The defending champs encountered a fuel shortage in the second half of the season-defining game. “On one hand, we got the 2 seed,” Malone said Thursday when asked about how much he played his starters late in the regular season. “And on the other hand, I’m watching our players play in Game 7 in the second half, and our guys looked dead tired. I think you guys probably saw the same thing. So did I run our players into the ground? I’m sure that’s definitely part of it.”