Denver coach Michael Malone doubled down on his demand that the Nuggets play with extra self-discipline as they search to regain the higher hand over the Miami Heat within the NBA Finals.
A livid Malone had questioned his gamers’ effort and self-discipline after their game-two defeat in Denver, and he mentioned the gamers had been in full settlement.
“Our players owned it,” Malone mentioned after the staff educated in Miami forward of Wednesday’s recreation three. “I asked them after the game, Why did we lose tonight. And they told me we didn’t play hard enough. They told me we weren’t disciplined enough.”
Malone had already warned after the Nuggets gained recreation one {that a} lackluster defensive effort had allowed Miami too many scoring possibilities that the Heat simply didn’t capitalize on.
On Wednesday he famous that Denver had dominated each video games by means of three quarters — however mentioned the Heat had been dominating within the fourth.
“They’re averaging 33 points a game in the fourth quarter, shooting over 60% from the field in the fourth quarter and over 50% (from three-point range),” he mentioned.
“We have to learn from game two to use it to our advantage,” he mentioned. “What I know about our group is for years now we’ve handled adversity very well. I have no doubt that tomorrow night will be a much more disciplined, urgent team for 48 minutes.”
Malone mentioned it might begin with higher communication.
“A saying I learned a long time ago, communication is concentration,” he mentioned. “For me to communicate, I have to know what the hell to say. If I’m not concentrating and I’m not focusing, I don’t know what to say.
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“We had way too many examples, for an NBA Finals game, where we had guys not on the same page because of a lack of communication.
“Their ball movement, their body movement, obviously they do a really good job with that,” Malone mentioned of the Heat however added: “Think about this — going into the fourth quarter they had 75 points, they were shooting 43% from the field and we’re up eight.
“So now it’s just a matter of sustaining it for a lot closer to 48 minutes.”
