When Nuggets fans said they could die happy now, they didn’t mean Tuesday.
“It’s nice (out here),” Danny Martinez, a Nuggs lifer, told me around 12:15 a.m. as we stood at the corner of 20th and Market. Martinez had brought along loved ones and this giant blue-and-gold flag to a party 47 years in the making.
“It’s nice, as long as everyone stays respectful. It’s a good night. Hopefully, (the crowd) won’t spoil it.”
Dang it, they did. Somebody did.
Martinez and I high-fived and went our separate ways. About 10 minutes later, shots were fired only a few feet from where we’d just stood, injuring 10, including a suspect, according to authorities.
“I don’t know — people, like, just fight in the street, random people that weren’t involved jump in,” a bouncer up the block had whispered just before I met Martinez. “Shootings in the parking lot, people busting out windows …”
Tonight?
“No. The last three months.”
Blood on the sidewalks. Shredded scooters. Street signs in tatters. Broken stoplights. No way to end a party. Or launch a dynasty.
The Nuggets aren’t going anywhere, except past Union Station on a parade of fire trucks. The road to the NBA Finals runs a mile high. Turn right at Chopper Circle and buckle up, buttercup.
Nikola Jokic, the shoulda-been three-peat MVP, the best basketball player on the planet, is 28. His running mate, guard Jamal Murray, is 26. Michael Porter Jr. is just 24.
Aaron Gordon, Mr. Nugget, the player of the people on the team of the people, went out and danced with the people. Cameras captured the multi-faceted, unselfish 6-foot-8 Gordon, caked in champagne and cigar smoke from Game 5 of the NBA Finals, walking shirtless into a crowd of Nuggs fans, bouncing with unabashed joy and turning Stout Street into a mobile mosh pit.
He’s only 27.
“The (NBA) title means everything to the city,” Devin Brandon, a Yuma dude who’d moved to Denver, told me as I’d hoofed the mile from Ball Arena up to Coors Field after the Nuggets closed out the Miami Heat in just five games.
“It kind of solidifies the underdog. If (the Nuggets) win again next year, it’s the start of a dynasty. Dy-nas-ty.”
The law firm of Jokic & Murray now has what the iconic combos of Charles Barkley and Dan Majerle; Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudamire; Karl Malone and John Stockton; Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook; Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp … don’t. A ring won together.
“The (Nuggets) have got to win the first one first,” Barkley, the Hall of Famer and garrulous Turner Sports television analyst, offered prior to the Nuggets clinching when I floated the idea of a Denver Dynasty.
“But they’ve got a really bright future, man. It’s going to be fun to watch them for the next few years.”
Darn straight. Martinez was must-see TV himself, waving his Nuggets flag under a shower of fireworks that turned its blue and gold into hues of neon pink and orange.
“I bought three of them,” Martinez said as he lowered his banner. “I saw this coming about a month ago.”
Smart man. Loyal man, too, faithful to the last. Danny’s been a Nuggets fan since the age of 6, just in time for the name change from the old Denver Rockets of the ABA. For Martinez, Monday’s celebration made all those bruises worth it.
“I say it’s No. 1 (for Denver), in front of the Broncos, because we waited so long for it,” Martinez allowed. “The Broncos have three Super Bowl (titles). Now the Nuggets have one (NBA title).
“I’ve been waiting all my life for this. And I think the city deserves it.”
It deserves better than Tuesday’s shooting headlines, too.
“Can I take a picture with your flag?” a young woman asked.
“Sure,” Martinez replied.
Up it went. Sailing in the night sky.
“Thank you!” she gushed, handing it back. “Go Nuggets!”
“Go Nuggets!” Martinez countered.
How many times has someone wanted to borrow the flag?
“Ten times,” Danny guessed.
This evening?
“This hour.”
Plenty of room on the bandwagon, kids. Just act like you’ve been here before. Because as long as Jokic and Murray own the pick and roll the way Astaire and Rodgers owned the footlights, you will be again. And again.
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