A historic Game 7 collapse had Mike Malone fuming.
The Nuggets coach lashed out at a reporter following his team blowing a 20-point lead in Sunday’s 98-90 home loss to the Timberwolves in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals.
Malone snapped at a rather fair question about his team blowing such an advantage since no team had squandered a 20-point edge in a Game 7 during what the NBA defines as the play-by-play era dating back to the 1997-98 season, the league posted on its X account.
“How hard is it just to absorb a loss like this after going ahead by 20,” The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando asked.
“Next question, man,” Malone said. “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 ass questions.”
It surely didn’t help the situation that the Timberwolves could be heard celebrating in the background, but this seemed to be a case of a coach overreacting moments after a devastating loss.
The defending champions had the Timberwolves buried in their own area, grabbing a 15-point halftime lead and eventually, a 58-38 edge early in the third quarter.
Then, as the late Dennis Green famously proclaimed, the Nuggets “Let ’em off the hook!“
Minnesota used a 30-9 run to grab the lead for good 12 seconds into the fourth quarter en route to the stunning upset to set up a Western Conference finals showdown with the Mavericks.
The 15-point halftime lead marked the biggest halftime lead ever wasted in a Game 7, according to the Associated Press.
Durando downplayed the incident on X.
“Wanna be clear, nothing taken personally here. He was hot. Season just ended in brutal way. Was a long pause after a short answer so I followed up,” Durando tweeted. “Pretty standard questions, but Malone has courteous and respectful rep w/media. Toughest presser of the year, we all snap sometimes.”
While Malone was clearly irked at that one moment, he was still proud of his team’s achievements this season.
“This is just a momentary delay,” Malone said, per ESPN. “It’s a failure, it’s not fatal. We’ll be back.
“The better team won, so I’m taking nothing away from Minnesota … but mentally, emotionally, physically, I think guys are gassed. They’re dead tired. They gave me everything I could ever ask for, and that’s why as much as this hurts, I’ll walk out of this building tonight with my head held very high.”
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