On a glittering, star-studded night that included the likes of Michael Jordan, the Denver Nuggets earned its first playoff berth in nearly a decade, defeating the Sacramento Kings 97-89 before a deafening sellout crowd.

The Nuggets will make their first postseason appearance since the 1994-95 season on Saturday or Sunday. The opponent, Minnesota or San Antonio, won't be determined until Wednesday night, but the future wasn't the immediate concern for a franchise less than a year removed from having the worst record in the league.

"I don't even care (about the opponent); I just want to enjoy tonight," general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said. "I just know that when the playoffs start, you have to come to play, but that's what this team has done all season."

The victory completed a dramatic turnaround for Denver.

Winners of just 17 games a season ago, the Nuggets are now 43-38 with a meaningless regular-season finale to play Wednesday in San Antonio. The 26-game improvement is the greatest in NBA history for a team that won fewer than 20 games the previous season.

Minnesota's defeat of Utah along with the Nuggets victory meant that both the Jazz and the Blazers had their long, playoff streaks broken at 20 and 21 respectively.  Denver qualified for the postseason for the first time since 1995.