Denver Nuggets: How will Michael Malone fare in the playoffs

Michael Malone — much like the rest of this Denver Nuggets team doesn’t have much playoff experience. So how will he fare come playoff time?

The Denver Nuggets are young. There’s no doubt about it. Coming into the season, they were the second-youngest team in the league.

And they haven’t exactly aged a lot. They didn’t add a veteran at the trade deadline — or anyone for that matter —  and three of their four best players are 24 and under.

But their inexperience doesn’t end there. Coach Michael Malone, 47, is the ninth-youngest coach in the NBA. And Malone has as many games of playoff experience as a head coach as most of the Nuggets roster — none.

Yes, Malone was an assistant on a handful of pre-decision LeBron James Cleveland teams. But it’s not quite the same. This year, Malone is the guy who has to answer for a bad performance — not LeBron or whatever poor schmuck was at the head of those Cavs teams.

(Mike Brown. Mike Brown was the poor schmuck. That poor schmuck does have a couple titles as an Associate Head Coach of the Warriors.)

And while Malone has done an admirable job this year — managing injuries, minutes, tempers and egos — the stakes are higher in the postseason.

But in two weeks, the Nuggets will be a lot more weathered. And we’ll see what they are made of. With games against the Spurs, Blazers (twice) and Jazz before closing the season out against Minnesota.

They haven’t got off to the best start on this late-season stretch, falling to Golden State Tuesday. They didn’t look so good against Houston last week, either.

And now, the reality of falling to the No. 3 seed is almost more likely than overtaking the Warriors for the top spot.

So Malone may have to show his chops before playoff time. Here’s hoping it looks better than Tuesday night.