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Remembering the 1994 Denver Nuggets’ Playoff Upset

By Chris Schmaedeke

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The Denver Nuggets‘ playoff history is nothing to write home about.

There were plenty of first-round losses under head coach George Karl except for the 2009 run to the Western Conference Finals with Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups and the gang. Denver lost in six games to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers.

Head coach Doug Moe took the Nuggets to the playoffs from 1981-1990 but never reached the NBA Finals. Moe’s best team also reached the Western Conference Finals in the 1984-85 season. That year the Nuggets lost to the “Showtime” Lakers of Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

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Although the Nuggets only made the Western Conference Semifinals in 1994, there is something special about that team and that run. Denver looked to be a young team on the rise and was set to only get better. The Nuggets made the playoffs the following season with a lot of the same players but then never made back until 2003 when they drafted Anthony.

The 1993-94 team was stacked with some young talent. They had Dikembe Mutombo in the middle. The big man was a beast in the paint as he averaged over four blocks a game that season. He also pulled down almost 12 rebounds a game. His 12 points a game was nothing too shabby either.

The leading scorer on that team was Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. The silky guard who went by Chris Jackson when he was drafted by the Nuggets averaged 18 points a game. Abdul-Rauf was only 24. Mutombo was just 27. Players like Bryant Stith, LaPhonso Ellis, Robert Pack and Rodney Rogers were all under 25. This had the makings of something special, but it never panned out. But for one season is was an unbelievable playoff run.

Overwhelmed in Seattle

The Nuggets finished with a 42-40 record which got them in the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. Denver drew a matchup with Karl’s Seattle SuperSonics, which were loaded with talent and a 63-19 record. The Sonics threw out a starting lineup of Gary Payton, Kendall Gill, Shawn Kemp, Detlef Schrempf and Michael Cage. They had an unbelievable lineup that seemed to be poised to run the young Nuggets out of the gym.

And the first two games went exactly to plan for the Sonics.

Game 1 was never close as the Sonics jumped out to a 30-19 lead after the first quarter and lead 62-37 at the half. Dan Issel‘s Nuggets looked lost and out of their league. The Seattle crowd was loud and crazy which made things even worse for the Nuggets. The Sonics rolled to a 106-82 win to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

While Game 2 was not as bad of a rout, the Nuggets still looked to be in big trouble. The Sonics again jumped to an early lead and had control all of the game. Seattle took a commanding 2-0 lead with a 97-87 win in Game 2.

Broncos’ Elway, Home Crowd Rallies the Nuggets

Before Game 3 in Denver, Broncos quarterback John Elway, who at the time had suffered plenty of playoff heartache himself, rallied the crowd before the game. With Elway’s classic “Let’s get ready to Mutombo!”, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy, and the Nuggets fed off of it.

Denver played their best game of the series and scored a crazy 41 points in the first quarter to take a 15-point lead after one. The Sonics tried to fight back but never really got close as the Nuggets rolled to a 110-93 win at McNichols Sports Arena.

Game 4 was a hard-fought overtime battle.  The first quarter ended with the Sonics up 17-13. Mutombo, who was dominant all series, had eight block shots in the win. Ellis was also the big star for the Nuggets during Game 4. He registered 27 points and 17 rebounds. The Nuggets had forced a Game 5 back in Seattle. But no one believed that the Nuggets could pull off a win after the way the first two games went.

Nuggets Do the Impossible

The Seattle crowd was raucous and ready for their Sonics to move past these pesky Nuggets. Neither Game 1 or 2 was close, so the Sonics came in confident that they could blow out the Nuggets once again.

They could not have been more incorrect.

The game was close from the beginning. Mutombo was once again an unreal force in the paint. High flyers like Kemp and Gill wanted nothing to do with the Nuggets big man.

The unsung heroes of the game were Robert Pack and Bison Dele, who both came off the bench for the Nuggets and shined. Pack led all scorers with 27 and Dele, or Brian Williams as he was called back then, had 17 points and 19 rebounds. Both were pivotal to the improbable win in Game 5.

The stressful game went to overtime for the second straight time. No one thought the Nuggets would be this close, and now they had a chance to win the series. Denver was up two with about five seconds to go, but Seattle tied the game on a Gill put back that sent the game to overtime.

Mutombo continued his dominance in overtime, and the Nuggets became the first No. 8 seed to upset a No. 1 in NBA history with a 98-94 win in Game 5. The Nuggets center finished the five-game series with 31 blocks. The lasting image of this series will always be Mutombo on the ground, holding up the ball, screaming for joy after Denver pulled the upset.

 Lasting Effect

The Nuggets almost pulled another upset in the next round against the Utah Jazz. Denver fell behind 3-0 but rallied back to force a Game 7 only to lose 91-81 in Salt Lake City.

The greatness that this young team seemed to be destined for never happened. Mutombo left as a free agent in 1996 in one of the worst decisions Denver has ever made. Ellis battled injuries his whole career. Stith, Pack and other players never lived up to the potential they showed during that season.

It is possibly the greatest upset in NBA playoff history. The Sonics were a dominant team that was favored to win the NBA title. Karl, who became known for his first-round flame outs here in Denver, seemed like a perfect coach for the Sonics. They just ran into the wrong team at the wrong time

With a playoff history not rich in tradition, it is always good to look back on a five-game series that changed history.

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