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Against The Cavaliers on the second night in a row, Nuggets coach Michael Malone knew he would have to rely on his reserves.
It was hardly surprising to see the Nuggets come out after Wednesday's overtime thriller in Chicago, which saw nine players play at least 20 minutes. While the Cavs were playing with energy, the Nuggets' offense was transformed into isolates and disjointed sequences. After a quarter, he was 27-15 riders, and it seemed that fatigue could make the most of the Nuggets.
Then Malone turned to Hernangomez, whose contributions to Wednesday's win were not in the last row.
"I even singled out (Hernangomez) (Wednesday) the night of the Chicago locker room," said Malone. "Every group he did not play all night, but every group he played in the match supported his teammates – and it's really big, it's mature." And tonight I knew we would need him – I did not know he'd have the night he'd had, but we need his energy the second night in a row. "
Hernangomez was an instant crime. He buried three shots on goal without hesitation in the second quarter to help turn a 12-point deficit into a 50-42 lead at half-time. He hit two more 3 en route to the 23 points of the game, in addition to his effort still on the glass. Thanks to the versatility of Hernangomez, the Nuggets' reserves have exhausted the depth of the Cavs in the second half.
"When Juancho plays, he plays extremely hard," said Malone. "You'll never have to worry about that, you know what you're going to get, and obviously tonight, I think you've seen the best of everything on Juancho."
Mason Plumlee, another constant source of energy and bouncing off the bench, said Hernangomez was going to do more.
"Internally, we know that he is capable of that," Plumlee said. "We are happy for him, that allowed us to win, but I could see him playing two games this year, he's a scorer, he's attacking the basket, he's more than a shooter." the potential to go out some nights ".
Hernangomez played sporadically this year, but it's his perfectly timed block that sealed the Nuggets' win over Golden State last month. The selfless attitude of Hernangomez made him appreciate his teammates.
"When you're not playing, you're also trying to find a way to help the team," said Hernangomez. "If I have to encourage someone or say something to someone, it's my job." It's a team issue, it's not about about my minutes, my game and the number of points I score.It's about the series, to win. "
Warm start
Good luck finding someone with Nuggets eager to hang up their hat on their 7-1 start – the best start of a campaign since 1976-1977.
First of all, Malone rejected the historic victory over the Cavs.
"It does not mean much to me, to be very honest, and I do not try to be shy," Malone said. "I like the beginning." As soon as we think we've done something, it's when we're going to prepare for a failure … For us, the only real success will be measured by the playoffs. "
Plumlee, who has 11 shots against 15 in the last two games, has not been impressed either.
"For me, that means more than we have won on a backstroke after, against which we were not as good last year," Plumlee said.
This is an important attitude that Malone instilled and he changed the expectations for this season. Although their start is fantastic, their fourth ranked defense and multi-layered attack mean nothing unless it's sustainable.
Their next move to prove it comes Saturday at home against Utah Jazz.
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