With the win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of the first-round series, Michael Malone officially became the winningest playoff coach in Denver Nuggets' franchise history.
"Just a player's coach. The emotions that he shows out there on the sidelines. He's a competitive guy. It trickles down to our team," said Jeff Green. "That goes to show the hard work and work ethic that we put into making sure that we're doing what it takes to win. That's a true testament to the coach that he is."
Malone's 25th playoff victory as the Nuggets' head coach was an exciting one, a 112-109 victory that sent Denver to the second round to play against the Phoenix Suns. He passed Doug Moe with 24 wins.
After the victory, Jamal Murray gave Malone the game ball in honor of his remarkable accomplishment just before the Nuggets huddled up in the locker room.
"We are a family!!" Malone told his team.
"We gave him the ball in the locker room," said Murray. "Just sticking with it. I think when they go on runs, (he) called timeout. He's done such a better job of just telling us what we need to do. We all go out there with the mindset of executing offensively, defensively. That helps a lot when the coach is positive after you've been negative on the court. So just keeping everybody's spirit up and focused on the task. I thought he's done a great job."
His tenure as the Nuggets' 22nd head coach has been marked by nothing but success. Malone took over at the start of the 2015-16 season and has since then made the postseason in five of his eight total seasons as head coach. He's also finished with a winning record in six of those eight seasons.
His playoff resume is littered with impressive accolades, maybe most famously becoming one of 11 coaches ever to come back from a 3-1 deficit in a playoff series... and he did it twice! Once against the Utah Jazz in the first round and once against the LA Clippers in the second round, both of which occurred in the 2020 postseason. He's the only coach in NBA history to lead the charge in multiple 3-1 comebacks.
"Me and coach have a great relationship since day one. He was in my home in Serbia. We have a lot of nice memories on the court and off the court. And I'm really glad," said Nikola Jokić about Malone's record-breaking night. "He deserved it. I think he's a hard worker. He's prepared for every game. He's watching, from the bubble, where we adapt, we adjust, different coverages, different guys, different lineups. At least he's gonna try to do something or change something or adjust within the game."
This season, the Nuggets finished as the #1 seed in the Western Conference for the first time in franchise history with Malone at the helm. Denver's 53 regular season victories tied the 2009-10 Nuggets for the fifth-most wins in franchise history in a single season. As such, they control their playoff destiny and have as good of a shot as anyone to advance to their first NBA Finals. Malone finished in fifth place in 2023 Coach of the Year voting.
Malone's best season, at least according to regular season wins, came in the 2018-19 NBA season. There, the Nuggets finished with 54 wins, which was tied for the second-most wins in franchise history. Malone finished in third place for Coach of the Year, his best finish as an NBA head coach.
During his tenure, he also was named the Western Conference Coach of the Month in April 2021. This season, he won Coach of the Month in January after Denver went a league-best 12-4.
Next up for Malone will be passing Doug Moe as the Nuggets' winningest regular season coach. Malone sits in third place currently with 367 regular season wins, behind George Karl (423 wins) and Moe (432 wins).
"Congrats to him. That's a cool record to break, so congrats to him," Michael Porter Jr. succinctly said about the honor.