The Denver Nuggets head to Sacramento to face the Kings in an attempt to salvage the season, one day after Denver fired head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth. The Nuggets have lost four straight games, and how they looked in those losses was apparently the final straw for KSE Enterprises to fire its on-court and front office leaders and see if any spark remains in this season. The Nuggets could finish the season anywhere from the 3-seed to the 8-seed as they head into the playoffs, so winning to stay out of the play-in is a must. Nobody knows what they have left in the tank though, or whether this season still matters to the players and coaches who remain. Sacramento is currently in the 9-seed and aimed at the play-in, and potentially this remains a play-in matchup – something Denver fans would dearly like their team to avoid.

The Essentials

Who: Denver Nuggets (47-32) at Sacramento Kings (39-40)

When: 8:00PM MST

Where: Golden 1 Arena, Sacramento CA

How to watch/listen: Altitude TV (now on Comcast!), Altitude+, Altitude Radio 92.5FM.

Rival blog: The Kings Herald

Injury report: Jamal Murray – doubtful (hamstring), DaRon Holmes – out (Achilles rehab); Keegan Murray – questionable (back), Malik Monk -out (calf), Jake LaRavia – out (thumb)

The Three Things

The thing to watch for: Will a coaching change spark anything for Denver?

The Nuggets have a lot of talent, not to mention the MVP who has been playing some incredible basketball in April. But there have been far too many lapses on defense and a crushingly disappointing lack of effort in many of the post-All-Star-Break losses that have haunted the Nuggets to the point that Michael Malone was let go. David Adelman will get the interim coaching gig for as long as the season lasts and I’m sure he would like it to last a very long time – but as Malone found out, it may not be up to him. If the players don’t show up on both ends like it matters, this could be a very short interim tenure.

The thing to remember: Malone was an outstanding coach in Denver

Nuggets fans have to be eternally grateful to Malone for rescuing the team from the Brian Shaw years where the vibes were horrific and training up Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic from rookies to Finals champions. If the message got stale, it was still originally a great message and it remains to be seen if Denver can find any internal or external replacement capable of taking the Nuggets back to that kind of Finals glory. Malone himself has always said that he was incredibly lucky to be in Denver as long as he was, to raise his daughters in one place instead of having to move to many different coaching destinations as normally happens in the profession. The partnership between team and coach didn’t end sweetly, but many parts of the journey were very sweet indeed – and there is a banner in the rafters forever showcasing that. Thanks coach.

The thing to bet: Oh no, don’t bet on this game you sickos.