Denver Nuggets:
Martin and Anthony look to climb the mountains of the West

The Denver Nuggets have had their Rocky Mountain highs and have had their valley lows during their stint in the National Basketball Association started in 1977. The team has made it into the postseason tournament on 15 occasions and they have advanced to the Western Conference Finals once in 1978. In that series the Nuggets matched up with the Seattle Supersonics and fell to them in six games by a mark of 4-2. The team’s most memorable playoff series came in came in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. The Nuggets finished the season with a 42-40 record which earned them the number eight seed and a first round match up against the top seeded Seattle Supersonics who finished that season with a 63-19 record. The Sonics, led by the dynamic duo of Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, easily took the first two games of the series and looked like they were going to sweep the Nuggets out of the playoffs. The Nuggets then won the next two games and forced a game seven in Seattle. The team was led by superstar center Dikembe Mutumbo who blocked a playoff record 31 shots in the five game series. The team pulled off history by beating the Supersonics at home with a final score of 98-94 and being the first number eight seed to beat a number one seed, they were the only team to do that until the Knicks did it in the 1999 playoffs. The most memorable moment came after the game when Mutumbo was laying on his back under one of the baskets holding the ball over his head and looking like he was going to burst into tears. The Nuggets went on to the next round and almost came back from a 3-0 series deficit to beat the Utah Jazz but fell short in the final game and lost the series 4-3.

Last season the city of Denver caught a fever that it hadn’t caught since the last time the Nuggets made it into the playoffs in 1995. The team hit the jackpot when they drafted Carmelo Anthony from Syracuse. Picking up Anthony along with the acquisitions of Andre Miller and Earl Boykins proved to be the best moves the Nuggets had made in a long while. The team finished the season with a 43-39 record, a 26 game turnaround from the year before, and a playoff berth. The team was the eighth seed and matched up against the top seeded Minnesota Timberwolves led by Kevin Garnett. The Nuggets gave it their all and fell short in the end losing the series 4-1. Anthony was the main reason for the turnaround in Denver and the city was a buzz because of it like it never had been before.

In the off-season the Nuggets came in knowing they had loads of money under the salary cap that they could spend. The team entertained all of the big name free agents like Kobe Bryant, Kenyon Martin and Manu Ginobilli. The team didn’t succeed with bringing in Ginobilli and Bryant but they convinced K-Mart to come and play in the thin air. Martin is an All-Star big man that the Nuggets had been missing and he also brings a toughness that was obviously lacking in the playoffs against the Timberwolves when altercations started breaking out and the Nuggets never seemed to get the best of them.

In the draft the Nuggets made a very smart move by grabbing St. Joseph’s point guard Jameer Nelson who led his team to an undefeated regular season. The team then turned around and traded Nelson to the Orlando Magic for a future draft pick since they already have a wealth of point guards with Miller and Boykins.

With the acquisition of Kenyon Martin the Nuggets propelled themselves to one of the elite teams in the wild wild Western Conference. The starting five of Andre Miller at point guard, Voshon Lenard at shooting guard, Carmelo Anthony at small forward, Kenyon Martin at power forward, and Marcus Camby at center will strike fear into the hearts of opposing West teams. With this lineup the Nuggets have the possibility of sending three of their starters to the All-Star game; Anthony, Martin and Miller.

The only thing better than the Nuggets starting five is the Nuggets bench that seems to be as deep as the Pacific Ocean. The Martin pickup moved Nene to the bench and he was a solid starter last season which will make him very good player to bring off of the bench for Camby and Martin. Behind Miller is Earl Boykins who is one of the most steadying forces in the NBA. In the past two seasons Boykins has been called into games like a closer in baseball to get the job done when it gets into crunch time.

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