Because ABA has always been at a disadvantage in the competition with NBA, Denver Rockets have been looking for opportunities to join a more mature NBA league. In order to avoid the same name as the NBA team Houston Rockets, 1974 Denver Rockets changed its team name to Denver Nuggets, a former NBA team (1949-50 season). But Denver Nuggets stayed in Aba until Aba 1976 went bankrupt. 1975-76 After the end of the season, Denver Nuggets joined the NBA with three other ABA teams: new york Nets (changed to New Jersey Nets one year after entering the NBA), San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers.
In the last two seasons of ABA, under the planning of team managers david thompson and Marvin Webster, we brought in powerful players such as dan issel and bobby jones, and hired Larry Brown as the team coach. Denver Nuggets played the best result in the team's history, winning over 70% for two consecutive years, and successfully reached the ABA finals in 1975-76 season, but lost to the new york Nets 2-4 and missed the only chance to win the ABA championship.
After entering the NBA, Denver Nuggets continued their strong performance in ABA, winning the division championship in the first two seasons and losing the championship in the third season with only a slight disadvantage. However, Denver's good fortune did not enter the playoffs. 1977-78 season, the team lost to seattle supersonics 2-4 in the western conference finals.
The 1980s
198 1-93 team LOGO8 1-93 Brown left Denver Nuggets after the end of the 1978-79 season, and the team's performance plummeted until 198 1 Tang Mo took office. Tang Mo advocates attack. His tactical theory is "running with guns", a very oppressive style of play, which requires players to score quickly and almost give up defense, thus making Denver a very competitive team. Throughout the 1980s, Denver often scored more than 1 15, but in the season of 198 1-82, every game scored more than 100, which is incredible! 1983 12 13, Denver and the visiting Detroit Pistons set an NBA record of 370 points in a single game, but Denver lost the crazy game with 184- 186 after three hard overtime games.
In line with the coach's style of play, the team constantly introduces players with strong attack. During the 1980-8 1 season, Denver got two scoring machines, Alex Ingley and Kiki Vanderbilt, both of whom scored more than 25 points per game. Before the start of the 1984-85 season, the team traded Portland Trailblazers for Vanderbilt, and got 1.9-meter-high spring-legged defender lafayette Ye Xiaokai, low-post power forward Calvin Nutt and center Wayne Copp. Vince Burleila, the visionary team manager, was also named the manager of the year. Tang Mo takes English as the core of the team and leads the NBA trend with offense.
Since 198 1-82 season, the team has entered the playoffs for nine consecutive seasons. 1984-85 season, Denver Nuggets won the division championship for the third time in history with a score of 52 wins and 30 losses, and even tied the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz in the playoffs to reach the Western Conference finals. Unfortunately, they lost to the western leader Los Angeles Lakers with a score of 1:4, and missed the finals. 1987-88 season, Denver won the division championship for the fourth time with 54 wins and 28 losses in the regular season. Coach Don Mo Ye won the title of the best coach in the NBA, but the team lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals.
1990s
1993-2003 team LOGO 1989-90 After the end of the season, Tang Mo left the team and Paul Westheide took over. Westheide also pursued the theory of "running with guns", paying more attention to attack than Mo and neglecting defense. As a matter of fact, the Denver team led by Westheide got high scores, but also gave their opponents higher scores. 1990-9 1 During the season, the Denver Nuggets scored only 20 wins and 62 losses in the regular season. However, poor performance brought Denver high marks. In the draft of 199 1, Denver Nuggets won Dikembe Mutombo of Georgetown University, a center from Zaire, Africa, who is 2 meters tall 18. Mutombo, who is famous for blocking shots and fierce defense, performed well in the first season and was selected as an all-star rookie, second only to larry johnson in the annual rookie selection. However, the team's performance is still not improving, only winning four more games than last season.
1992-93 before the start of the season, the team fired Westheide, invited dan issel, a former ABA legend who played in Denver, as the new coach of the team, and won the rookie striker Laphonso Ellis and defender Valiente Smith in the draft. In the end, Denver ended the season with 36 wins and 46 losses, just one step away from the playoffs.
Denver Nuggets Players (12)
1993-94 season, Ezelle led the team with 42 wins and 40 losses, and reached the playoffs for the first time after Tang Mo left. As the eighth seed, Denver Nuggets played top seed seattle supersonics in the first round. After losing two away games unexpectedly, the game returned to Denver's home court. Last stand's Denver team won two home games in a row, dragging the game to the deciding game. In the crucial fifth game, Denver people created a miracle. The Denver Nuggets became the first eighth-seeded team in NBA history to successfully eliminate the top seed after defeating the favorite seattle supersonics 98-94 away. In the subsequent Western Conference semifinals against Utah Jazz, Denver still performed well, dragging the series to Game 7, but failed to go any further.
1994-95 season, Denver won the Supersonic Shooter Dale Ellis and Jalen Rose of the University of Michigan in the draft, ready to make great achievements. However, head coach giselle left the team in the middle of the season. Under the leadership of assistant coach Jean Ritter, Denver Nuggets entered the playoffs with a record of 4 1 4 1 0. Was swept out by the San Antonio Spurs 3-0.
1995, Denver Nuggets handed over to Los Angeles Clippers power forward Antonio McDesi in the draft, but Mutombo, the core of the team, left Denver to join Atlanta Hawks after the end of the1995/96 season, and many main players of the team were injured, and the results of the Nuggets dropped all the way. 1997-98 season, the team almost broke the NBA record of the least number of wins in a single season. They only scored 1 1 in the whole season, only better than the 9 wins and 73 losses set by the Philadelphia 76 ers in the 197 1-72 season. The team lost 23 games in a row from1997 65438+February 9 to1998 65438+1October 23, tying the longest losing streak in NBA history. Only Cleveland Cavaliers lost 24 games in a row at 1982.
After 2000
From 2003 to the new century, Denver is still in a depressed state. However, with former team star Kiki Vandervig as the team manager, a great revival is brewing in Denver. After taking office on August 9th, 20065438+0, Vandewich brought in many powerful players, including point guard andre miller, powerful power forward Nene, point guard earl boykins, center marcus camby, shooting guard Jon Barry and so on. In the 2003 draft, Vandervig won the NCAA's best player Cameron Anthony with the third overall pick. In the 2003-04 season, Anthony, as a rookie, averaged 2 1.0 points and 6. 1 rebounds per game, leading the Denver Nuggets to return to the playoffs after eight years. The Denver Nuggets also became the first team in NBA history to win less than 20 games in a single season and enter the playoffs in the following season. However, Denver suffered the Minnesota Timberwolves led by MVP Kevin Garnett in the first round and was eliminated by 1-4. In recent years, Cameron Anthony, the absolute core of Nuggets, did not perform well in 2004-05. On February 28th, 2004, at 65438, team coach Jeff Buzdrick was fired, and former Lakers player and coach of Los Angeles Stars Michael Copp took over as interim coach. However, the team finally invited experienced george karl as the team coach. Carl led the team to 32 wins and 8 losses in the second half of the season. Denver ended the regular season with 49 wins and 33 losses. However, the Nuggets never broke through the first round of the playoffs. Their opponent is the experienced San Antonio Spurs. Although the Denver Nuggets won one game at home to the Spurs, they were eliminated after four consecutive defeats.
In the 2005-06 season, the Nuggets won the division championship with 18 because of the benefits of heavy division (there is no strong team in the northwest division where Denver is located), and participated in the playoffs as the third seed. However, due to poor performance in the regular season, Denver didn't have home court advantage even against the sixth seed Los Angeles Clippers, and finally lost to the opponent with 1-4.
In the 2006-07 season, Denver had a good momentum. However, the fight at Madison Square Garden in new york in June 65438+February 65438+June 2006 ruined everything. Many key players of the team were suspended, including Anthony, the league scoring champion at that time, and Anthony, who was on the rise, averaged 3 1.6 points per game. Later, the team bought Allen Iverson, a superstar of Philadelphia 76ers, expecting Iverson and Anthony to form the strongest firepower in the league. However, this combination did not exert its greatest power, and at the same time restricted the play of other players. The Nuggets didn't make a breakthrough. After entering the playoffs with 45 wins and 37 losses, Denver was defeated by the San Antonio Spurs again with 1: 4.
In the 2007-08 season, Anthony and Iverson formed a "golden double gun" combination, and their scoring ability was still strong. At the end of the season, he ranked eighth in the West with a record of 50 wins and 32 losses and reached the playoffs, but the Nuggets still could not break through the first round of the playoffs. They lost 4-0 to Carmelo Anthony and were swept by the Los Angeles Lakers.
In the 2008-09 season, less than a week after the start of the season, a major event broke out in the league. The Nuggets and Pistons made three big deals. Denver traded Allen Iverson for Chauncey Billups, antonio mcdyess and Chuck Saab of Pistons. The arrival of Billups turned the Nuggets from a powerful shelling team into a strong team with both offensive and defensive capabilities. At the end of the regular season, the Nuggets ranked second in the West with a record of 54 wins and 28 losses, and reached the playoffs. This time, the Nuggets finally broke the first spell since 2003. They beat the New Orleans Hornets led by chris paul 4:/kloc-0: 0, and won the fourth game with a huge score of 12 1: 63, which tied the biggest difference in NBA playoff history. In the Western Conference semifinals, facing the Dallas Mavericks headed by Nowitzki, the Nuggets won again with a total score of 4:/kloc-0:, and reached the Western Conference finals for the third time in the team's history. Unfortunately, the Nuggets lost to the Los Angeles Lakers 2-4 in the Western Conference finals and missed the finals.
Since the 2009-20 10 season, the results of Nuggets have been stable in the second place in the West. In the middle of the season, Nuggets coach George Karl was diagnosed with cancer in his neck and throat by doctors and missed all the remaining games of Nuggets. The results of the Nuggets began to fluctuate and finally fell to the fourth place in the West. Facing the tenacious Jazz in the first round of the playoffs, he lost 2-4 in the absence of the coach and said goodbye to this season with regret.
20 10-20 1 1 In the middle of the season, the team traded Chauncey Billups, shelden williams, anthony carter and reinaldo Bourcq to the new york Knicks. The Nuggets acquired wilson chandler, raymond felton, danilo gallinari and Timothy mozgov from the Knicks in the trade. After this transaction, the ranking of Nuggets rose instead of falling, and finally got the fifth place in the West and reached the playoffs. The playoffs 1:4 lost to Oklahoma City Thunder and lost again in the first round of the playoffs.