Blazers News: Nuggets HC Calls Out His Team Following Loss to Portland

Courtney Tate | 5 Hours Ago

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The Denver Nuggets had their three-game win streak snapped by the Portland Trail Blazers in yet another disappointing loss to a team under .500.

Denver started the game off strong with Christian Braun connecting on offense early scoring 11 points on perfect shooting. Michael Porter Jr. also dumped in 10 points, giving the Nuggets a 35-30 lead at the end of the first.

The second quarter was a game of runs as Portland’s Anfernee Simons and Deni Avidija led the Blazers to a 19 to four run to take a 10-point lead midway through the second. However, Denver closed the half out strong tying the game back up before the half from offensive efforts from Nikola Jokić and Russell Westbrook.

The third quarter was all Portland, absolutely dominating, outscoring the Nuggets 38-21. Simons capitalized on the moment with a picture perfect 28-foot step-back three at the buzzer to give the Blazers a 104-87 lead headed into the fourth.

Things started clicking for Denver late in the fourth, as they were able to stage a 17-point comeback to tie the game up with a pair of free throws from three-time MVP Nikola Jokić. Murray and Westbrook also showcased a valiant comeback effort finishing big time plays down the stretch to bring the game within single digits.

Murray’s three pointer with one minute and 24 seconds remaining led right into a huge block by Westbrook keeping Simons from re-taking the lead seemed to be the momentum sequence Denver needed to secure a come back win, but Anfernee Simons had other plans.

With just a few seconds left in the matchup, and the ball in the hands of Simons, the 25-year old guard got the ball at the top of the key, walked the clock down to the final seconds, blew past Westbrook off the dribble and connected on an nearly uncontested layup at the buzzer to secure the victory.

This win was exactly what Portland needed to start to turn things around, but there’s lots of frustration from the opposing team resulting from Friday’s loss.

Denver head coach Michael Malone expanded on his frustration with his team, as this isn’t the first considerable “bad loss” to a team under .500.

Why does it take being down 17 points to start the fourth quarter to play hard?" Malone said he asked his team. "That shouldn’t be the emphasis behind playing hard. We should be playing hard because we wanna be a great team, we want to win as many games as possible… These are the type of games - games like this, games like the one we had in Washington, that come back to bit you in the a—.”

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