The Colorado Springs Gazette final

NUGGETS DEFEND HOME COURT VS. WARRIORS

BY VINNY BENEDETTO vinny.benedetto@gazette.com

There haven’t been many Bones minutes, but there have been plenty of dogs in Michael Malone’s second units this week.

After a rough stretch from the reserves in the first half of Tuesday’s game against New Orleans, Malone emphasized defense after halftime, playing Bruce Brown, Kentavious Caldw e l l - Po p e , Christian Braun, Aaron Gordon and Jeff Green to close the third quarter and start the fourth. Malone mostly stuck with that bench group in Thursday’s 134-117 win over Golden State.

“We got a bunch of dogs out there,” Brown said at Thursday morning’s shootaround. “Nothing is going to be easy on the defensive end. We get stops, and we just get out in transition.”

Bones Hyland, the second-unit point guard for most of the season, didn’t play after halftime against the Pelicans. Brown slid to the point guard, a position he said he’s comfortable in, which created space for Braun in the rotation. Malone said the decision had nothing to do with recent trade rumors involving Hyland.

“That can become a distraction, especially for a young player. Our job is to make sure that we help protect Bones as much as possible. Then on the other end of that, obviously, a player has an obligation to go out there and do their job to the best of their ability. That’s where it is right now,” Malone said pregame.

“It’s never personal. Every decision I make as a head coach is in the best interest of us trying to win a basketball game. That’s all it is.”

Against the Warriors on Thursday, that meant playing Braun over Hyland alongside Jamal Murray, Brown, Jeff Green and Zeke Nnaji late in the first quarter. Defense has been the rookie’s strength so far, and he picked up Jordan Poole, one of Golden State’s high-scoring guards on his first possession. His presence makes the bench unit more switchable on defense.

“In that lineup, we had a lot of guys that can defend a lot of wings,” Braun said Thursday morning, reflecting on the second half of Tuesday’s game. “(We can) get out and guard guys. I think that we were successful doing that. We’re comfortable doing different lineups. We’ve got a lot of guys that can play, a lot of guys that can do different things.”

When Murray picked up his third foul early in the second quarter, Malone went back to the Braun, Brown and Caldwell-pope backcourt. He stuck with the same group in the second half. The only changes Thursday were Murray playing with the bench instead of Caldwell-pope and Zeke Nnaji playing alongside Green. Brown scored 17 points, making 6 of his 9 shots, against Golden State, while Braun finished with five points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in nearly 19 minutes of playing time.

However it works out moving forward, Malone knows he’s got some solid guard dogs at his disposal when needed.

“You’ve got five pit bulls out there,” Malone said of that unit. “We’ll see what tonight brings. Each game brings on its own personality and challenges, and we’ll adjust accordingly.”

NEXT Atlanta at Denver, 7 p.m. Saturday, ALT, 92.5 FM

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2023-02-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-02-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.gazette.com/article/282196540101725

The Gazette, Colorado Springs