The Denver Nuggets seem to be in a bit of a rut right now. The defending NBA champions are on a two-game losing streak, and don't look like the insanely dominant team that came out of the All-Star break.
On Friday night, the Nuggets suffered an embarrassing 111-98 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. This game had serious playoff implications, with the Nuggets having a half-game lead in the Western Conference. Had the Nuggets won the game, they would have furthered their conference lead over the Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder, who were breathing down the Nuggets' neck. With the loss, the Nuggets fall to third in the West.
Nuggets Michael Malone: "The fans had every right to be disappointed."
Nuggets were 1st in the West before tonight's game. But after the loss, they fall to 3rd. Having this win would have been huge in terms of playoff seeding, but Malone says the Nuggets let a "golden… pic.twitter.com/z2WwHeakGT
— Rachel Strand (@MileHighRachel) March 30, 2024
Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray was ruled out before tipoff as he continues to nurse a knee and ankle injury. Being without Murray, the Nuggets looked sluggish and uninspired. The Timberwolves however were almost toying with the Nuggets at times. It got pretty ugly with Nuggets fans even booing their own team.
During his postgame press conference, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone wasn't shy about sharing his disappointment. He even said with the way his team played, they deserved to be booed by the fans.
“The fans had every right to be disappointed about that first half,” Malone said. “… You let a golden opportunity fall through your hands. It's one thing if a team comes in here and beats you. I think we all could walk out of here and say ‘you know what, they were better than us tonight.' But tonight I don't think that was the case. Yeah it was disappointing. I hope that when you speak to our players they'll be hopefully equally as disappointed.”
A concerning Nikola Jokic injury update for Nuggets
The Nuggets are banged up as the NBA regular season comes to an end. During the Nuggets game against the Timberwolves, Nikola Jokic was seen with a taped-up right hand. This seems to be a new injury that has popped up, as Jokic was listed on the Denver injury report pregame with lower back pain and left hip inflammation. Jokic would be seen getting his wrist re-taped a few times throughout the game.
“I was surprised he played tonight, to be quite honest,” Malone said on Jokic. “His wrist is really giving him a lot of trouble. As we know, Nikola is the kind of guy that plays through a lot of things that most guys wouldn't play through.”
Unfortunately for Jokic, his right hand is his shooting hand. He also had a few errant passes and looked a bit off all night. Despite this, Jokic still led the team, scoring 32 points.
“Hopefully it's going to be a little bit better, just so I don't feel it every time when I shoot,” Jokic said. “But it's good. I'm used to it, dealing with the pain. It's kind of normal for me.”
Even though the Nuggets are kind of limping to the finish line in the regular season, Malone still feels confident that if the team has a chance to get healthy, they can beat anybody.
“I have complete confidence that this group, regardless of seed, can beat anybody anywhere when we're healthy,” Malone said. “… I want to get back to playing 48 minutes of Denver Nugget basketball.”
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