MIAMI – On the big stage that is the NBA Finals, here’s the part nobody wants to say out loud: Where the Nuggets’ lack of championship experience could hurt them most is in the matchup between coaches Michael Malone and Erik Spoelstra.
If a ring’s the thing, Spoelstra exhibits the unflappable confidence of a champion who already owns two, while Malone craves his first one with the desperate hunger of a man who hasn’t eaten in days.
“He’s been to how many Finals at this point?” Heat center Bam Adebayo asked Tuesday, reminding me Spoelstra won back-to-back championships with Miami way back in 2012 and 2013. “So he has seen everything but the wind.”
Spoelstra has made all the right moves in the Finals, while Malone is searching for ways to shake the Nuggets from a disturbing new trend of fourth-quarter funk.
Too harsh? It’s not criticism if it’s honest.
In a chess match with Malone, Spoelstra has made the aggressive moves to keep the Nuggets in check. He replaced Caleb Martin with Kevin Love in the starting lineup, negating Denver’s size advantage. He switched defensive assignments, sending Heat star Jimmy Butler at Jamal Murray, then watched Murray’s offensive production dip from a robust 26 points in the series opener to next to nothing before the chaotic final minutes of Game 2.
If talent was all that mattered in basketball, the Nuggets already would be halfway to sweeping Miami. But the course of a series can be changed on coaching adjustments.
Now we will find out if the ever-fiery and fiercely competitive Malone has strategic thoughts that run deeper than harshly criticizing his players’ lack of effort in defeat.
“Honesty isn’t critical, so I don’t view it as being critical,” Malone said.
“Before I came out and spoke (to the media), I had the same conversation with our players. Never once will I come into a press conference and say something to you that I haven’t spoken to our team about. Our players owned it. I asked them after the game: ‘Why did we lose?’ And they told me we didn’t play hard enough.”
On the eve of a pivotal showdown in a best-of-seven series tied 1-1, Malone was as cool as the other side of the pillow, far from the coach who demanded a rage timeout as Denver blew an eight-point lead during the final period of a no-way-that-freakin’-happened loss in Game 2.
When the Nuggets took the court for an early afternoon practice in South Florida, as forward Michael Porter Jr. launched jumpers to regain his AWOL shooting touch and center DeAndre Jordan spread laughter among teammates, Malone took a seat in the front row of the Kaseya Center next to guard Jamal Murray for an avuncular chat.
For five minutes, Malone counseled and encouraged Murray. It was a scene that wouldn’t have been out of place in a 1990s sitcom, with Philip Banks offering guidance to the Fresh Prince. Wrapping a friendly arm around Murray, then gently resting his head on the guard’s shoulder, Malone smothered the Blue Arrow with love as an antidote to the smothering defense Butler applied to Murray in Game 2.
“A lot of it is mentality for me. I just like to keep the right mindset,” Murray said. “So when everybody is in a good spirit, even coming off a loss, I think it’s huge.”
After the team’s chartered flight landed in enemy territory, the Nuggets gathered for a Monday night dinner of laughter and bonding at veteran Jeff Green’s local home, so peaceful and remote Murray joked it was like being in “Narnia.”
As penance for their Game 2 mistakes, Malone showed the Nuggets video cut-ups of 17 plays from the loss that resulted in 40 Miami points, giving his players a chance to talk and hold each other accountable.
When I asked Malone what he could do to help the Nuggets overcome their performance downturn in the fourth quarter, when they have been outscored by Miami 66-45 in two games, he was quick with ideas that went beyond a demand to try harder.
“I’ve got a great stat,” replied Malone, citing that during the opening three quarters against the Heat, his team’s offense had only operated under the duress in the final seven seconds of the shot clock on 32% of its possessions.
“In the fourth quarter of Games 1 and 2, that jumps from 19% to 32%, which means we’re taking the ball out of the net, we’re walking it up, we’re playing against the zone and we’re getting caught playing in really late-clock situations, which is hurting our offense.”
On the sideline, Malone demonstrates a New York state of mind, often as hyper as a puppy chewing the furniture. By contrast, Spoelstra might be cooler than mentor Pat Riley in his Showtime Lakers prime and seems as relaxed on the Miami bench as a king on a throne.
“He isn’t making anything up. He isn’t trying to figure out this, that and the third (thing). He has been through so much with so many other great players that I feel like he settles in during these moments,” Adebayo said. “This is when he really gets comfortable. This is when he doesn’t really get rattled. This is when he comes up with the game plan for us to be successful.”
This is where, with the Nuggets three victories from the first championship in franchise history, Malone must seize the opportunity to leverage Nikola Jokic, a two-time MVP, and make moves for which Spoelstra has no answer.
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