Michael Malone was in a very bad mood after Sunday’s season-ending loss.
The defending champion Denver Nuggets were officially eliminated from the playoffs with a 98-90 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 7 of their second-round series. Denver led by as many as 20 points in the second half, but let their big cushion slip away to fall victim to the biggest comeback in a Game 7 in NBA history.
After the defeat, the Nuggets head coach Malone was asked by a reporter about how hard it was to stomach a loss like that after leading by 20. Malone was not really feeling the question and got profane with his response.
“Next question, man,” Malone replied. “The season’s over. That’s what’s hard. F–k being up 20. The season’s over. You don’t understand that. The season’s over, it’s hard.
“Stupid a– questions,” Malone then lightly muttered to himself.
Here is the video (but obviously beware of the bad language).
"The season's over. That's what's hard. F*** being up by 20. Stupid questions."
— Denver coach Mike Malonepic.twitter.com/OcVEJ9IS0j
— BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) May 20, 2024
Malone probably had a point in that the question didn’t really have anything to do with strategy or execution but was rather just some abstract narrative bait. There was not too much that he could do with something like that.
But then again, Malone was one of the biggest talkers when the Nuggets were doing well, including and especially during their title run last season. Once his team lost, Malone didn’t exactly keep that same energy and lost his cool a bit over an ultimately manageable question from a reporter.
