He was playing them together at the end of the first quarter for a few minutes. No one going into the playoffs would say that the nuggets bench was bad, it was a strength the entire season. The showing the bench has put on this series has been terrible and the refs are doing them no favors but Malone is a fukking idiot with his rotations.
The bench in terms of individual defensive talent is pretty bad.
The Nuggets defensive improvement came due to scheme changes.
They don't really the size or athleticism to be defensive factors. Mason Plumlee is probably the most athletic player on the team and this man got crap instincts.
Nuggets play good as a team but the playoffs ain't a team game. It's about mismatches. Portland is just exploiting the fact that they can't guard nobody.
Malone is in a tough place because Jamal Murray can't guard anybody so he has to play Craig, but Craig isn't an offensive threat, so he can only play with the starters. So then he brings Beasley and Barton together who got the athleticism to defend but they aren't even average on D.
shyt is sad.