Denver Nuggets (Denver Nuggets) is a professional basketball team located in Denver, Colorado, United States. It belongs to the Northwest Division of the NBA West and is hosted by Pepsi Center. The team joined the ABA league from 1967 to 1976 and has been in the NBA since 1976. In history, he reached the ABA Finals in the 1975-76 season, reached the NBA Western Conference Finals five times in 1977 78, 1984 85, 2008 09, 2019 20, and 2022 23. He made his debut in the NBA Finals on 2022 23 and won the team's first NBA championship with a 4-1 victory.
Team History
1960s – 1970s
The Denver Nuggets, formerly known as the Denver Rockets, were founded in 1967 and joined the ABA League in the same year. Before the official confirmation of Denver at home, the team played in Kansas City, Missouri. In the first few seasons of entering the ABA, the team struggled on the edge of the playoffs. In the 1969-70 season, controversial rookie Spencer Heywood joined the team. Heywood was one of the earliest players to transition directly to a professional position without completing college, which led to the NBA rejecting him from joining the league at the time. Haywood averaged 30+points and 20+rebounds per game in his first and only season at ABA, leading the Denver Rockets to their first NBA Finals. But a year later, Heywood left the team and joined the Seattle SuperSonics to jump to the NBA. Due to ABA being at a disadvantage in the competition with the NBA, the Denver Rockets have been looking for opportunities to join the more mature NBA league. In order to avoid having the same name as the NBA team Houston Rockets, the Denver Rockets changed the team name to Denver Nuggets in 1974, a former NBA team name (1949-50 season). However, the Denver Nuggets remained at ABA until its bankruptcy in 1976. After the end of the 1975-76 season, the Denver Nuggets joined the NBA league along with three other ABA teams, the New York Nets (which changed to the New Jersey Nets after a year in the NBA), the San Antonio Spurs, and the Indiana Pacers. In the last two seasons of ABA, under the planning of team managers David Thompson and Marvin Webster, strong players such as Dan Issel and Bobby Jones were introduced, and Larry Brown was hired as the team manager. The Denver Nuggets achieved their best performance in team history, achieving a winning rate of over 70% for two consecutive years, and successfully reached the ABA Finals in the 1975-76 season. However, they lost 2-4 to the New York Nets and missed their only chance to win the ABA championship. After entering the NBA, the Denver Nuggets continued their strong performance in the ABA, winning consecutive division championships in their first two seasons, and only narrowly losing the championship by one game in their third season. However, Denver's luck did not bring them into the playoffs. In the 1977 78 season, the team lost 2-4 to the Seattle SuperSonics in the Western Conference Finals. Brown left the Denver Nuggets after the end of the 1978-79 season, with a team record of one
