Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone was not happy with his team’s effort in a blowout home loss to the New York Knicks. Malone also called out his team’s leaders by saying he needs them to be more vocal.
“Well, yeah, I mean like Russell Westbrook, he’s vocal — but we need more than Russell Westbrook,” Malone replied when asked about Westbrook’s leadership after the veteran guard addressed the team in a huddle. “I need Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, I need guys that have been here in that starting lineup to be vocal. And you know tonight we got embarrassed.
“We’re 16 games in and we’re talking about effort, we’re talking about toughness, we’re talking about physicality. … And regardless of who’s in, who’s out, who do we want to be as a team? So, yeah, leadership would be great, toughness would be great, physicality would be great, playing like you actually care would be great, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
For their part, Jokic and Murray didn’t disagree with their coach. Both said that the team has to be better. Jokic and Murray said the team’s focus wasn’t where it needed to be going into Monday’s game against the Knicks.