The Denver Nuggets are among six league franchises to never appear in the NBA Finals, failing to represent the Western Conference during their 44-year history in the league. The Nuggets only appeared in one Finals—losing the 1976 ABA championship before shipping over to the NBA.
There's hope the current group can break through, though, with star center Nikola Jokic and point guard Jamal Murray. Whose footsteps would they be following as the best Nuggets team?
5. 2018-19 Nuggets
Last season's Nuggets team won a tied for fourth-most regular-season wins in franchise history (54), and were potentially one overtime game away from reaching their first conference finals in 10 years. Jokic, Murray, and a balanced Denver squad exerted energy by taking seven games to defeat the San Antonio Spurs only to have to spend another seven games losing in heartbreak fashion to the Portland Trail Blazers (Game 3 was an unforgettable and tiresome quadruple-overtime effort).
Jokic and the Nuggets could redeem themselves by making another lengthy postseason run should the 2019-20 NBA season resume or next season given the pieces are there for head coach Mike Malone and co.
4. 1984-85 Nuggets
The '85 Nuggets epitomized the era for Denver—characterized by a fast pace and loads of scoring in the decade that saw opponents score a boat load back at them. Two years removed from winning a scoring title, then-four-time All-Star Alex English averaged nearly 28 points a game while star guard Fat Lever really came into his own that season, going from 4.6 assists a night to 7.5.
In the 1985 playoffs, Denver, winners of 52 regular-season games, took down George Gervin and the San Antonio Spurs in a best-of-five first-round series before finishing a young Utah Jazz team in a gentleman's sweep, later facing the powerhouse Lakers in the conference finals. Denver lost in five games to the eventual champs.
3. 1977-78 Nuggets
A few years removed from joining the league following the ABA-NBA merger, the Nuggets were still led by swingman David Thompson and big men Bobby Jones and David Thompson. Winning 48 games and the division, the Nuggets were victorious for the first time in the postseason during their then-young NBA history, taking down the Milwaukee Bucks in seven games.
Denver then had to face the dynamic backcourt pairing of the Seattle SuperSonics' Dennis Johnson and Gus Williams. It was a tough series, going six games, and falling to the upstart Sonics, who would win a title the next year.
2. 2008-09 Nuggets
The 2008-09 Denver campaign was star forward Carmelo Anthony's last hurrah in a Nuggets uniform before requesting a trade two years later. Buoyed by veterans Chauncey Billups, Kenyon Martin, and re-acquired late-season pick-up Allen Iverson, Anthony and the Nuggets finished the regular season with the second-best record in the West.
The Nuggets took down Anthony's pal Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets in five games in the first round, then beat post-MVP Dirk Nowitzki's Dallas Mavericks in five games in round two.
The '09 Nuggets made their first conference-finals appearance in 24 years but, unfortunately, had to go up against Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and the Western Conference's best Lakers team. Bryant was elite that year and in that postseason, dueling with friend and foe Anthony before L.A. won in six games, later winning the title—Kobe's first “solo” win sans Shaquille O'Neal.
1. 1975-76 Nuggets
Their final campaign in the ABA before the merger, Thompson, Issel, Jones, Ralph Simpson, and the Nuggets reached the pinnacle of the league—going to their only Finals appearance, albeit in a different league, only to lose in six games to Julius Erving and the New Jersey Nets. Erving averaged 37.7 points, 14.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists a game in that Finals, too, shuttering the ABA and Denver's best chance to claim a title.
Fortunately, the end of the ABA wasn't the end of the Nuggets, who were the best team in the league in 1975-76, winning 60 games in the 84-game schedule. Thompson, Issel, and Jones returned under Hall of Fame head coach Larry Brown, winning 50 games the next season only to lose in the first round to eventual-champion Blazers in 1977.
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