Nuggets looking for a Mile High lift
Web Posted: 04/26/2007 11:34 PM CDT
Mike Monroe
Express-News
DENVER — The pro teams in Denver make sure the visiting teams know there is less air to breathe in the Mile High City.
When the Spurs debark the team bus and enter the Pepsi Center, they have to walk past a large sign reminding them they are 5,280 feet above sea level.
Since the Nuggets entered the NBA in 1976, coming in from the ABA along with the Spurs, Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets, they have played most seasons at a breakneck pace designed to optimize the conditioning edge they get by training and living in the rarefied air.
Not surprisingly, when the Nuggets have had decent personnel, they usually had one of the league’s better home records.
But not this season. Denver’s 23-18 home record this season matched the worst by a Nuggets team that qualified for the playoffs. It was the seventh-worst home record in the team’s NBA franchise history.
Nobody is certain where the edge went, especially with George Karl asking his team to play at a pace that made it the league’s No. 3 scoring team.
“I can’t pinpoint it,” Denver center Marcus Camby said. "We set a record for road wins. If we’d had a few more wins on our home court we’d have put ourselves in better shape for the playoffs. But there were a lot of games we lost in the fourth quarter.
The Nuggets know they need whatever edge may be left against the Spurs. With the series tied at 1-1, Saturday’s Game 3 doesn’t fall in the traditional “must-win” category, but Karl knows how important it is to the psyche of a franchise that hasn’t gone past the first round since 1994.
“Every game has a psychological value,” Karl said, "and when you win on the road, the first home game has a psychological value to the home team.
“(The Spurs) had to win Game 2. This is not a must-win game in the vision of a seven-game series, but for psychological advantage, I think it is a must-win game.”
Karl expects his team to get a lift from the home crowd but cautions his players not to get too pumped.
“I don’t think emotion is very good for a basketball team,” he said. “Too much high and too much low can create emotional imbalance in a game. But energy can be created by the home court. That’s what I want. I want the home fans to feel energized. I want the team to play well to where they energize not only themselves, but the fans.”
Historically, the Nuggets have been second-class citizens in a pro sports scene dominated by the NFL’s Broncos. When the NHL’s Quebec Nordiques moved to town and became the Colorado Avalanche in 1994, they won the Stanley Cup in their first season and leaped ahead of the Nuggets on the pro sports pecking order.
This season, the Avalanche failed to qualify for the playoffs and Colorado Rockies baseball fans know the altitude’s effects don’t carry over to the diamond in any positive way for a team that has to play half its games in air that can make Coors Field a launching pad.
“Hopefully, we can get a lot of Avs fans here, too,” said Camby, "since they’re not in the playoffs. We expect this joint to be jumping.
“You can feel the emotion a lot. They had their crowd support. They have a great fan base down in San Antonio. It’s time now for our crowd to really get behind us when things are getting a little scarce out there. Hopefully, that can be the extra, added bonus that can put us over the top.”