Denver Nuggets Michael Malone Calls His Team ‘Resilient’ Entering Another 3-1 Deficit

For the second time in this year’s postseason, the Denver Nuggets find themselves trailing 3-1 in a series. The recent 96-85 victory of the Los Angeles Clippers puts them one win away in reaching the Western Conference Finals.

With the Nuggets rallying back in the first round in a classic duel against the Utah Jazz, the team knows what exactly to do in high-pressure situations like this. Stars such as Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray have stepped up before and they’re expected to do the same in the games to come.

"This is a different opponent, obviously. A very talented, deep team," Nuggets coach Michael Malone said by way of ESPN.

The Clippers are led by the superstar duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George who have both been efficient throughout the series. In the most recent game, Leonard led all scorers with 30 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. To add to this, the two-time NBA champion also contributed four steals and two blocks.

It has been another dominant postseason for Leonard as he’s averaging 29.2 points, 9.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists on 51.5% shooting from the field.

"But I think we do have a confidence in being a resilient group and being a team that when everyone else has written us off, we have found a way," Malone continued.

The duo of Jokic and Murray led the Nuggets in scoring with 26 and 18 points respectively. The emergence of Murray as a star has been in full display during the first round where he had multiple games of scoring more than 50 points. This is why Doc Rivers emphasized the defense to focus on Murray and his scoring abilities. This assignment is led by George to ensure Murray doesn’t garner any momentum offensively.

"We knew that when we were getting him," Rivers said.

Despite only scoring 10 points, on four of 10 shooting, Rivers praised George for being a consistent defender.

"It gets lost at times, with P.G., because he's such a great shooter. The better shooter you are the more people forget how good you are defensively,” Rivers added.

It will be interesting to see if the Nuggets have enough gas left in the tank to deliver another 3-1 comeback.