Denver ? Following a lackluster loss to Cleveland earlier this month, Denver coach Jeff Bzdelik questioned whether his players were in shape and said he was losing sleep because of the Nuggets’ inconsistent play.

Unfortunately for him, things never really got better.

Denver fired Bzdelik on Tuesday, one day after the Nuggets lost their sixth straight game and failed again to live up to the high expectations that came with the offseason addition of All-Star forward Kenyon Martin. Assistant Michael Cooper took over on an interim basis after Bzdelik became the first NBA coach to be fired this season.

“Right now, I really felt the team needed a change,” general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said. “Sometimes it’s nothing the head coach is doing wrong. It’s just that a change of voice sometimes is the positive.”

The Nuggets clearly needed to change something.

Expected to contend in the Western Conference after Martin came from New Jersey in a sign-and-trade deal, the Nuggets instead have been plagued by bad luck, inconsistency and lopsided home losses.

The season got off to a horrible start when shooting guard Voshon Lenard, Denver’s only legitimate outside threat, was lost for the season with a torn Achilles’ tendon in the opener.

The Nuggets also started the year without power forward Nene and have used 10 different starting lineups, with star forward Carmelo Anthony missing the past five games with a sprained ankle.

But bumps and bruises were only part of Denver’s problems.

The Nuggets have been wildly inconsistent, grinding out wins against playoff teams one game and getting blown out at home the next.

“That’s the messed up thing. He’s not out there playing,” Martin said. “He’s the head coach and he’s got to take the blame. I’m sure if they could fire us, they probably would.”

Now it’s Cooper’s turn.

A member of the Lakers’ “Showtime” teams of the 1980s, Cooper coached the Los Angeles Sparks to two WNBA championships and a finals appearance in four years before joining the Nuggets this season.

“This is tough, but my goal now is to get us playing a little better,” Cooper said.

“We’ll concentrate on defense and just try to continue the winning ways this team ended last season and sort of started with at the beginning of the season.”