SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Denver Nuggets interim coach David Adelman emphasized the need to stick together and stay focused on the postseason during his first meeting with the players since Mike Malone was fired a day earlier.
Adelman spoke to the team Wednesday before their game in Sacramento against the Kings and reminded the Nuggets that they’re still in the mix of a crowded playoff race in the Western Conference.
“The last 30 hours have been pretty crazy, pretty stressful for everybody,” said Adelman, who was Malone’s top assistant. “But the bottom line was we have to stay unified. I think it was a good thing for everyone to sit in a room together and realize that we have not played to our expectation as of late. That’s not just the players (but) everybody that’s a part of this.”
Two seasons after guiding the Nuggets to their only NBA championship, Malone was fired Tuesday as the Nuggets try to pull themselves out of a tailspin that dropped Denver from No. 2 in the West to a five-way tie for fourth heading into Wednesday’s game against the Kings.
If the Nuggets win their final three regular season games they could climb as high as No. 3 in the West.
“We are in the mix here. I think people forget that,” Adelman said. “We still have a great chance to do something special. We talked about that. The guys seem convinced so I’m expecting a really good effort tonight”
In addition to firing Malone, the Nuggets informed general manager Calvin Booth that his contract would not be extended.
Nuggets president and governor Josh Kroenke also spoke with the players and delivered a simple message.
“To be concise: Be better,” Adelman said when asked what Kroenke’s message was.
Despite the late-season chaos Adelman said the Nuggets don’t have much time to get caught up in the latest drama.
“It’s another NBA moment, you deal with it,” Adelman said. “We’re going to do our best to salvage this thing and get it going.
“We have to get to a better level to play in that tournament. The West is ridiculous. And if you want to go into that tournament not playing at your best, you’ll be done quick.
Adelman acknowledged that he has spoken to Malone since the firing but declined to go into details. Instead he took the opportunity to praise the man who has worked alongside for eight seasons.
“What he did for this team, best coach in history, can’t argue it,” Adelman said. “Percentage-wise, wins, Finals championship, the experience he gave me, allowing me to grow as a coach
“What this is right now, the national narrative or whatever it is, I look at it as a hell of a run. And he’s not done. Honored to work for the guy and honored to take this seat and do the best I can.”
Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone directs his team against the Indiana Pacers in the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
PARIS (AP) — Power problems and a stuck train interrupted rail services through the undersea Channel Tunnel connecting the U.K. and continental Europe on Tuesday, stranding passengers and ruining vacation plans during the busy end-of-year holiday period.
At Paris' Gare du Nord station, Jamie and Issy Gill scrambled to find a flight back to the U.K. after their Eurostar train to London was canceled, desperate to be reunited with their baby boy after enjoying a getaway together in the French capital.
“We came for my 30th birthday and we were supposed to go back on the Eurostar, but everything is canceled,” she said. "We have a 1-year-old at home, with my mum and dad. I'm going to get upset,” she said, wiping away tears.
“It’s a stressful situation,” Jamie Gill said. He said that they'd now have to take a roundabout route back, with a flight via Birmingham on Wednesday.
“It's just, like, the first time we came away without him,” she said.
Eurostar — which runs passenger trains between London and Paris and other European destinations — blamed “overhead power supply issues in the Channel Tunnel” and what it said was a failed train operated by LeShuttle, which transports vehicles and their passengers by rail through the tunnel between the ports of Calais, France, and Folkestone, England.
Eurostar said in a statement that its services “are suspended until further notice," and advised its passengers to rebook their journeys for other days.
In London, disappointed would-be traveler John Paul had been expecting to enjoy a romantic river cruise in Paris and a trip to the Eiffel Tower with his partner Lucy, but their early morning Eurostar got turned back before reaching the continent.
“We got probably about an hour down the track, maybe 40 minutes, and then they basically said the train’s got to stop, because the train ahead got a braking issue,” the 46-year-old Paul said.
“They kept telling us that the driver was trying to fix the brakes on this other train and that the other trains were then backed up," he said. "There’s no clear information and, obviously, we’ve lost a lot of money, haven’t we?”
“We’ll have to put romance on hold for a while," he said.
The Channel Tunnel's operator, Eurotunnel, said in a separate statement that the power supply problem started overnight Monday in part of the tunnel, impacting both passenger and vehicle travel by rail in both directions through the tunnel.
It said that traffic is expected to resume gradually on Tuesday afternoon.
“A technical intervention is required, which is currently underway,” it said. “Our teams are working to restore the situation as quickly as possible.”
John Leicester and Sylvie Corbet in Paris, and Danica Kirka in London, contributed to this report.
Passengers queue to enter the Eurotunnel site in Folkestone in Kent, England, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (Gareth Fuller/PA via AP)
FILE - A train coming from London leaves the Northbound Channel tunnel in Calais, northern France, on Jan. 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
