After 47 years, Denver Nuggets fans come together to celebrate a championship
DENVER — Nuggets fans waited nearly half a century for this moment, so they made it count.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in downtown Denver Thursday to celebrate the Nuggets, who on June 12 beat the Miami Heat to win the franchise’s first NBA championship.
The championship parade officially started 10 a.m. at Denver’s Union Station, but fans gathered several hours beforehand. As the procession made its way down 17th Street, players leapt down from fire trucks and celebrated with the fans lining the street. Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon danced in the street, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope double-fisted beers like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Jamal Murray smoked a cigar as the crowd chanted his name.
Frank Dardano was one of the thousands of people who arrived to the parade route hours early. Waiting at the corner of 17th and Arapahoe Street, Dardano brought his whole family with him.
“I used to go to the Denver Nuggets games when they were giving out free DPS tickets, when they were winning 11 games a year,” he said. “So we’ve been following them since they were the laughing stock of the NBA.”
But those days are over. For Dardano, the years of struggle makes this year’s championship “that much sweeter.”
This was a historic postseason run for the Nuggets. It was the first time Denver was a No. 1 seed in the playoffs, the first time that they’ve swept an opponent (the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals) and — most importantly — the first time they won the whole dang thing.
The Nuggets won the championship in convincing fashion, going 16-4 over the course of the playoffs. That is tied for the second best playoff record in history.
And while the City of Denver and Nuggets fans were celebrating every step of the path toward the championship, Denver’s beloved superstar center Nikola Jokic emerged as something of a work-life balance icon.
Standing on the court Monday night, as confetti turned Ball Arena into a snowglobe, Jokic was asked by a reporter how it felt to be a champion.
“It’s good. It’s good. The job is done. We can go home now,” the Finals MVP said with a wry smile.
While point guard Jamal Murray cried tears of joy upon winning the championship (he overcame a career-threatening ACL tear to make it to this point), Jokic was calm to the point that it appeared to verge on indifference. He approached the Miami Heat bench as the buzzer sounded and embraced Miami’s coaches and players, congratulating them on a hard-fought series, before celebrating with his teammates and adorable daughter.
It’s hard to recall a time when an NBA player created more meme-worthy moments in such a short period of time. But then again, Jokic is known for breaking records with mind-boggling casualness.
And while he was certainly in a jovial mood as he wrestled Murray into the team pool or when he poured beer on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s head, Jokic’s champagne celebration is already legendary for its nonchalance. And who could forget the shot of him coolly sipping a beer in the locker room with ski goggles on his forehead like he just finished a day on the slopes.
He was even less enthused about the prospect of a parade. When a different reporter, during the post-game press conference, informed Jokic that the victory parade was Thursday, Jokic said, “No. I need to go home.” The rest of the reporters laughed.
During Thursday’s parade, though, Jokic looked thrilled to be at the front of a fire engine with his daughter. And he made it very clear that he wanted to be at the parade.
All it did was endear Jokic to the fans even more. He’s a bit of an oddball, to be sure. But he’s our oddball, and a champion to boot.
Kyle Cooke is the digital media manager at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach him at kylecooke@rmpbs.org.