Nuggets coach rips team for ’embarrassing’ loss to Pelicans

Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone ripped his team for their loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night.

Malone’s Nuggets fell 120-112 at home to the Pelicans, who were playing without Anthony Davis.

“They kicked our a–,” Malone said after the game, via The Athletic’s Nick Kosmider. “62 points in the paint without Anthony Davis is embarrassing.”

For a team battling for one of the top spots in the West, a loss to the Pelicans and giving up that many points in the paint is embarrassing. But New Orleans also has claimed recent wins over the Suns, Lakers and Thunder, with one of those also coming without Davis.

When you only shoot 28.1 percent on threes the way Denver did, you can’t expect to win. The Nuggets are now 1.5 games behind the Warriors for first in the West.