Malone, who has roamed the Nuggets’ sideline for 10 seasons, credited Popovich with helping him get hired by Cleveland (2005) and New Orleans (2010) as an assistant, en route to his first head coaching job with Sacramento. Now he’s the fourth-longest tenured coach in the league with Denver, behind only Popovich, Erik Spoelstra and Steve Kerr.

Jokic has avoided any ejections this season after being thrown out of games twice last year. Both occasions involved a build-up of annoyance at no-calls in road games. Malone praised Jokic on Wednesday for keeping his composure against the Kings.

Denver comes back in the fourth quarter to end the Kings' winning streak and stay on the podium of the Western Conference

Michael Malone’s relationship ... He has led San Antonio to five championships and six NBA Finals appearances. In a statement released by the Spurs last Thursday, he said he’ll “continue ...

Gregg Popovich will unfortunately not return to the San Antonio Spurs this season after suffering a stroke and with his future uncertain, we name the best coaching candidates to replace him.