The Denver Nuggets were a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association (ABA) and one of the only four teams from that league to survive the merger with the NBA in 1976. The Nuggets have enjoyed considerable success in both leagues winning a total of ten divisional titles. ‘Nuggets’ is the third nickname used by the Denver franchise. The team original nickname was ‘Larks’ (Colorado’s state bird) but before they even played a game ended up with a new owner under the name ‘Rockets’. Several years later, the team was sold again and re-named ‘Nuggets’, mindful of an eventual move to the NBA and potential conflict with the Houston Rockets.
In their early years, the Nuggets played at the Denver Auditorium Arena to strong fan support. During this time, there was plenty of talent on hand including the former University of Virginia All-American Ralph Sampson and Spencer Haywood. Haywood would eventually sign with Seattle of the NBA but the Nuggets found plenty of new talent including Dan Issel, Bobby Jones and North Carolina product David Thompson. Coached by the well traveled Larry Brown, the Nuggets had one of the most talented teams in the league. In 1975, the Nuggets moved into the McNichols Sports Arena sharing the facility with the short-lived Colorado Rockies of the NHL. The team would play their home games at McNichols until moving to the Pepsi Center–ironically shared with a very successful NHL team, the Colorado Avalanche. Home court play has always been a strength of the team due not only to a supportive fan base but to the altitude of Denver (5,280 feet above sea level). With the Utah Jazz also playing at high altitude, visiting teams would frequently play back-to-back games in Denver and Salt Lake City–a challenge for even the most well conditioned athlete.
After joining the NBA in 1976, the Nuggets became known for a high-scoring, up-tempo style of play. They had the talent to go up and down the court including Issel, Kiki Vandeweghe and classy Alex English–one of the most underrated scorers in NBA history. They’d make a drastic change in style in the early 1990’s after drafting 7’2″ center Dikembe Mutombo. To best utilize the shot blocking and rebounding skills of Mutombo, the Nuggets would employ a half court offense during much of his career. After Mutombo had left the team, they returned to a more uptempo attack led by Carmelo Anthony. In 2012, a disgruntled Anthony was traded to the New York Knicks, and the rebuilding process began anew. The current vintage Nuggets favor a team concept of basketball with strong fundamentals and no big name superstars.
The Nuggets might not have any ‘household names’ on the roster, but they’re a hard working team with devoted fans. The lack of superstars does have a downside–they’re not very attractive to the national TV networks. A major reason for this is simply the Mountain Time Zone–it’s much easier to schedule teams in the Pacific Time Zone for late start games. For many years, TV programmers would favor the Utah Jazz when needing a Mountain Time Zone team for a national broadcast. To watch Nuggets game live in the upcoming season, you’ll have to look beyond TNT and ESPN–Denver is scheduled to play on national TV only twelve times in 2013-2014. In the Denver Metro area, Nuggets games can be found on AltitudeTV–an all sports network that also features the NHL Avalanche and the Major League Lacrosse Colorado Mammoth. The availability of a Denver Nuggets live stream varies by network–ESPN’s coverage is decent, TNT streams only selected games while AltitudeTV provides no streaming.
The inconsistent technology of the NBA’s national and local broadcast affiliates makes it difficult to find a streaming Nuggets basketball game online. For that reason, the best plan is to watch Denver Nuggets online for free via one of the many live sports streams available on the Internet. Finding a Denver Nuggets live stream is as easy as visiting one of the many streaming sports directories online including Wiziwig, Stream2U, SportsStreamTV and others. The specific websites change from time to time, so a Google search is advisable to get the latest information. You’ll have no problem finding streaming Nuggets basketball game online, and many sites will even have a radio stream for tonight’s game.
Once you find the Denver Nuggets live stream you’re all set. You’ll be able to select from a variety of stream speeds to find one that works best with your Internet connection. You can watch the streaming Nuggets basketball game online from your computer–with a good sized monitor and a decent sound system the experience is as good as watching on HDTV. If you don’t want to watch on the computer you can watch Nuggets game live on your tablet, smartphone or even your TV set by using a set top box like a Roku player. No matter how you watch, it’s the best way to catch every game of the season free of charge!