My, what a difference three weeks makes.

Former Nuggets Head Coach Michael Malone stomped. He hollered. He turned red in the face- and all of that was just during a conversation with former Nuggets General Manager Calvin Booth.

Malone’s decade-long tenure as the Nuggets’ leading man saw a great deal of success. Under his tutelage, Nikola Jokic blossomed into a 3-time MVP and Jamal Murray learned to go supernova in the postseason. The high point, of course, was bringing Denver its first NBA championship in 2023.

Since then? Yikes. He ran his best players into the ground trying to earn the number one seed in the Western Conference in 2024, which led to tired legs and a stunning second round exit at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves. This year, the players’ ears seemed to tire as well- Malone’s message had grown stale, and the environment in the building toxic.

So, in a jaw-dropping, never before seen move, team president Josh Kroenke let Malone and Booth go three games before the end of the regular season. David Adelman, Malone’s long-time assistant coach, was named interim head coach and given the unenviable task of guiding the team into the playoffs.

Season over, right? Not so fast.

From the depths of the bad vibes blues, Adelman has the Nuggets singing a different tune after an emotionally cathartic, demon-exorcising victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 7 of the NBA Playoffs’ first round. The series was an instant classic of back and forth between two evenly matched teams.

“I feel blessed to get out of (this series),” Adelman told the media after the game.

But is it Nuggets fans who should feel blessed? After Malone’s bombastic, hard-nosed style had his players tuning out, Adelman’s rock-steady and level demeanor seems to have soothed the Nuggets’ frayed nerves.

“He was always vocal, he was always giving us tips that are going to help us,” Jokic said of Adelman’s coaching style as an assistant. “Right now he’s more emphasizing those tips.”

Indeed, the Nuggets on Saturday appeared calm in the pressure-packed atmosphere of a Game 7. Where they fell apart down the stretch last year with missed shots and zero offensive movement, this year was alley-oop dunks and game-shifting threes.

Even the much-maligned Nuggets defense seemed to tighten up, stifling everyone in a Clippers uniform not named Kawhi Leonard. Credit the players, yes. But credit Adelman using his inside speaking voice, too.

Now, Oklahoma City looms with the presumptive MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the NBA’s number one defense. Most pundits have the Thunder stomping Denver on their way to a predestined title. It seems on paper that much will need to go right for the Nuggets to have a chance in the series.

But for the Nuggets and Adelman, should it matter? After eight years as a Nuggets assistant, he was already a hot name in NBA circles as a head coach candidate. Now, after taking the reigns and leading his left-for-dead team to a round one victory, it seems all but a foregone conclusion.

Instead of letting him walk this offseason for Portland, where his father and NBA legend Rick Adelman coached, the Nuggets should offer the boy wonder the chance to forge his own legacy at 5,280 feet.

Yes, even if the Nuggets are swept by OKC, Adelman has proven his ability to push the right buttons in his players beyond just the X’s and O’s.

If he was able to turn the Nuggets around in three weeks, what might he do over a whole season?