big shot over that. Anthony Davis hit a three at the end of the clock, in the exact same spot he hit the game-winning shot on.

You could call it bad luck. You could call it great offense. You could call it good defense, but not good enough. I think it's a combination of a lot of things.

Could we have done things a little bit better in those cases? I'm sure we could have. But I think our second half defense, if we can try to replicate that for four quarters tonight, now we're going to give ourselves a great chance to get our first win in this series and make it interesting.

The second half was great. But we can't wait. We have to have that sense of urgency to start this game off tonight.