DENVER — A white banner with gold, red and blue decorations slowly climbed toward the ceiling on two large cables as the Queen’s victory ballad “We Are the Champions” thundered through the Ball Arena speakers Tuesday night.
The 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets, who had returned all of that team’s coaches and 12 players, stood in the corner of the court closest to where their championship banner hung, with fancy diamond-encrusted gold rings on their fingers pointed towards the rafters.
These rings from Jason of Beverly Hills feature a lever that changes the background color at the top from blue to white. A mini banner is hidden in a secret compartment on the side of the ring.
The hoisting of the actual banner and the distribution of rings was preceded by an emotional highlight video from last June. It showed the Nuggets’ victory in the fifth NBA Finals against the Miami Heat, the players cheering on the court and the fans crying.
Trembling applause from the 19,842 in attendance for owner Stan Kroenke and his son, team president Josh Kroenke. They went one better for coach Michael Malone and gave as much gas as they could for NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokić.
Then the good people of Denver continued all night long. Her team picked up where they left off.
The Nuggets put those rings aside and defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 119-107 on the NBA’s opening night, behind another dominant triple-double from Jokić and excellent contributions from Jamal Murray and former Lakers Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
Denver swept the Lakers out of the Western Conference finals in May, the two teams traded blows throughout the summer and in training camp, and culminated in the Nuggets’ convincing win (their sixth straight win over the Lakers, regular season and postseason). (calculated) they took the local victory. The crowd chanted: “Who is your daddy?”
Jokić finished the regular season with 29 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists for his 106th career triple-double. He posted an NBA-record 10 triple-doubles in the 2023 playoffs.
Murray contributed 21 points and six assists and Caldwell-Pope, who won his first ring with the Lakers in 2020, added 20 points.
LeBron James, entering his 21st season, topped Los Angeles with 21 points and added eight rebounds. Anthony Davis scored all 17 points in the first half and completed 6 of 17 shots.
“I thought Nikola did a much better job guarding AD in the second half and made it a lot harder for him,” Malone said after the game. “I just told our players that I’m so proud of them because you have an emotional night receiving rings and then holding up a banner. And then you have a team that wants to come out here and give you a loss on your home court.
“This is a great way to start the year in front of a great home crowd. I can’t thank our fans enough for making this the toughest place in the NBA.”
The Nuggets only lost one home playoff game last season en route to the ultimate victory.
It was a traditional opening night ceremony in every sense, with perhaps one caveat: There had never been anything like it in Denver, at least not when it came to basketball. The Nuggets’ title win in 2023 was a celebration of the organization’s first championship in its 56-year history.
“They’ve been waiting a long time for this,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said at midcourt, dampening the usual boos that preceded him.
“Last year was great,” Malone said shortly after receiving his jewelry. “We have a ring. Who wants another one?”
The Nuggets apparently do. They led by as many as 18 points in the second quarter and dominated the fourth quarter after a three-pointer from James with 9:42 left cut the Laker deficit to three points.
Malone turned to Jokić about a minute earlier than he normally would bring him back into the game in the fourth quarter, and Jokić quieted the game for Denver with seven points and five assists in the final period.
“He’s my security blanket,” Malone said. “I am a very insecure person. So when I start feeling like that, I take Nikola out and feel better, and I’m sure all of our fans feel the same way.”
“I think the ceremony gave us more energy,” Jokić said. “I think we controlled the game the whole time and in the end we lost it a little bit. … It was really good for us to step up to the plate again and make plays to win the game.”
Aaron Gordon contributed 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists for Denver, while Michael Porter Jr., playing after missing all of preseason with a sprained ankle, had 12 points and 12 boards.
Taurean Prince finished his first game – and starting game – for the Lakers with 18 points, replacing the injured Jarred Vanderbilt in the lineup. Austin Reaves, who had a strong performance with Team USA last summer, scored 14 points with eight rebounds.
Neither Reaves (4 of 11) nor D’Angelo Russell (11 points, 4 of 12 shooting) shot well and, along with Davis, struggled through a tough night.
James, meanwhile, was an efficient 10-of-16 shot with five assists and no turnovers in 29 minutes. He averaged nearly 36 minutes per game last season, and the Lakers outscored the Nuggets by seven points on Tuesday with James on the court.
“I mean, I always want to be on the field, especially when you have a chance to win a game or feel like you can make something happen,” James said. “But I think there is a system and I followed it.”
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(Photo: Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)