About the Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team and one of seven teams in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Nuggets play ball in the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, and wear red gold and blue jerseys. The name Nuggets refers to Denvers rich history of gold mining.

The original Denver Nuggets was one of the first team in the early years of the NBA, but lasted only one season. The current Denver Nuggets franchise traces its roots to the Denver Rockets, a team that entered the ABA in the late sixties. The ABA was known for open-court, high-scoring play, which suited guard Larry Jones well. In the Rockets first season, Jones broke the record for highest score with 52.
Spencer Haywood, another high scorer, signed with the club in 1969. As an ABA rookie Haywood broke the record for rebounds and points in a single game with 31 and 59, respectivly, and averaged 30 points and nearly 20 rebounds for the year and won the leagues most valuable player (MVP) award. The  Denver Rockets won their first division title in 1969-70. The following season Haywood left the ABA for the NBAs Seattle SuperSonics which caused the Denver Rockets to have several disappointing years.

In 1974 the Denver Nuggets was the new moniker and new Coach Larry Brown was the new Captain.  As Head Coach, Brown won 65 games in 1974 and guided the team to the ABA finals in 1976 before losing to the now New Jersey Nets.

After that season the ABA collapsed and 4 teams were assimilated into the NBA, one of them being the Denver Nuggets.  Proving doubters wrong that ABA teams wont be abler to compete, the Denver Nuggets ran to a 50-32 record to win the Midwest Division.  Their eventual loss to the Portland Trailblazers was disheartening, but the Nuggets were still a force to be reasoned with.

In 1978 the Nuggets again won the Midwest division title and once again lost to the Supersonics, largely because of the play of former Denver Nugget Haywood.  Doug Moe took over as head coach during the 1980-81 season and led the team for eight full seasons. The Nuggets reached the playoffs in each of those five seasons and frequently led the NBA in scoring, averaging more than 120 points per game for five consecutive campaigns. During the 1982-83 season forward Alex English averaged 28.4 points per game a league best. Forward Kiki Vandeweghe, averaged 26.7 points and finished second. On December 13, 1983, the Detroit pistons beat the Denver Nuggets, 186-184, in the highest-scoring game in league history.

Before the 1984-85 season the franchise traded Vandeweghe to the Portland Trail Blazers for three playersWayne Cooper, Lafayette Fat Lever, and Calvin Natt. Teamed with English and Issel, they formed the Nuggets most best lineup ever. The Nuggets propelled themselves to the conference finals, where they fell to the Los Angeles Lakers. Three seasons later, in 1987-88, they lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the conference semifinals.

In the late 80s and early 90s the Denver Nuggets fell apart, starting in 1990-91. Before the 1991-92 season, Denver acquired in the draft center Dikembe Mutombo, an outstanding shot-blocker. Issel returned to coach the Nuggets before the 1992-93 season, and a year later the Nuggets beat the heavily favored Seattle SuperSonics in the first round of the playoffs before losing to the Utah Jazz. The teams lineup underwent several changes over the next few years, including Mutombos departure after the 1995-96 season, when he signed with the Atlanta Hawks.