Fuming Michael Malone blasts his Nuggets team’s effort after losing Game 2 to the Miami Heat

An irate Michael Malone denounced his Denver Nuggets team and their poor fourth quarter effort in Sunday night’s Game 2 loss in the NBA Finals.

Denver let the Miami Heat shoot just under 70 percent from the field to score an improbable 36 points in the fourth quarter alone, resulting in a 111-108 loss that will see the series even before it goes to Florida.

“Let’s talk about effort,” Malone said of his team’s biggest problem in Game 2. “This is the NBA Finals. We’re talking about effort. That is a major concern of mine.

“You probably thought I was making up a storyline after Game 1 when I said we weren’t playing well. We didn’t play well.

“Tonight, the starting lineup to start the game, it was 10-2 Miami. At the beginning of the third quarter, they scored 11 points [just over two minutes].

Despite 41 points from Nikola Jokic, Miami won Game 2 by 36 points in the fourth quarter

The Nuggets shot better than Miami from the field, but let the Heat hit 17 three-pointers

“We had guys who were just, whether they were feeling sorry for themselves for not taking pictures or thinking they could just turn it on or off — this isn’t preseason, this isn’t regular season.

This is the NBA Finals. That to me is really, really confusing, disappointing.”

Denver couldn’t let a stellar performance from Nikola Jokic become the catalyst for a win – as the Serb dropped 41 points in vain.

“They just got us into their groove,” Jokic said. “And we didn’t want to play like that, and of course they want that. But maybe it helps to play a little faster.’

Although Miami had Jokic partying, they featured the performances of the rest of Denver’s ensemble – with everyone but the big man combining to go 23-47 (48.9 percent) from the field and 9-23 (39.1 percent) from 3- point to shoot range.

The Heat didn’t shoot much better from the field as a whole—at just 48.7 percent—but they hit more 3-pointers at a 48.6 percent clip to gain their advantage.

In addition, Miami entered the line ten times more than in the game before – going from just two total free throws in Game 1 to shooting 18-20 from the charity streak on Sunday night.

Even with the Nuggets going into the half leading 83-75 wasn’t enough to stop Duncan Robinson from scoring eight consecutive points before Gabe Vincent buried a long shot to go up by one.

Malone said Miami “got everything they wanted… and we struggled to get stops”

“They started the fourth quarter 13-2,” Malone said. “For me, the wheels really fell off going into that fourth quarter.

It was an excellent 23-point night for Gabe Vincent, who shot 8-12 from the field

“They got what they wanted, 3s, layups, and that allowed them to sit back in their zone attack, slow down the game, and we struggled to make stops – and then we had a hard time getting made baskets on the other hand.

Our defense needs to be a lot better. That’s two quarter quarters, Game 1 and Game 2, where our defense was nonexistent in the fourth quarter.”

In that fourth quarter of Game 1, Miami shot 60 percent from the field and 50 percent from outside the arc, leading Malone to clear the team during a filming session.

Lack of cohesion on the defensive front on Sunday was what put Malone in a sour mood at his press conference.

“Miami came in here and outsmarted us,” Malone said. And we were by far our least disciplined game of these 16 or 17 playoff games. So many glitches.

“They took advantage of all our slumps and scored. If we try to get out there and take back control of this series and get home field-court advantage back, we’re going to have to beat Miami, which we didn’t do tonight, and our discipline is going to be off the charts.”

Both Jeff Green (L) and Jamal Murray (R) agreed with their coach’s assessment of the team

Even with the poor effort, Murray could have sent the game to OT, but missed his 3-point shot

To the Denver Nuggets’ credit, they too weren’t happy with their performance of the night – with veteran Jeff Green echoing his coach’s anger.

“It’s the damn finals, man,” Green said. ‘Our energy needs to improve. We can’t get out the way we did, and we have to be better.’

But even with the blown defense, Denver still had a chance to win the game on a defensive rebound with 11.1 seconds left.

Malone opted not to call a timeout as Game 1 hero Jamal Murray attempted to send the game to overtime with a three-pointer that clattered off the rim and landed in the hands of Miami’s Caleb Martin.

“If we play like this, we expect to lose like this,” said Murray, who dropped 18 points and 10 assists that night. “We can’t play like that, whether we play away, at home or on the road, it doesn’t matter. We must have a better show.’