Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone has no intentions of benching forward Will Barton after two poor-shooting games this postseason, claiming he won't overreact to a brief slump through the early part of this series. The transition specialist shot 1-of-10 from the field on Tuesday and 6-of-15 on Sunday's Game 1, combining for a woeful 1-of-11 from deep throughout this series.
Barton's aim was so off recently, that one of his corner threes hit the side of the backboard, one that only elevated the boos from the home crowd.
will barton’s jumper lookin clean pic.twitter.com/JW5NCQhaoE
— buckets (@buckets) April 18, 2019
Yet Malone insists he won't make much of a two-game sample.
“Kind of like with Jamal (Murray) last night, if I just yank him out of the lineup, that’s not who I am,” said Malone, according to Mike Singer of The Denver Post. “And I think it’d be an overreaction. It would look like I was panicking. Will’s gonna go out there and hopefully play great tomorrow, and if he’s not playing well, we know we can go to guys off the bench.”
Barton returned to the Denver Nuggets this past summer on the premise that he would become a starter in Malone's rotation, that and a sound four-year, $53 million deal.
However, his insertion into the starting lineup had its kinks, as Barton quickly landed in the sidelines with a hip injury after the first two games of the season, keeping him out until January.
Heading into this playoff run, Barton has shot under 50% in each of his last nine games and 13 of his last 14. The 6-foot-6 wing is putting up his worst scoring average (11.5 points per game) since coming to Denver, along with shooting a subpar 40.2% from the field and 34.2% from deep.
If Barton doesn't turn it around soon enough, Malone might not have another choice but to give a hotter hand the opportunity.
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