Michael Malone eyes Nuggets’ upcoming schedule as “toughest 10 game stretch that I can remember us ever having played”

When busy coaching an NBA game every other night, sometimes the best way to keep up with the rest of the league on a day to day basis is to just skim the final scores. Michael Malone looks over the results every night, “and I’m just amazed,” he said Friday night before the Nuggets faced the New Orleans Pelicans.

“I don’t know if there’s ever been a season like this in terms of, one, the scoring output that the league is (at). Everybody’s scoring 130 points a night. And then the number of blowouts. I mean, teams are getting beat by 30 on the daily it seems, and good teams. So it’s just an amazing season in that regard.” Maybe it was a bit of a knee jerk reaction to the eye popping scores the previous night, when Oklahoma City won by 60 and the Bucks crushed Boston by 33.

But Malone’s mind was also focused on the upcoming Nuggets schedule, which features some of those teams. Malone told Denver’s players before the New Orleans matchup that “our next 10 games … it might be the toughest 10 game stretch that I can remember us ever having played.” Nine of the last 10 games in January are against opponents currently in the playoff picture, and six of them are on the road.

Excluding a Wizards game sandwiched in the upcoming road trip, Denver’s opponents during this stretch had a combined win percentage of .661 entering Friday night’s slate of games. “It’s gonna show a lot about who we are,” Malone said. “Because these are the dog days.” Nuggets rookie Julian Strawther’s injury will keep him sidelined a bit longer than the Nuggets initially thought.

Malone said Strawther is expected to miss at least another week after already missing three games due to a right knee sprain and contusion. “Nothing long term, but not for the foreseeable future,” Malone said. Strawther, a 2023 first round draft pick, is averaging 5.9 points on 38.4% shooting from the field and 32.2% shooting from three.

Before the injury, he had become a staple of Denver’s 10 deep lineups early in the season thanks to his heat check potential beyond the arc. He has scored in double figures nine times and erupted for 20 twice, both times to help lead the Nuggets to comeback wins. With Strawther out, Justin Holiday is the next shooting guard option to play with the second unit.

Malone has also been staggering Jamal Murray with the bench more in recent games..