NBA History: The best era for each of the 30 franchises

Denver Nuggets: 1981-90

The Denver Nuggets produced one of the most exciting brands of basketball during the 1980s, where buckets were produced at a shockingly high rate at both ends.

Consider a game between Denver and the Detroit Pistons in December of 1983. A triple-overtime affair, the two squads combined to put up 370 points — 186-164 to the Pistons — which outscores the next highest game by nearly 30.

The Nuggets downsized their lineup before it was cool, slotting talented scorers Kiki Vandeweghe and Alex English at both forward spots to maximize their offensive potential, and it more or less worked.

English won the scoring title in 1982-83 by averaging 28.4 points per game. Vandeweghe’s scoring output saw a sizeable increase during each of his four seasons in the Mile High, topping out at 29.4 a night during the 1983-84 campaign.

Vandeweghe was then traded in the summer of 1984 and in came Fat Lever. The diminutive floor general didn’t skip a beat upon becoming a Nugget. He’d go on to produce the best numbers of what would be a career spanning over a decade, with a four-year stretch of averaging 18.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game.

Some may have considered Denver’s innovative offensive approach a novelty act, but the results speak for themselves. Amid nine straight playoff appearances, the Nuggets made three trips to the second round with one appearance in the Western Conference Finals, not always a realistic contender but always a tough out that could run up the scoreboard quickly.