Nuggets/Bucks Postgame, Doc Rivers, Jokic, Murray, Mike Malone Reactions | Jan 29, 2024

Nuggets/Bucks Postgame, Doc Rivers, Jokic, Murray, Mike Malone Reactions | Jan 29, 2024

All right I think with about five minutes left Brook hits it three to make it 98 97 then you guys don’t score yeah minutes just what you two two bad turnovers if you remember one um we didn’t get the ball in bounds to the right guy and and a broken play and the

Second one Chris had a it was the right decision uh they just got their hands on it we had a guy wide open on a right up and so I wasn’t I was fine with that I didn’t think overall like uh until our guys anyone who told you you couldn’t

Play defense lie uh you proved that tonight uh you competed tonight and you know they got 15 points of of our turnovers if you take that away our half court defense was excellent when we fought tonight um I thought tonight was an offensive loss like I didn’t I didn’t

Think we were um Cris offensively we had stretches where the ball was humming and hopping and then we had stretches where it didn’t uh and that’s those stretches we have to clean up but overall was very happen I I think 19 points in the third quarter 11 turnovers I think in the

Quarter well um just what do you see that led to that same thing um you know when the ball stuck um and we didn’t space right uh it led to bad stuff you know I did think that I thought in the first half the second group were got

Crushed and then in the second half our second group crushed theirs and you know we talked about it at halftime uh campaign you know he’s not done this before but we told him you’re picking the ball Up full court I thought that changed the game for us it it really did

Now he was exhausted and and this may be the worst place to tell someone you have to pick the ball Up full court um but uh and same thing with bees like bees didn’t help us a lot offensively he didn’t get a lot good shots but he

Fought defensively so the fight is there um that’s some really encouraging moving forward you mentioned second unit you changed rotations a little bit yeah so I guess what went into your plan there to sort of amend things yeah I didn’t like in the first half when we had Dam man

Yanis off the floor uh I thought that’s when they made their little run I know we’ve been doing that I think you can get away with that against some teams but you can’t do that against a good team um and so we switched it uh in the

Second half but even at the start of the game like Dame this is the first time he hasn’t played a full first quarter yeah yeah was that altitude in Denver or was that something you were that something we talked about uh we talked about it my

First day um you know I really want Dame and jannis to be in when we get into penalty uh but I don’t want Dame to be tired when we get into penalty so our our plan is to take them out and bring them both back in so they can end

Quarters you said that you felt like this was an offense loss what type of adjustments do you tell your team to make when it is going that way not much just move the ball trust each other um the trust you know it goes in and out

It’s it’s in the flux you know what’s funny it’s it’s what I saw from afar uh it it was really interesting I this is exactly what I saw from TV you know uh sitting on the couch and uh the good news there you know is very fixable

Because you have guys that want to get it right so um listen Dame and Yannis have played 40 games together in their life you know uh Joker and and and Murray have played you you know and if you looked at the game tonight down the stretch they had it going our guys

Couldn’t get it going and that was the difference you know um I told our guys like today we’re going to spend longer shoot rounds uh we have to catch up to that you know you’re never going to catch up to that but you can get it

Better and we’re going to have to do it through practice what did you like about your defense tonight just we had fight um you know we we scrambled well uh loved our switching down the stretch getting uh you know scramming Dame out a lot um I thought Dame fought like so you

Know the cats out of the B they all proved they can do it so so now we have to do it every night is there any uh know getting this first game getting started like I don’t know releas the right word but are you just happy to

Kind of like all right we’re started getting yeah I’m happy we we’re going you know I you know I just know for a while it’s going to be a tough like especially offensive calls you know I had to turn uh to Joe and DJ a lot cuz

Uh me and Y like you know I bet three what’s that play where where Bobby you know um that it’s going to take a minute um I mean I I bet I’ve watched our offense 50 times over the last two days yet you’re still just going to take time

To have the right Rhythm to make the right calls we scored a lot out of atos um I wish we could have you know that was made my stuff but I wanted to score I’d rather score off what we run because they know the second and third options of those

Um the defensive I guess alignment with Joker to make him work looked a little bit like last year at least the way it started did you pull from that especially the way with Brooke and and then using Bobby and some doubles yeah Brook and Bobby double uh uh

Giannis uh gardam uh hurt us when he picked that fourth foul up that was cuz we were about to go to him guarding we’re actually going to go small um jannis only big with with Brook you know make Joker would have to guard him in transition but then he picks up his

Fourth fou so sometimes you have plans and you just they don’t work how did you feel like your guys responded to your coaching tonight oh they’re great they’re they’re very coachable team they’re they’re adults you know this is not uh this team is so far I mean uh but

They are they’re very coachable uh that that will never that won’t be a problem with this group um yage taking 25 shots to get 25 points is that kind of like the perfect that’s exactly what we the like he had to fight for his points tonight uh difficult points uh but he’s

Still really good you know um but when he takes 25 shots it means a couple things number one he couldn’t find guys the way he wanted to um and then number two that means he had to force a lot of tough shots that’s what our defense has

To be so good job overall thanks guys when this team puts together you have a defense but it can just have some m UPS what does that mean what did you see tonight defensively that make this team great in these typ matchups well I felt to start the game we weren’t quite ready

And I have to give our bench a lot of credit I felt that first quarter we went to our bench I thought they were terrific kind of they brought the energy then when I put our starters back in I thought they played at the level that was necessary considering who we were

Playing um I think it always starts there Matt you know the energy and effort the discipline um I’ll give you some numbers that kind of illustrate how effective our defense was tonight on the season that team averages 50 from the field they shot 42 tonight on the season

That team averages 124 points they scored 107 tonight and I think most telling that team lives in the paint they average 50 in the paint they had 26 tonight those are great numbers we took car the ball 29 assists only eight turnovers did not fuel their break and

Uh we did for the most part we did a pretty good job of Defending without fouling um so I think our guys were locked in to the game plan to their personnel um they present a lot of matchup problems but I felt that guys were flying around even when it wasn’t

Perfect you have to have that scramble mentality and you know the job that you know Aaron did on Giannis Payton did on Giannis Aaron’s block late on Dame was a big big block uh Nicole’s activity I mean he had tonight uh 15 defensive rebounds two blocks and three steals uh

And then the job that kcp did on DNE I mean so we had a lot of guys step up on that end of the floor but complete buyin uh and a lot of commitment and discipline on a night like tonight where Milwaukee also had a pretty good defensive game

Just what allowed you guys to separate on the other end well the funny thing is you know not many times when you look at a box score one team makes 16 threes other team makes four is a team with four going to win so obviously you know we dominated the paint

5626 um you know but it was just uh late in the game going back to our patented two-man game I mean getting getting the matchups that we wanted letting nla and Jamal play in space and everybody else kind of reading off of it and uh that was know reminds you of what

We’ve done time and time again over these last eight season with those two guys playing together with pton Watson you know that defense and athleticism obvious obviously pops but nights like tonight it seemed like the discipline and execution and understanding the mental part of Defense where do you see

The growth on him and tonight did you you know did that stand out to you yeah I mean like he had we showed a clip at halftime of know Giannis is such a good player he’s going to drive left he’s going to spin he’s going to shop F he’s

Going to step through and he generates a lot of fouls that way and Payton was really committed and uh disciplined uh in in terms of staying down being the second man off the floor and if he makes a tough shot make it a tough contested too where you’re not bailing him out

With a silly foul I grabbed him late we had a play where Nia tried to get him to L pass they broke it up then as we came up the court he committed a foul in transition and I said what a great learning opportunity in those situations

They’re in the bonus you can’t put a guy in the fat line in that situation so all these late game situations you know with Aaron getting in foul trouble pton going out there and making plays for us these are just tremendous opportunities and growth opportunities for him is that a

Luxury that’ll continue to grow like you talked about that you can lose in Aaron Gordon and pton Watson can come in there there’s not a huge drop off yeah I mean and again Scott I I think overall Reggie uh you know Christian didn’t score tonight but I loved his activity as

Defense the six rebounds like everybody CB’s got to score more no CB’s got to be aggressive he’s got to make winning plays and I thought he did that tonight uh Payton obviously his impact and even deandre’s impact but yeah when uh Aaron Gordon gets his fifth foul and I’m

Saying okay this around four and a half five to go do I ride him do I get him out and then Payton goes out there and plays really well and we kind of build on the lead so yes a luxury and what’s exciting for everybody in this room is

What Payton watch is only going to get better but the the potential is is unlimited there so uh really good win you know again we have one game left in this 10 game stretch that we talked about I think we’re seven- two now going

On the road to play a very good team in OKC uh that has up on us two to one on the head-to-head match up so I’m very very proud of our group for playing the way we’ve played and closing out games we have the number one clutch defense in

The NBA through 47 48 games and I thought you saw some great examples of that tonight as well were you surprised got a shot clock violation on a free throw uh no no I mean it’s uh 10 seconds so I was you know really happy that

Dedri you know made that call and then after that the fans got into it and they started giving you know the the whole Arena was chanting the the 10 seconds but you know what what what a game between two really good basketball teams so uh now we just got to turn the page

And get ready for OKC you didn’t want to talk about it before the G but congratulations when number 400 you get me a sign ball Katie are we going to keep that tradition yes we are um what does it mean to you and now I guess you’re chasing you know Doug in the

Rafters yeah I mean it means that I’ve been here a long time you know nine years and so when I think of 400 wins with the Denver Nuggets I think of uh Stan and Josh Ki you know believing in me and more importantly continuing to

Believe in me to be the leader of this team to be the head coach of this team uh and that happened long before it won a championship so that belief is just so it empowers you to do your job knowing that you have the confidence from your ownership group uh it speaks to

Tremendous players I mean how luy of I to be a coach I get to coach Nicole yic Jamal Murray Michael Porter kcp Aaron Gordon and not just the guys that are here right now but all along the way I mean like we were in Philly I saw jir Nelson like Malik Beasley tonight

There’s so many guys that have been a part of this and the last thing I would say is tremendous coaching staff you know from year one to year nine guys that have uh really really challenged me to be a better head coach and um you

Know that that’s how you get to 400 wins you have belief from your front office Calvin Booth Tim Connelly your ownership tremendous coaching staff and more importantly great freaking players and uh I’m really really blessed and fortunate in that regard one more question you saw pton Watson tonight at

Shooting guard for a tiny stint then you also saw him you know replace Aaron Gordon obviously out a necessity what do you see from him in that two very different roles and and is he growing in the versatility of the role he can take on well that’s what I think it is for

Him Adam I think you know he is just a Swiss army knife you know we’re going to put him on Giannis we’re going to put him on Dame Lillard every tonight he’s going to guard somebody different because we feel he can impact that matchup defensively at a positive level

And uh you know offensively the way we play really positionist type of basketball so he’s just got to be in the right space move without it uh make himself available and uh defensively be disciplined and just go out there and you know try to lock people up and do to

The best of your ability so you know really proud of uh Payton’s continued development everybody oh my God this is [Laughter] awesome jannis uh enjoyable what makes competing against Donis enjoyable I mean uh he’s of course fre freak of nature and he’s so dominant uh but also he’s reading the game and he’s

Uh he’s he’s trying to make a right play so it’s just interesting to see even him going you know what stood out to you about the the defense tonight in particular from you know kcp and and pton Watson got a lot of defensive minutes tonight I mean yes

They have a great team of course they have a a perfect fit uh for the play style they have um we we we just needed to make make make make hard them you know so I think the third quarter was really good for us they scor 19 points that was something that U

That was um we show ourselves that we can we can make stops and I think in the fourth quarter was a good defense at the end of course there is some slipp it but I think overall it was a this score 107 points I think it’s good especially team

How they how they’re playing and what they average so I think that’s that was that was uh uh important for us you call Michael Malone record his fourth win as a nugget what does that mean to you guys to get him that win uh it’s nice I got to be close

To uh I mean it’s just I just like to enjoy in the growth and and like every year we’re getting better every year it’s outg for us and just um I’m happy to be a part of that Journey for him with him and uh I think we we made um we

Made such a nice imp back in this organization in the city you guys outscored Milwaukee uh 15 to 10 in the clutch uh they were the number one uh clutch team in the NBA coming into tonight um you guys also have the number one clutch defense what’s working for you guys on the

Defensive side of the ball uh late in games I mean to be honest it’s got to be like the guys who are playing really like AG KC B play guys and we are just there to make them look don’t make them look stupid you know just be there and

Try to protect them but they are the main guys that uh doing the old work we are just there to little help them help them how do you think pton is progressing with the the understanding of the game the mental part meaning he’s a young player pton Watson yes I think

He’s getting better you know um even even possession like today he told me I’m going to cut here next he was like even he him is figuring it out so I think you know I think just by playing I would say that just by just by playing I

Think you’re getting better than just experiencewise and like learning the system the the spots on the court just the feel for the Gameco I was going to ask you for some of the younger guys the game likes was was Clos throughout gry how important is it for the young guys to go through

These kind of games young guys to go through these kind of games what you guys re I mean to be honest that’s why we play probably I mean that’s why I play to play these kind of games to play to play Under the pressure to play to play

Uh tight games you know I think that’s that’s what every player’s dream is you know to to perform or not to perform in a those situation you know I think even if you don’t perform in those situation it’s a it’s a still a lesson doesn’t mean you’re a bad player you know it’s

Just happen happens to be like that so I think I I love to play under those circumstance circumstan circumstances circumstances so I think it’s a great uh for for young guys especially you’ve had a lot of battles with Dame Through The Years what does he look like on this team to you is

It different seeing him with yanas and in this kind of team I mean of course uh it’s it’s a completely different system for even he said team but uh you know he’s he’s a great player and we we we spent a lot of time in a pre in a scouting in the pregame

Meeting about him just because he’s such a great player and great threat for them and they’re using they’re using him I think the right way you know some nights some nights are good some nights are bad but I think I think they’re going to be really good Nicole coach Malone said

Before the games that that you guys looked at the standings as a team how often do you look at the standings and if you did today did you have any reaction or no I never looked to be honest I don’t I don’t look I think it’s toly sorry no it’s your honest answer

Nicole why did you want to come out so early to talk to us today because I have things to do ni you would be honest have played against each other a lot over the course of these years just how much of an appreciation do you have for him as a as

A competitor but also just how aggressive I mean he’s he’s I think he’s a great competitor he’s he wants to win every game he like he’s playing with such a force with such a power will I’m going to say he he really wants to win every game and uh I think that that’s

What makes him uh good and great actually so in every every game every whatever we play I mean is it U Back in Europe national teams here here Allstar he always wants to win a game cool thanks Jamal this game and reminded me a lot of Boston game defensively and just

The intensity it was played with um what stood out to you about the defense you guys were able to play tonight uh it was a fun game you know they’re talented offensively they have um a lot of shooting r b going shoot that thing um Dame is being an

Aggressive ball game um Yiannis is Yiannis um Bobby por plays with great energy you know Mr Mech he plays hard and plays with great energy um obviously my boy Malik out there but I think we just did a good job of just like being on a string um packing the paint G

Rebounding we had a couple let but we did a good job you know uh for for most of the game so it was a good win by our guys just with how physical they play how downhill they’re always playing on the defensive then what kind of a like

Physical intensity does it kind of ratch it up a regular season game like this um I think it’s more just about who’s got your back you know when Dame’s coming off um it’s about trusting you know who’s who’s going to be there um in the

Low man or or in the string position you know just just always being on a string you know we’re trying to make emphasis to stun for the stunner or or active digs or digging for the stunner um if somebody makes makes a mistake or or improvises and and doubles like you know

Just being on the string we don’t have to draw it up and be like oh if you do this you know what I’m saying so um I think just just having better reaction better time timing I think we did a good job of just um reading each other on the

Defensive end and Jamal you had play one in the first half was that part of a product their defense kind of packing it in you kind of needed to get out there and play a little one-onone out front I think I don’t think I had a three

Today so I was going to the rim I was going to the RIM today um I was just taking whatever the defense gave me um I think they did a good job but just uh J me around the mid-range all that kind of stuff kind of not letting me uh just put

In two on the ball when I did come off um yeah so like I said we just kind of worked around it and um I was able to get going in the first and um until you know everybody else start to to pick it up in that third and

Fourth quarter so uh like I said I feel like I didn’t even do much today there was a great team effort you know everybody just being on the string and and playing defense and it was really it really came down to who can who can defend um each other

Pton was stepping up in the fourth quarter as well especially coming in for AG Le just made it a really nice play there we continue asking him about his growth and his development just in nights like tonight that you see more than just like the physical like defensive development or is there some

Mental stuff in that is he getting smarter defens I think he um he’s adapting um yeah write that down go ahead um I think he’s adapting um uh at a pace that we like you know it’s kind of you know the messes gets across to him um and he does

A good job of applying that in the game so I think whether it’s offense defense like cutting staying still um taking his time speeding it up um being aggressive or getting a rebound and kicking it out to to Mio or something like you know what I’m saying just kind of picking his

Spots and and and and he knows when um uh when to be aggressive so I think he’s just playing a complete Game you know what I’m saying offense defense and um he can kind of like I said do a little everything and you know I don’t want to

Know that’s yanis right there man that’s that’s a really good that’s MVP um a downhill guy um someone who’s going to put pressure in you constantly so I think it wasn’t just him but um he did a great job tonight Jamal Nicole said a

Few weeks ago that the goal is to to to be better than last year even and he said just moments ago that he feels like you guys are getting better you guys are working towards that do you kind of see yourselves as as progressing year-over-year yeah yeah um for sure um

Everybody you know we got a we got a some new guys new units um this year but I think you know we’re just trying to keep them up to speed and and just kind of give them a a baseline of what we’re trying to see from from everybody

And you know we’ve been doing just kind of you know even when we don’t have a good couple possessions like we’re able to to bounce back or or get oursel into a comfort set um but yeah I definitely think we’re um yeah definitely think we’re on the

Right track to being a lot better than this year especially that first uh five guys out there you know Julian’s on Instagram live right now uh with Jaylen piet’s car out there I don’t know if you know anything about this or have anything to do with it I’m

Up here brother I don’t know I how about that L Pro that was tough that was tough I didn’t think it was going to get through cuz it wasn’t like a high lob I thought y was going to get a piece of it but that that was tough that was tough all right

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