On Saturday, the Denver Nuggets lost to the Portland Trail Blazers after Damian Lillard hit the game-winning shot with 0.3 seconds left on the clock.
Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried was caught on a mismatch and found himself guarding the two-time All-Star. Lillard used his speed and was able to drive to the basket and hit a floater to give his team the lead for good.
After the game, Faried and Nuggets head coach Mike Malone gave their thoughts on that last play. But surprisingly, both had different takes on it and had very different explanations on what happened.
Michael Malone and Kenneth Faried had very different responses to what went wrong on Damian Lillard’s lob at the end of regulation – pic.twitter.com/O6SMTln51T
— Harrison Wind (@NBAWind) October 30, 2016
During the summer, Faried was included in a lot of trade rumors and now finds himself in a new role with the team as a bench reserve. And with the 45-year-old bench tactician's statement, it certainly doesn't add to his job security in the Mile High City. Though he did not say it directly, it's quite obvious that Malone is putting the blame on the way he played defense on the last play.
It will be interesting to see how this affects their relationship and its impact to the team, along with his playing time. Many have been saying it won't be a surprise at all if Faried eventually gets traded as the season progresses especially now that Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic have proven that they can compliment each other on the court.
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