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Mike Malone dismisses Nikola Jokic criticism: ‘I don’t listen to Patrick Beverley a whole lot’

Clippers guard Patrick Beverley wasn’t happy with Nikola Jokic and the officials after their Game 3 win against the Nuggets on Monday night, arguing that Denver’s star big man does “a lot of flailing” and “puts a lot of pressure on the referees” to get foul calls.

Denver coach Mike Malone, however, simply doesn’t care.

Malone: ‘I don’t listen to Patrick Beverley a whole lot’

Malone was asked about Beverley’s comments following the Los Angeles Clippers’ 113-107 win, which put them up 2-1 in the Western Conference semifinal series.

Seeing that they were coming from Beverley and having looked at the box score himself, Malone doesn’t understand where he’s coming from.

“I don’t listen to Patrick Beverley a whole lot,” Malone said. “If Kawhi Leonard was talking, maybe I might listen to it. Kawhi’s a great player. But all you gotta do is look at the stat sheet. [Ivica] Zubac attempted more free throws than Nikola Jokic. They shot 26 free throws, we shot 10.

“So I’m not really sure what game Patrick is talking about or looking at. I really don’t warrant and give too much attention to that.”

Malone is right in that the Nuggets shot just 10 free throws compared to Los Angeles’ 26 in Game 3, and have shot nearly half as many as the Clippers in the entire series. They were called for six more fouls overall on Monday night, however.

Zubac, who guarded Jokic for most of the night, fouled out in 22 minutes.

Beverley — who was ejected from Game 2 of the series and fined after verbally abusing an official — wasn’t alone in his criticism, either.

“He puts the pressure on the refs,” Paul George said. “Some of those I don’t think are fouls, but he gets it.”

Yet just like his coach, Jokic — who had a near-triple-double with 32 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists on Monday — didn’t care.

The Serbian didn’t even know what the word “flailing” meant.

“They had 26 free throws. We had 10,” he said. “I am just showing the ref it is a foul.”

Los Angeles Clippers' Patrick Beverley
Patrick Beverley thinks that Denver star Nikola Jokic does a lot of ‘flailing’ and is pressuring the officials to give him foul calls. (AP/Mark J. Terrill)

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