Denver Nuggets Information

George Karl’s Denver Nuggets have the Pepsi Center popping with their ferocious style of basketball. Carmelo Anthony is beginning to realize his potential. The former Syracuse Orangemen has his eyes set on a return trip to the NBA Playoffs. But this year, a first-round exit is not acceptable, especially in the minds of veteran stars Kenyon Martin and Andre Miller. Karl blended the threesome of Anthony, Martin and Miller into the perfect recipe of playoff basketball last year. Buy Nuggets tickets and see what he’s preparing for encore.

The Denver Nuggets got their start as an ABA franchise in 1967. Known as the Denver Rockets because of their ownership, the Rockets became the first pro basketball team to sign a player away from college when they inked Spencer Heywood from the University of Detroit. Heywood won ABA Rookie of the Year and proved to be a force in the new league, leading the Rockets to the Division Finals. The love affair between Heywood and the Rockets ended the next season though when Heywood jumped ship and signed with the Seattle Supersonics.

The Rockets changed their name to the Denver Nuggets in 1974 in preparation for a jump to the NBA. When they finally made the leap in 1976, the Nuggets captured the Western Division with a record of 50-32 but suffered a disappointing loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round. In the 1977-78 season, Denver locked in their second straight division title with a 48-34 record in the regular season. The playoffs brought a tough contest with the Milwaukee Bucks that ended with Denver victorious after seven games. But in the Western Conference Finals, the Seattle Supersonics proved to be too much and the Nuggets fell in six games.

It would be 1985 before the Nuggets got that far again. After winning 52 games under head coach Doug Moe, the Nuggets claimed another Western Division title and headed for the playoffs with a first round match against the San Antonio Spurs. Winning that series took five games and the Nuggets moved on to eliminate the Utah Jazz in the second round. Unfortunately for Denver, their next opponent, the Los Angeles Lakers, knocked them out of the Conference Finals after a five game series.

The Nuggets most recent playoff berth came in 2005. After struggling under two different coaches, the Nuggets hired George Karl to take over. The results were immediate and Karl led the Nuggets to 25 wins in their last 29 games, locking in a playoff spot in the process. Denver claimed first blood in their first round series against the San Antonio Spurs, but then lost four straight to the eventual NBA Champions.