There has been a lot of talk about “load management” in the NBA lately but Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone thinks the league should instead focus on schedule management.
His team is currently best in the West with a strong 37-17 record, which is 4.5 games ahead of the second-place Memphis Grizzlies.
That means if they want to remain the top team, they need superior skill and a forgiving schedule.
Lately, they have only had the former and not the latter.
Over the weekend, Malone went off about the fact that his Nuggets only had 22 hours between games.
Coach Malone said he doesn’t know how the Nuggets are playing a game 22 hours after the game last night in Denver.
“I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s a joke.”
Said it’s a recipe for disaster.
Nuggets played at 7pmMT in Denver last night and tip-off tonight is 5pmMT in MN.
— Katy Winge (@katywinge) February 5, 2023
“I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s a joke,” Malone said.
On Saturday night, the Nuggets faced off against the Atlanta Hawks in Denver and were able to secure an easy 128-108 win.
But then less than 24 hours later, they were in Minneapolis, squaring up against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Things didn’t go as well for Denver, who suffered a nasty 128-98 defeat.
It is true that the team’s biggest names were sitting out of the game; they were without Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and others.
But how much did fatigue play into their loss?
Basketball is an incredibly physical game and traveling can also take a lot out of players as well.
However, the league has a jam-packed schedule that often shows no mercy.
There has been a lot of debate recently about the NBA changing how many games are in a season.
Even subtracting just ten games would give players more time to recover and would avoid problems like this.
It would also minimize the chances of matches being missed due to “load management” and resting.
It sounds like Malone is certainly on board with some sort of change.
NEXT: Nuggets Star Praises Nikola Jokic
