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Nuggets coach Mike Malone lauded after win against Clippers, fans slam Kings for firing him: 'This is karma'

Nuggets made history with their 104-89 win against the Clippers, becoming the first team to come back twice in one postseason from 3-1 series deficit

Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone could not have asked for a better 49th birthday bash after his team's stunning comeback victory in Game 7 against LA Clippers. Now, several fans and players are mocking the Sacramento Kings' top brass for firing the manager in 2014. Nuggets center Nikola Jokic told Malone he had the perfect birthday present in mind before the Wednesday bout. "Coach, I'm going to get you a great present," he told Malone before the game. "I'm either going to get you home or get you to the Western Conference finals."

Nuggets made NBA history with their 104-89 win, making it the first time a team had come back twice in one postseason from a 3-1 series deficit, ABC 7 reported. "So proud. All the guys, never got down, believed in each other. Believed in themselves," Malone said. "In light of all the noise outside this series that we had no chance. We have people guaranteeing it. We found a way to beat a really good team three times. I've run out of things to say."

The Nuggets first grabbed headlines after coming back from 3-1 down in the opening round against the Utah Jazz, and so they had to overcome three consecutive double-digit deficits against the Clippers in order to advance to the Western Conference finals. The Denver Nuggets, per Elias Sports Bureau research, are now the first team in postseason history "with three straight double-digit comeback wins when facing elimination." "I think this is our sixth straight elimination game. Seventy-one days in the bubble and just to stay together, that commitment, that toughness is — you don't see that around very often," Malone said in the post-match press conference. "That speaks to the guys in the locker room and how much they love each other. Just an amazing feeling."

Michael Malone had had a rather successful streak with the Sacramento Kings, and many thought he was leading the team in the right direction. However, Malone's era of Kings' basketball ended abruptly on December 15, 2014. Kings' owner Vivek Ranadive, 59, would later defend his decision to let go of the promising coach, telling Sam Amick of USA Today that Malone and the Kings’ former general manager Pete D’Alessandro never got along with each other.

The decision to fire Malone never really sat well with Kings' players or even fans for that matter. Since then, however, the veteran NBA coach has gotten really comfortable with winning. And after his latest victory, hordes of NBA fans took to social media to mock the Kings' top brass for the unpopular move six years ago and showered praise on the current Denver Nuggets bench boss.

"As much as I love Doc Rivers, he failed to push any of the right strategic or psychological buttons to help save a team that was up 3 games to 1 with a 16-point halftime lead in Game 5. Mike Malone outcoached him," sports columnist Skip Bayless tweeted. "Happy for Mike Malone! Got it out the mud fasho!" NBA star DeMarcus Cousins added. "Mike Malone was the one guy who @boogiecousins respected. Malone had him & @SacramentoKings going in the right direction & yet the Kings brass fired him. The Kings still suck, Malone is going to the Western Conference Finals. Karma," journalist Marcos Breton wrote. "If Mike Malone were still the coach of the Kings today, Sacramento would have at least one NBA Title & De'Marcus Cousins would be the hands-down greatest King of all-time," radio host Matt George chimed in.