Nikola Jokic discusses first win since team fired Michael Malone

The Nuggets were ripe for the picking entering Wednesday's road game against the Kings. 

They were without their incumbent head coach, Michael Malone, for the first time in 798 games (over 10 seasons). They had lost 12 of their last 20 games with one of the worst defenses in the league. 

Even more worryingly, Jamal Murray, their second-best player, had missed five consecutive games with a hamstring injury that the departing Malone described as "a weird one."

The Nuggets entered the game as a -4.5 underdog against a Kings team on a three-game winning streak, and rightfully so. Nobody would have blinked an eye if they lost by 20 points.

By the end of the night, Nikola Jokic and Co. reminded the world why they were crowned NBA champions, barely 22 months ago, with the same core of players who took the floor on Wednesday. Jokic dropped his 33rd triple-double with 20 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and four steals as the Nuggets snapped their four-game losing streak with a comfortable 124-116 win. 

Four Nuggets starters scored 20 or more points, and Jalen Pickett — Murray's injury replacement — dropped a season-high 18. The total team effort got even an otherwise stoic Jokic beaming with confidence. 

"People say that we are vulnerable, but I think the beast is always the strongest or most dangerous when they are vulnerable," he told ESPN after the win. 

Jokic admitted that the Nuggets "needed to be woken up" and that team governor Josh Kroenke's decision to clean house may benefit the team in the season's final stretch.  

"Maybe he woke up the beast," Jokic concluded. 

The three-time MVP also did a fantastic job of easing the interim head coach David Adelman into the job by drawing up plays himself.