A numerical look at the Denver Nuggets’ first NBA championship in franchise history.
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4,824
Combined regular-season and postseason games played by the Nuggets prior to clinching the franchise’s first championship on game No. 4,825 in their 56th season, 47 of which came in the NBA. The Nuggets’ overall record after winning their first title: 2,435-2,390.
10
Franchises that have never won an NBA championship after the Nuggets won their first. The Phoenix Suns have the longest championship drought of any non-title-winning franchise at 55 seasons.
10
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic triple-doubles during the playoffs, the most in one postseason in NBA history. That’s three more than Wilt Chamberlain’s 1967 postseason run, which was the previous high at seven.
55.1
Jokic’s cumulative stat averages for points (30.0), rebounds (13.5), assists (9.5), steals (1.1) and blocks (1.0) over the Nuggets’ 20 playoff games. That number trails only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s postseason (56.6) with Milwaukee in 1974 for highest cumulative average since the NBA began counting steals and blocks in 1973-74.
8
Games that Nuggets guard Jamal Murray scored 30 points or more during the playoffs, one less than Jokic (9). Murray averaged 26.1 points and 7.1 assists per game for the playoffs, both improvements on his regular-season averages of 20.0 and 6.2, respectively.
25.8
Average assists per game for the Nuggets during the playoffs, behind only Golden State (28.2) and Milwaukee (26.8) among the 16 postseason qualifiers.
10.6
Average turnovers per game for the Nuggets in the playoffs, the lowest mark of any of the 16 postseason qualifiers.
49.2%
Shooting percentage for the Nuggets in the postseason, second only to Phoenix (49.6). Denver was also tied for the third-best 3-point shooting percentage at 37.5.
+8.2
Average point differential for the Nuggets in the postseason, easily the best number with Boston in second at plus-3.3.
+6.6
Average rebound differential for the Nuggets in the postseason, also the best number of any of the playoff teams.
6
Nuggets who averaged double-figure scoring in the postseason: Jokic (30.0), Murray (26.1), Michael Porter Jr. (13.4), Aaron Gordon (13.3), Bruce Brown (12.0) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (10.6).
8
Career playoff series wins for Nuggets head coach Michael Malone, the most by any coach in franchise history.
37-31
Malone’s record in the playoffs with the Nuggets, with his 37 wins the most by any coach in franchise history.
16-4
The Nuggets’ record in the 2023 playoffs, the second-best record of any NBA champion since the league expanded its playoffs to four best-of-seven series 20 years ago. That record also matches the 2022 Avs’ march to the Stanley Cup.
3
Major sports championships won by Kroenke-owned teams in the last 16 months, including the Nuggets, Avalanche (June 2022) and Los Angeles Rams (February 2022).
