On the eve of his first playoff series as an NBA head coach, David Adelman decompressed with the comforts of family and outlandish crime drama television.
He and the Nuggets had already exhausted themselves with enough film preparation by last Friday, the night before their Game 1 win over the Clippers.
“Watched ‘X Files’ with my kids. They’re really into that right now,” Adelman said. “We’re almost at the end of Season One. I forgot how absolutely ridiculous that show is. Really entertaining, and also, high praise for (David) Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. I forgot what they bring to the table. And the guy did “Californication,” too, so let’s give him his flowers.”
Since taking over for Michael Malone with three games left in the regular season, Denver’s 43-year-old interim head coach has been attacking his unusual situation with frankness and, when the opportunity presents itself, a sense of humor. After all, his last two weeks have felt almost as improbable as a supernatural “X Files” plot.
“I had a relaxing night,” he said of his evening before Game 1 of the playoffs. “It was definitely on my mind. It’s impossible not to think about it.”
Catapulted directly into a daunting coaching matchup in the first round, Adelman has managed to catch the eye of his counterpart — who once found himself in a somewhat similar scenario.
“I know the players respect him, just you know, talking to the players over the course of the summer, (hearing) that he’s a really good coach,” Clippers coach Ty Lue said Monday. “And I had a chance to coach against him. … He does some good stuff. He has a good demeanor about him on the sideline, and when you’re taking over for a first time, it’s good to be in the trenches with those guys for four or five years (first).”
Lue was referring to a 2024 regular-season contest against Denver, when Malone got ejected and Adelman finished the game in his place. The Nuggets were down 90-79 with 7:54 to go when Adelman stepped in, but they ended the game on a 21-12 run, falling just short of an impressive comeback.
“They respect him,” Lue said. “They understand that he’s had a voice on this team. When you get to the playoffs, you’ve gotta do whatever it takes to win the game tonight, and then worry about tomorrow tomorrow.”
From his lineups to his scheme, Adelman clearly isn’t afraid to make bold decisions. In his first game at the helm, he rode the hot hand of second-year reserve point guard Jalen Pickett all the way to the finish line, helping secure a crucial road win. On the very first possession of his playoff head-coaching debut, he sent the Nuggets out in a zone gimmick defense, trying to throw off the Clippers (unsuccessfully). He benched Denver’s third-highest-paid player for the end of the fourth quarter and overtime, preferring Russell Westbrook’s hustle plays to Michael Porter Jr.’s spacing.
Lue won the 2016 NBA championship as a first-time head coach in Cleveland after replacing David Blatt in the middle of the season. The Cavaliers’ coaching change wasn’t quite as last-second as Denver’s, but it was equally dramatic in another sense: They were a conference-leading 30-11 when they fired Blatt in January, putting intense pressure on Lue.
The promotion ended up launching a distinguished second career for the 47-year-old former player. Lue has spearheaded a campaign of overachievement in Los Angeles this season, his fifth with the team. His career record is 362-249, not including an impressive 54-38 resume in the playoffs (.587). Among the 10 active coaches with at least 50 playoff games coached, that’s the third-highest winning percentage behind only Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr.
“I also look up to his disposition of how he coaches a game,” Adelman said Sunday of Lue. “There’s a calmness to him, and I think when you’re calm, you can make creative decisions at a higher level instead of just freaking out and doing this and doing that and: ‘Oh my god, that didn’t work. OK, let’s go do this.’ They don’t feel like that to me. He never has felt like that to me. Being calm in those moments with your staff to make the right decision is huge, and that’s why he’s been one of the best coaches in our league for a long time.
“So yeah, I’ve looked up to him for a long time. This is weird, crazy, to compete against him in the playoffs.”
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