Michael Malone pays the price after the Denver Nuggets suffer yet another loss. The Mile-High City team seemed to have forgotten their winning ways. The 2023 NBA Champions lost four straight games in the preseason. Tonight, after the disappointing 94-124 loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder without Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray, Coach Malone let down his guard and surrendered in front of the reporters in humiliation.

“We’re not satisfied with one,” said Malone after winning the Nuggets’ first championship in franchise history. In fact, looking at the exploits of Joker and Bubble Murray’s union, it looked like no one could shake the Denver side. However, in the very next season, the team suffered a humiliating exit in the playoff second round. And now, leading up to the fresh season, the team barely looks like making it to the postseason.

Speaking of the team’s performance tonight, the 53-year-old helplessly said, “I mentioned pregame that my biggest concerns: Can we take care of the ball and keep them out of transition? And we failed miserably in that regard.” Notably, Malone may have had a lavish expectation from his team that took on the West’s in-form team without Jokic and Murray. Zeke Nnaji replaced Joker and Julian Strawther replaced Murray, and they put together 23 points with 5 assists. Not quite up to the numbers that the Joker-Murray duo would produce together.

Moreover, the team also didn’t witness a step up from Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon, who are the third and fourth-best unit in the side. Above all, even if the team played with the full roster, there’s growing concern regarding fighting spirit. When a reporter asked Malone whether the team had a sense of revenge in the air, Malone disappointedly said, “I haven’t seen it.” Unfortunately, this response came days after the coach showed confidence in his team.

Michael Malone’s hopeful anticipation goes down the drain

Like most NBA coaches, Michael Malone is a confident individual. If he weren’t, he wouldn’t have boldly predicted a Nuggets dynasty in the coming years. However, his confidence isn’t baseless—it stems from the strong belief he has in his team. Before losing to the Thunder, the team suffered a disappointing loss against the Phoenix Suns at home.

Following the game, Malone found a glaring drawback in his roster. The lack of perimeter protection. Up until the team had Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the veteran guard took care of the perimeter defense. However, Pope moved to Orlando in the free agency and the Nuggets have a huge void. Speaking of it, Malone said, “My issue is them making 23! They outscored us by 33 points from the 3-point line. We dominated the glass, dominated the paint, but got our a– kicked from 3. We gave up 37 points in that third quarter, it was embarrassing!”

However, Malone was still confident when he said, “Tomorrow we will watch a lot of film, there’s a lot to clean up, practice, and try to continue to pull it out of our guys. We only have two more chances in the preseason as we prepare for opening night.” However, nothing seemed to have changed in the last few days. Will the Nuggets bounce back in the right time to start the regular season on a high? Let us know in the comments.

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.