NBA Rumors: Coach of the Year candidate Mike Malone could be on the hot seat if the Denver Nuggets don’t make a deep playoff run.
Barring an unforeseen fall, the Denver Nuggets are likely going to enter the NBA Playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. For the majority of the season, the Nuggets have been the most consistent and best team in the West. Nikola Jokic is likely going to win his third-straight NBA MVP award and this is a team that has an underrated supporting cast that is headlined by Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr.
In what has been described as a wide-open Western Conference for much of the season, this could be the perfect year for the Nuggets to finally break through in the postseason. And that will be somewhat the expectation for this team heading into the playoffs. So much so that it could come with some pressure when it comes time for this team to win when it counts.
According to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, there will be plenty of pressure on the Nuggets heading into the playoffs. Considering there’s not a clear-cut overwhelming contender in the West, this is a postseason run that the Nuggets can’t afford to waste. And if they do, it could come at the expense of head coach Michael Malone.
In short, heading into the postseason, he believes that Malone may be on the “hot seat” if he doesn’t lead the Nuggets to a deep postseason run.
The biggest threats to the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Playoffs
Heading into the playoffs, it’s hard to pinpoint who the biggest threats will be for the Nuggets. But it will be interesting to see how this team does perform when the game slows down and becomes more of a half-court game.
If there’s one weakness that the Nuggets have, it’s on the defensive end of the floor. This is not an elite team defensively but because of how great their offense has been this season it hasn’t been much of an issue in the regular season.
But it remains to be seen if that will continue to be the case once the playoffs start. But it’s becoming quite clear that if the Nuggets don’t make a deep playoff run this season, something has to give. And it may end up being coach Malone that ends up taking the fall, fair or not.