November 28th, 2009 
Lance Baker The Denver Nuggets were one of the surprising teams of the NBA last season. Things started to finally mesh for them.
Not many expected the Denver Nuggets – who were notorious for losing in the first round it seems – to make it to the Western Conference Finals. The Nuggets were out manned and out played against the Lakers but that still doesn’t take away from the excellent season they had.
The knock on Denver for many years was they can score but refused to play defense – this wasn’t the case because Denver was’th is defense. Trading Iverson for Billups, definitely was a key move to fixing this problem.
The addition of point guard Chauncey Billups essentially changed their season for the better once he arrived in town. Billups brought a defensive mentality from the Detroit Pistons who were one of the best defensive teams of the decade.
Chauncey Billups came from the Detroit Pistons in a trade for Allen Iverson – the trade for Billups worked out well for Denver, not so much for the Pistons.
Birdman, also known as Chris Andersen stepped up off the bench and had a huge year. He’s become one of the best shot blockers in the league.
As a result, the Nuggets ended up beating the Hornets in five games, before easily defeating the Mavericks in round 2 of the NBA playoffs. Then it was on to the Western Finals against the Lakers.
The Denver Nuggets do have NBA Finals potential. But if they expect to make it there it seems as if they will have to go through the Lakers once again, Denver should improve as a team overall in 09-10.
For more Nuggets talk, check out the Denver Nuggest forum at RootZoo Sports, the most exciting sport forums online.
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