#1 – Denver Nuggets
April 23rd, 2008 – The #1 Seeded Lakers are up 1-0 in a playoff series against the #8 seeded Denver Nuggets. Kobe Bryant, who was widely speculated to have just won his first MVP award, struggled in the first game.
Despite controlling the game early, the Nuggets’ J.R. Smith, decided to test the Black Mamba by talking some trash and posturing. He learned what many in the NBA came to learn: It doesn’t pay to talk trash to Kobe Bryant.
Kobe let his play do his talking… he eviscerated the Nuggets, and dropped one of the greatest playoff performances in NBA history: 49 points, 4 rebounds, and 10 assists. Afterwards, he chided the young J.R. Smith saying that if “you shake a tree, a leopard is going to fall out.” The Lakers went on to sweep the Nuggets out of the playoffs.
The next year, the Nuggets dealt Allen Iverson for Chauncey Billups, a move that paid dividends. The Nuggets made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals, where they were pitted against the Lakers once again. With the series tied two to two, the Lakers handled their business and sent the Denver Nuggets home once again.
In February, after handling the Lakers in two early matchups, the Nuggets were up again at Staples Center. Going into half, J.R. Smith stole the ball, ran it the other way, dunked it, and then held his finger up to his mouth, in a gesture telling the crowd to hush.
This gesture symbolizes the Denver Nuggets. There they were, up 9 during the second quarter of a regular season game in February, talking trash and showboating. How did things transpire after the J.R. Smith gesture? They ended up collapsing down the stretch, in an eerily similar fashion to their 2008 Western Conference Finals performance. For the record, J.R. Smith missed every shot he took in the second half.
It’s antics like this that define the Denver Nuggets. They have a guy who gels his hair into a mo-hawk, calls himself the “Birdman,” and flaps his arms like wings on the court. He’s a clown whose shtick would be better suited for the WWE. Their starting power-forward, the always combustible Kenyon Martin, has a tattoo of lips on his neck and is getting married to a chick named “LaLa.” J.R. Smith is a clown. While Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony are stars—it seems that Chauncey thinks he’s the alpha male. (How many bad shots did he take down the stretch of the Lakers game?) And their coach has presided over some of the greatest collapses in playoff history.
The Denver Nuggets have never won anything; although, you wouldn’t know that listening to them talk. You would think their roster is full of Hall of Famers, but Chauncey Billups is the only one wearing a ring. They’re a bumbling group of blustering bullies, who can throw a punch or two, but when they’re hit with a punch—and they will be come playoff time—they fold like a house of cards.
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