The Wolves want to keep it, the Clippers are eyeing it, the Thunder can get it back too, and the Nuggets… are more measured with this first place in the Western Conference. A first place that they had recovered last year to benefit from home advantage until the title.
“ For me, it's not the priority, or the second priority, to be very honest. We talked about it with the team today. The positive is that Minnesota is number 1 and we play them three more times. With three games behind us, we have the means to become the number 1 team “, remarks Mike Malone.
The latter will travel to Minnesota on March 19, then the defending champions will host the Wolves twice, on March 29, then on April 10. Enough to actually catch up if they succeed. “ It is clearly achievable. But I don't want to win this battle and lose a bigger war », Continues the coach, who is obviously thinking of a long run in the playoffs.
A cherry on the cake
To get there, the technician has a priority. “ When our major five plays, I believe our record is 24 wins and 6 losses (editor’s note: 8 in reality). 75% victory, so for me that's the most important thing, going to the playoffs with our starting five healthy and ready to face the pressure that will be put on them “, notes Mike Malone, thinking about his main combination (Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) thanks to which he won the title.
“ In the playoffs, the rotations tighten up, and you give guys more playing time. So I think having home court advantage in the first round is very, very important. Having a healthy team is very important. And if we are number 1, that will be the icing on the cake. But we are not going to play all our cards to reach it and risk our health to go a very long way in the playoffs », concludes Mike Malone.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Nikola Jokic | 53 | 33.8 | 57.7 | 35.2 | 81.3 | 3.0 | 9.1 | 12.0 | 8.9 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 26.1 |
| Jamal Murray | 40 | 31.4 | 46.8 | 41.1 | 84.9 | 0.7 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 6.5 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 20.5 |
| Michael Porter, Jr. | 54 | 31.6 | 47.0 | 39.4 | 79.1 | 1.3 | 5.6 | 6.9 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 15.9 |
| Aaron Gordon | 49 | 31.7 | 54.5 | 31.5 | 64.1 | 2.5 | 4.2 | 6.7 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 13.8 |
| Reggie Jackson | 55 | 23.1 | 45.7 | 37.2 | 77.6 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 4.0 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 10.9 |
| Kentavious Caldwell-pope | 50 | 31.9 | 44.3 | 37.9 | 92.1 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 10.0 |
| Christian Braun | 55 | 19.0 | 43.8 | 36.0 | 73.2 | 0.8 | 2.7 | 3.5 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 7.0 |
| Peyton Watson | 53 | 18.3 | 47.3 | 33.6 | 70.0 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 6.9 |
| Julian Strawther | 35 | 13.9 | 37.8 | 30.9 | 72.0 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 5.8 |
| Deandre Jordan | 29 | 11.3 | 63.2 | 0.0 | 44.9 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 4.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 4.1 |
| Justin Holiday | 32 | 14.8 | 44.6 | 39.4 | 75.0 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 3.8 |
| Zeke Nnaji | 40 | 9.6 | 43.9 | 27.8 | 68.1 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 3.3 |
| Colin Gillespie | 18 | 7.6 | 44.4 | 35.0 | 71.4 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 2.4 |
| Jalen Pickett | 16 | 6.1 | 42.9 | 35.0 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 2.1 |
| James Huff | 8 | 2.7 | 57.1 | 40.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 1.3 |
| Braxton Key | 15 | 3.4 | 40.0 | 25.0 | 66.7 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.1 |
| Hunter Tyson | 9 | 3.0 | 14.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.2 |
