The Nuggets hope to avoid a similar situation in the future after being caught up in an altercation with Warriors players on their way back from Los Angeles.
Denver says sideline spat ‘out of the system’ as Nuggets return home trailing Golden State Warriors 2
The “warriors vs nuggets 2022” is a rematch of the Western Conference Finals. The Denver Nuggets are down 2-0 to Golden State Warriors and they will be returning home on Tuesday night.
DENVER (AP) — The Denver Nuggets left their arguing and at times uncontrolled fury in San Francisco, according to Michael Malone, as they try to turn around their first-round series against the Golden State Warriors.
After teammates Will Barton and DeMarcus Cousins got into a verbal confrontation on the bench during a second-half breakdown against the Warriors in Game 2, the Nuggets say they remain together.
Nuggets players spoke out in the locker room following Monday’s 126-106 defeat, according to point guard Monte Morris.
Malone said after Nuggets practice on Wednesday, “That was out of the system before we got on the aircraft.” “We dealt with it internally and moved on.”
“We’re all in this together,” Malone said, referring to his team’s attempt to avoid falling down 3-0 to the Warriors in Game 3 on Thursday at Ball Arena. “We’re in good shape. We moved on from it. We enter the game as a single entity. There is no lingering effect from the events of the game.”
The Nuggets have little chance of defeating the Warriors if they are fighting and beating themselves, according to Malone. Denver has had no answer for Stephen Curry, Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green through the first two games.
Poole is averaging 29.5 points per game in the starting lineup, while Curry is averaging 25 points per game off the bench as he recovers from injury. Thompson has scored an average of 20 points each game in the series, while Green has shut down reigning MVP Nikola Jokic.
Jokic has a 25.5 point, 10.5 rebound, and 5 assist per game average. However, Jokic has been dissatisfied with the calling, and he was dismissed in the fourth quarter of Game 2 after receiving his second technical penalty for arguing with an official over a foul that wasn’t called.
After Game 1, Jokic praised Green’s defense against him. When Green was the Nuggets’ last defender in Game 2, he kept Jokic to eight points on 2-of-12 shooting.
“Draymond has been causing us a lot of problems,” point guard Austin Rivers said. “People aren’t really paying attention to it. Draymond has done a lot of damage to us. He’s basically dominating the pace, getting all these shots, and thrashing Jok.”
Green has held Jokic to a total of 16 points and 6-for-25 shooting in the first two games when he was the final defender against the reigning MVP, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.
“Draymond Green is simply not protecting anybody,” Malone remarked of the defensive stopper’s role in Golden State. “Out there, he’s a free safety. So we need to figure out a method to be successful while also making them pay for it. And until we accomplish that, it’ll be difficult for Nikola to get off when he’s surrounded by three players who are screaming things like, ‘We’re going to make one of you other guys defeat us.’”
Malone wants his squad to be more aggressive in their play. Denver needs Aaron Gordon, who has averaging 7.5 points and 5.0 rebounds, to make a greater effect with Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. still sidelined.
“Today, we chatted with Aaron,” Malone added. “[About] various ways we can counter how they’re protecting him and how he can not only benefit himself, but also his teammates a lot if they’re not guarding him.”
“I believe it begins with a degree of hostility. Be assertive. Guys are receiving the ball in the paint and kicking it out to the perimeter without even glancing at the rim. Make a play, go to the hoop, and get to the foul line by being aggressive. When two good teams compete, the team that is the most aggressive will win… unless that changes, we have no chance of winning a game in this series.”
The Denver Nuggets are returning home trailing the Golden State Warriors 2. In a sign of good sportsmanship, the two teams have agreed to put their sideline spat “out of the system”. Reference: warriors schedule.
Related Tags
- warriors vs nuggets 2021
- nuggets vs golden state last game
- denver vs golden state score
- warriors vs nuggets today
- denver nuggets vs golden state warriors prediction
