“ Um… A lot. I don't understand the question “, begin by Reply Mike Malone to a journalist asking him how much the absence of Nikola Jokic was felt against the Celtics for the Nuggets.
“ He is a three-time MVP, Finals MVP…. Without the best player in the world, we are a different team. But that doesn't mean we don't fight. That doesn't mean we don't compete, and that's what our guys did tonight, and that's all that matters to me: come out of here disappointed in the result, but not disappointed in the outcome. 'effort », Develops the coach.
The latter, despite this 12-point setback conceded against the reigning champions, can emerge from this meeting with more than one reason for satisfaction. While his team was up to 15 points behind at the start of the second quarter, they were able to come back to play eye to eye with the visitors, until this fatal sequence eight minutes from the end .
A tiny margin of error
At this point in the match, the last two NBA champions were still tied (93-93). Only, ” the margin for error against this team, without our starting power forward and pivot, is non-existent », continues Mike Malone, mentioning the 25 points conceded by his team after the lost balls (16, including 8 for Russell Westbrook alone…). “ It's too much to give yourself a chance against them. »
Big man at the end of the first period, Jamal Murray (19 points at 8/17 on shots) evokes a major concern who played in the rebound battle. “ I thought our defense was pretty good, our offense was pretty good. And then (he sighs) whistles that don't go our way… so it's hard. We gave ourselves a chance, it's frustrating », blurts the leader.
He also believes that he should have converted more shots. “ If I'm hitting shots and making the good shots that I'm getting, I wouldn't even be having this conversation. Like I said, I'm frustrated. I blame myself a lot. » This night, he received support from Russell Westbrook (26 points), Julian Strawther (19), Michael Porter Jr. (15) and Peyton Watson (14).
Jayson Tatum expected such a battle
“ Their role players were great tonight, they hit some difficult shots, but we were able to resist “, welcomes Joe Mazzulla whose team, although manhandled, was able to keep its cool to sign this 15-0 in four minutes in the last quarter.
“ They are clearly not better without him (Jokic). We have lost some of these matches in the past where the best player opposite was not there. Others have more opportunities, more freedom. So it's going to be a dog fight, especially with them. They won the title two years ago, they are very competitive, well coached. So we have to be even more committed “, book Jayson Tatum.
This season, the Nuggets lost two games without Nikola Jokic (Pelicans, Grizzlies) and won one game, against the Grizzlies without Ja Morant. It was therefore undoubtedly their best outing of the year without the Serbian. “ We gave ourselves a chance to win, I couldn't be more proud. These aren't moral victories, but we did a lot of good things tonight », Finishes Mike Malone.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Nikola Jokic | 31 | 37.1 | 55.3 | 47.3 | 80.6 | 3.5 | 9.5 | 13.0 | 9.7 | 3.3 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 31.5 |
| Jamal Murray | 28 | 36.7 | 43.3 | 36.6 | 85.2 | 0.5 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 6.3 | 2.3 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 19.4 |
| Michael Porter, Jr. | 34 | 34.7 | 52.4 | 42.3 | 71.1 | 1.6 | 5.0 | 6.5 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 19.1 |
| Christian Braun | 33 | 33.8 | 55.5 | 35.7 | 80.0 | 1.2 | 3.6 | 4.8 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 13.9 |
| Aaron Gordon | 17 | 28.7 | 52.3 | 44.0 | 75.4 | 1.9 | 3.9 | 5.8 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 13.7 |
| Russell Westbrook | 34 | 26.8 | 45.4 | 31.6 | 63.0 | 1.1 | 3.5 | 4.7 | 6.6 | 2.7 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 12.0 |
| Julian Strawther | 34 | 21.0 | 44.8 | 36.0 | 84.9 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 9.0 |
| Peyton Watson | 34 | 24.2 | 48.2 | 32.9 | 76.7 | 0.9 | 2.4 | 3.3 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 8.6 |
| Dario Saric | 10 | 13.6 | 30.0 | 26.3 | 83.3 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 3.4 |
| Jalen Pickett | 9 | 9.2 | 50.0 | 42.9 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 3.1 |
| Deandre Jordan | 22 | 10.4 | 62.0 | 0.0 | 33.3 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 3.0 |
| Hunter Tyson | 24 | 8.7 | 42.2 | 30.8 | 86.7 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 2.5 |
| Vlatko Cancar | 4 | 8.6 | 57.1 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 2.3 |
| Zeke Nnaji | 19 | 4.6 | 42.3 | 0.0 | 20.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.2 |
| Trey Alexander | 10 | 4.8 | 25.0 | 16.7 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| Pj Hall | 6 | 2.3 | 40.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.7 |
| Spencer Jones | 5 | 2.6 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
