Most of the time, I go and do a statistical piece for these weekend articles to try and see a deeper meaning behind the numbers. Today, I'm talking about the Miami game and how much of a huge let down it was, specifically one man: Michael Malone.

Going small against the Golden State Warriors and playing with less than 15 (1+2+3+4+5=15) is almost unavoidable. It's almost recommended when we have a Small Forward that's 6'10 and debatably plays the Power Forward position just as well.

Going small against the Miami Heat? That's borderline lunacy.

The Nuggets played their game last night against Hassan Whiteside and the Miami Heat, and the two have made a resurgence due to the union between them. Whiteside, a former D-Leaguer, has found a home blocking shots, catching alley-oops, and expanding both his offensive and defensive games in a contract year. At 7'0, his athleticism and ability to connect the puzzle pieces of potential together will get him PAID this offseason.

Chris Bosh already got PAID a couple years ago and is in the 2nd year of a 5 year, 118 million dollar deal. At 6'11, he has the unique ability of being able to score anywhere on the floor he wants, and he still plays reasonable defense to boot.

How did the Nuggets counter the two towers in Miami? By starting Kenneth Faried as the de facto Center and playing Darrell Arthur next to him.

What?

Yeah, the 6'8 guy and the 6'10 guy. Nikola Jokic got blocked three times, but his overall impact on the game was felt through the multitude of ways he impacts the box score. He's also much closer to 7 feet than Faried or Arthur are, and against two guys of that size, it's really hard to win without guys at the 4/5 who can either space the floor at an elite level or defend their position at an elite level.

The Nuggets also have a guy named Joffrey Lauvergne. You may have heard of him. He's also tall and skilled. He probably should have played last night, but Mike Malone decided to go with the 8-9 man rotation (Foye played 7 minutes) which only included one big man in Jokic.

Mike...coming from the heart, these guys are good. These Euro Bigs deserve to be played when there's room for them in the rotation. You let Hassan Whiteside get 19-17-11 because he played 38 minutes, and our answer was to counter with playing the 6'8 who doesn't take any shots outside of three feet. I understand that he deserves to play, but the strategy of letting Whiteside camp under the rim because he's an arm's length away from Kenneth Faried is incredibly dumb to me. Move Whiteside away from the rim by sticking Jokic or Joffrey in the corner and tell them to hit every corner 3 they get.

On the majority of Hassan Whiteside's blocks, he's tracking the ball from the middle or the edge of the paint. When he's involved in the Pick and Roll itself, he makes some great plays on the ball, but for a guy as tall with as much bounce as he has, he usually just has to stand, jump, and reach.

I count six of the eleven blocks were caused because he was standing next to a guy on the block. That's bad coaching. Mike Malone has to know how to utilize his big man on that side of the ball. For a guy like Whiteside, if his man stands next to him on the block, he doesn't have to worry that much about a pass to his man because of his height, wingspan, and athleticism. However, if that player is standing in the corner and Whiteside is standing in the paint, then the corner man should be hit for 3 pointer after 3 pointer to A) Make threes, and B) Draw Whiteside out of the paint. That's easy right there.

For this reason, along with Nurkic's absence, I think Mike Malone dropped the ball on this game. Joffrey Lauvergne is as great a healthy option as we have on this team to combat a player like Whiteside because he stretches the floor, he's 6'11, and he's motivated to prove something. Kenneth Faried had 5 rebounds compared to his 17 and frankly isn't capable of handling him at all. That's bad coaching. Kenneth Faried is a Power Forward, and given the excess of young, strong big men on the Nuggets, he should not be playing the 5 for any extended time.

It's time that we embrace our youth. Mudiay played pretty well, Kilpatrick got 3 seconds of time, Harris has been a heavy minutes guy, as has Barton, and Nurkic has worked his way into 20 minutes when healthy.

The real story here: if it's an option, then the young guys need to play and learn. Jokic was debatably the best option, but he got 17 minutes, while Lauvergne received zero. That has to stop. Trying to win is one thing. Doing it requires playing the best options throughout the game. Hopefully Malone recognizes that soon.