Well, Malone is in a very familiar spot. Took until the finals to finally see it, but the Heat aren't messing around anymore. They are going to put Jokic in the pick and roll blender for real from the looks of it. It's going to be very interesting to see how Malone responds. Will he go with that smaller lineup which looks to be a pretty good defensive one? Or stick to his superstar?
Denver has proven they aren’t the team you go to the same well twice against in this postseason. Lakers thought they had it all figured out with Rui on Jokic and AD protecting the hoop after game 1. It was completely meaningless halfway through game 2.
Spamming Jokic against pick and rolls is an obvious strategy that the Nuggets have faced continuously through this season and over the years. I’m sure it will be a familiar adjustment. If you brought it up to Malone he would probably respond as incredulously as he did when media tried to act like the Lakers found the secret sauce with Rui
And even if not…Murray, Porter and KCP can play better and Denver can win this series comfortably regardless