Alrighty, then. So maybe the coach of an NBA team does serve some constructive purpose, other than being a suit who calls timeouts, plots sub rotations and wrangles wayward egos.
Maybe he can call out his players when necessary. I know, what a concept.
Hard so say if that was the case last night with Nuggets coach Michael Malone up in Minnesota, but something happened to the defending NBA champs on the flight from Denver to Minneapolis. After losing the first two games of their series with the Minnesota Timberwolves at home, the second horrendously, they put a whuppin' on the Wolves last night in front of Minnesota's home crowd, 117-90.
And maybe it was just a coincidence that the win came a day after Malone scolded his guys, telling them they were the defending champs and it was time they started acting like it. Or maybe they were actually listening and responded.
Jamal Murray, for one, responded with 24 points in front of a hostile Target Center crowd that booed him incessantly, two nights after he shot 3-for-18 and threw a heat pack and towel onto the floor during the Nuggets' 26-point loss in Game 2. The NBA lightened his wallet by $100,000 for that little tantrum.
Last night, he scored 18 of his 24 points in the first half and splashed 11-of-21 shots. League MVP Nikola Jokic added a 24-point, 14-rebound, nine-assist stat line, and all five Nuggets starters scored in double figures.
In other words, they were the defending champs again.
Reminder or no reminder.
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