Coach of the Nuggets reveals chess move used against Jayson Tatum in team’s victory against the Boston Celtics
In what ended up being a 122-120 victory against the Boston Celtics on January 19, Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone made sure to do all in his power to stop Jayson Tatum. This included positioning Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on No. 0 to the point where his minutes almost matched Tatum’s.
Malone said, “We attempted to match Pope’s minutes with him” (via The Denver Post). Around minute seven of the first half, they pulled (Tatum) out. Pope remained in the match. Tatum was now facing some of the players on our bench. We discussed Jayson Tatum at halftime in the second half because I believe he is a first-team All-NBA player. Let’s attempt to keep an eye on and replicate Tatum’s KCP minutes. Our greatest opponent on him is him.
As stated by Bennett Durando of The Denver Post, Malone modified his game strategy to reflect the intensity of a playoff game. Just seven Nuggets played double-digit minutes, with Aaron Gordon absorbing the Nikola Jokic-less minutes.
“DeAndre Jordan was supposed to play backup center,” Durando said before clarifying that it wasn’t intended to be a playoff simulation. Rotations and minutes were meant to be regular operating procedure. It was an ordinary season match. 43rd game of the regular season.
“But Michael Malone, the coach of the Nuggets, can turn into a bold bettor when he acts purely out of competition. or simply a lunatic, maybe.”
Nikola Jokic’s MVP performance helps the Boston Celtics fall to the Nuggets.
After the game, Kristaps Porzingis praised Nikola Jokic, labeling the Serbian center the finest player in the world. Jokic had just finished the C’s first home game of the 2023–24 season with 34 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists.
The Cs have to find out how to coax MVP performances out of any of its players as the playoffs draws closer, all the while preserving the balanced offense that has Boston sitting atop the league at this point in the season.
Without a player who can will the team to victory on their own, it won’t be simple, but the various leaders in the league will find out a way to defeat a squad that is too hesitant to give up to a hot hand. They could have done it against Denver after Porzingis scored 19 of his 21 points in the first half.
