Early in Thursday night’s game, Nuggets coach Michael Malone stalked the sideline, waving his arms like the Scarecrow in the “Wizard of Oz,” imploring his team to shut down the Nets’ 3-point machine.
“We’ll have our hands full tonight,” Malone said before the game. “One of the areas where we have been struggling is with our 3-point defense. They are a prolific 3-point shooting team, so our 3-point defense, our multiple-effort mentality, and our fly-around mentality are going to be tested.”
Not really.
The Nuggets, led by history-maker Nikola Jokic, answered Malone’s challenge and ran away with a 124-101 victory.