Heartbreak Cancelled due to Victory

In 1976, I was a teenager and got my heart broken. Was it a girl? No. It was the Denver Nuggets. 1976 was the final year for the ABA. The NBA was going to take a few teams, the ABA was folding, the NBA was taking 4 teams from it and we all knew it before the season was even over. And yet here we were in the final ABA finals, Denver Nuggets vs. The New York Nets. David Thompson vs. Julius ‘Dr. J’ Erving.

But my love affair with the team and with basketball started way before 1976. I remember as a child going to the Denver Coliseum to watch the Rockets. Coach Stan Albeck had Byron Beck, Ralph Simpson, Julian Hammond and Larry Brown among others. They were fun to watch but didn’t go anywhere in the playoffs.

The Rockets had no choice but to change to a different name. The NBA had informed the ABA that if they were to absorb a few teams one of them would be the one on Denver. But the NBA said ‘ahem… Denver, we already have a Rockets team in Houston. Pick another name… and you won’t be shooting with that red, white and blue striped ball anymore either when you get here.” As such, the Nuggets were born in 1974, two years before the “merger” which wasn’t so much a merger than it was a takeover. The NBA absorbed the Nuggets, Nets, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs.

But that was the way it was for the Rockets, then the Nuggets… until 1976. No respect, but they didn’t earn it either. And here I was in 1976, a 14-year-old glued to the radio listening to Game 6 of the ABA final (it was not on TV until a delayed telecast much later). The Nuggets had them, they had Dr. J on the ropes. They were down 3 games to 2 and it was back at Nassau Coliseum for Game 6 and they were up. Starting the 4^th quarter the Thompson-led Nuggets had the Nets by 14 points, so I went to sleep. Woke up to find out they lost 112 to 106. Series ended and just crushed me as the Nets won 4 games to 2.

They never got back to the finals. Oh, they made the Western Conference Finals.

1978 with Coach Larry Brown and star David Thompson, lost in 6 to the Seattle Supersonics.

1984 with Coach Doug Moe and star Alex English, lost in 5 to the Lakers.

2009 with Coach George Karl and star Carmelo Anthony, lost in 6… to the Lakers.

2020 with Coach Michael Malone and star Nikola Jokic, lost in 5… again to the Lakers.

But that was it. Western Conference finals were the Nuggets glass ceiling. Until now. They took the Western Conference crown in 4 games, sweeping… yes, the Lakers. Jesus H. Enough with them. I like the Lakers, I do, but holy hell.

So here came the Miami Heat, winners of the Eastern Conference and the 8^th seed to boot. Erik Spoelstra is, in my opinion, one of the best coaches in the league and he squeezed everything he could out of that team. Did I enjoy it? Not really. I sporadically watched the series. Every time I tried to watch it but my head went right back to 1976. I couldn’t enjoy the games. For Game 5, I went to a sports bar determined to watch the entire game. I left 2 minutes into the 3^rd quarter. My head ached, my stomach was wrenching plus it was as fucking cold in the bar as the Nuggets were shooting. It was so cold today this June 12, I thought it was going to snow. It didn’t but there was enough hail to make it look like it snowed.

As it were, the Nuggets won. They wore them down with some suffocating defense and sharp shooting. OK, they did not shoot well and from the half-plus I did see, it was super frustrating to watch them toss up treys and watch them clang the rim again and again. At halftime they were 1 for 15 and ended up 5 for 28. Just an incredibly sloppy game, but here they are for the first time ever NBA Champions.

Next year I will go see them at Ball Arena just to hear the announcer say, “and here are your NBA Champion Nuggets.” I could have gone to the game tonight, just shell out a mere $1,200 for a nosebleed seat. But the way I died inside just watching some of it in a bar? can’t imagine how I would have felt being there.

So now the Nuggets are champs for the first time. They are the last ABA team to make it to the NBA finals and the second team to win them. The Spurs have won 5 titles, the Pacers have been there once and lost and the Nets have been there twice and lost. Congrats Nuggets and thanks for cancelling my heartbreak.