The Nuggets Roller Coaster...of Love

The Nuggets have taken us on this roller coaster ride before. We’ve barfed when the ride was over (see: embarrassing loss to the Indiana Pacers) and we’ve gotten back in the front seat and giddily screamed as we rolled over the highest peak (see: triumphant victory over the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers). This week isn’t the first ride Denver faithful have been taken on, and it certainly won’t be the last.

Unfortunately, the Nuggets are adept at playing down to their competition, and the loss to the Pacers highlights a continuing trend that has made the David and Goliath cliché get old fast. Perhaps it had something to do with injuries. Maybe it had something to do with playing on the road. Possibly it was playing four games in five days. Excuses are always made for losses, but reasons are never clear for the Nuggets' propensity to let opposing players like Mike Dunleavy Jr. look like classy stars and not this: http://drunkathlete.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/mike-dunleavy-indiana-pacers-9-drunk-pictures1.jpg. There there, Mike, there there.

While playing in Denver has made the Nuggets nearly invincible in recent years, it is frustrating that it appears to be a different team when donning the baby blue road jerseys (maybe they need to wear the dark blue alternate road uniforms more). Nevertheless, a Nuggets fan cannot help but be ecstatic after a gutsy come-from-behind win against the undefeated Lakers on national television.

After losing to Kobe and crew in the playoffs two years ago, it was apparent that the Nuggets had a good core of players that could get a boost from key additions. While the front office hasn’t added a plethora of big men to contend with the Lakers since then, it was great to see the contributions of the acquisitions we have made during that span, notably Ty Lawson, Al Harrington, Gary Forbes, and Arron Afflalo.

The NBA season has many ups and downs for any squad, but the Nuggets have been making every couple weeks feel like a ride on the Twister at Elitch’s for years now. The right centripetal force could give Denver the turnaround they need against the NBA’s bottom-feeders.