Nuggets’ David Adelman is all business after picking up first win as interim coach

In his first game as the Denver Nuggets’ interim head coach, David Adelman picked up the win, but he was relatively subdued after the milestone victory.

With the firing of longtime head coach Michael Malone, Adelman was moved to the end of the bench and named the interim coach for the remainder of the Nuggets’ season. Despite getting his first win as an NBA coach, though, Adelman, apparently recognizing the importance of the final two games, did not want to celebrate the team’s 124-116 over the Sacramento Kings.

“I’m glad they didn’t [celebrate with a water shower] because — I really mean this — we got two games left,” Adelman said of the locker room reaction after the game. “So it’s cool, I’m sure it’s a fun story and everything, but that’s not the story. The story is the Nuggets need to win, and we need to win Friday, and we got to bring it Friday, and we got to bring it Sunday. Me coaching the team tonight, what went on, you have to turn the page and you have to look at what’s important. What’s important is us competing on Friday night. It’s not about me or somebody else feeling better about themselves tonight or the teams’ — all that stuff. It’s come together and do something cool and special with these last two games.”