NBA
Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone speaks after Game 4 loss to Lakers
The Nuggets coach was philosophical after the Lakers came back into the tie, keeping it alive as they beat their rivals.
The Los Angeles Lakers are not quite at Terminator T-1 levels of ‘I can’t kill it’ just yet, but their victory over the Nuggets certainly cooled the pressure underneath Darvin Ham’s seat at the side of the court. LeBron put in a stellar performance as the Lakers went ahead against the Nuggets and stayed there, winning 119-108 in Game 4, keeping their hopes of a comeback alive.
After the defeat, Nuggets coach Michael Malone spoke to the press, saying that the result was not ideal before confirming he wants to “make sure it never happens again”.
What did Michael Malone say after losing to the Lakers?
“Is it ideal? No,” Malone said. “But hopefully we can figure that out and make sure it never happens again.
“If you want to dig into stuff and say, well, we lost because for some strange reason our players didn’t have their shoes when they got here for their normal warmups, that we had guys out there shooting around with flip-flops, is it ideal? No. But I’m not an excuse guy. And I’m not going to point to the reason we got our butts kicked in the paint because shoes weren’t here. I think that’s a reach, personally.”
In the previous games, the Lakers had let double point leads slip, with the Nuggets coming on strong in the 3rd quarter after solid first half performances from Ham’s side. This time, however, the Nuggets were unable to match the constant threat of the Lakers, and never managed to claw back the result.
“We talked about getting off to a better start,” Denver’s Michael Porter Jr. admitted. “It takes a lot of energy to come back from these double-digit leads down 20, down 15, whatever it is. Tonight they did a good job of sustaining it. Whenever we got within 10 or eight, it seemed like they made a 3-pointer or made a big shot. So credit to them.”
Why did the Nuggets warm up without shoes against the Lakers?
“I think the bus that the shoes got loaded onto was the last bus. There was some confusion,” Michael Porter Jr said, explaining the curious occurrence that saw the Nuggets go into the game preparation period without any shoes.
“So all I had was slides. They said we could either skip our warmup or go out there in slides. I kind of knew then that people would probably make a big deal out of it, but it was just because somebody forgot to put the shoes on the right bus.”
“It’s frustrating. Pregame routine is very important, but everyone makes mistakes. Everybody’s human, so I’m not too mad.” LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers survived Game 4 against the Denver Nuggets to keep the series alive and putting an end to a 10 game losing streak against the Nuggets. Their next game is scheduled for tomorrow, Monday 29 April at 10:00PM ET / 8:00PM PT.