Nuggets Credit Coaching Change With Beating Clippers In First Round Series

After the Denver Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 120-101 in Recreation 7 of their first spherical sequence, there seemed to be a way that the abrupt dismissals of Michael Malone as head coach and Calvin Sales space as normal supervisor contributed to the consequence. The Nuggets had been floundering in direction of the beginning of the playoffs and appeared to rally round interim head coach David Adelman.

“I feel the proprietor … wished to alter one thing, to alter the power, and possibly he did,” Nikola Jokic stated after Recreation 7. “He acquired the consequence he was on the lookout for.”

“If we do not make the adjustments, there is not any manner we’re even in a Recreation 7,” a Nuggets government advised ESPN.

The Nuggets obtained key performances from function gamers Christian Braun and Russell Westbrook. 

“Final 12 months, clearly the workforce had a missed alternative, however I felt like we must always have gained,” Braun stated, referring to the Nuggets’ Recreation 7 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves within the second spherical. “Clearly, they had been a greater workforce that night time. However I simply felt like there was alternative left on the desk, and I felt like I wished to be part of it. [Saturday’s performance] was precisely what I wished, and people guys trusted me — they’ve all 12 months, however they trusted me in that second.

“So, that is the precise second I used to be on the lookout for, and I am simply glad that it went our manner.”

The Nuggets achieved sturdy steadiness after they gained the championship in 2023, which additionally they did in Recreation 7. No participant had greater than 22 factors with six gamers in double figures. 

“I assumed it jogged my memory of the 12 months we gained it,” Adelman stated of the steadiness his workforce present in Recreation 7. “There’s a whole lot of humble confidence in there. You must go into these video games with nice respect for who’s throughout the corridor right here, what these guys are able to doing. However you can also’t go into the sport not considering that, ‘Yeah, we are able to get this accomplished.’ We have accomplished this, we have seen this, we have been by means of this earlier than and we have succeeded.”