After ten seasons under Doug Moe, the Nuggets changed tack in the summer of 1990.
The 1988 “Coach Of The Year” gave Denver the best offense in the NBA six times in ten years, but the leaders wanted more, and they decided to recruit Paul Westhead, the coach of Loyola University & Marymount. He is not unknown in the NBA since it was he who led the Lakers to the title in 1980 with Magic Johnson moved to the pivot position in Game 6 of the Finals against the Sixers. It will be his only feat in the NBA since he will be cut two years later, replaced by Pat Riley, and his move to the Bulls will be a failure.
Finally, it was in the NCAA with Loyola & Marymount that he made an impression. His style of play: the “run and gun” thoroughly! Under him are the late Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble, and the university is shaking the entire NCAA with this hyper offensive style of play and all-terrain pressure to project forward quickly.
It’s dangerous and appropriate for college basketball, but it’s what appeals to the Nuggets and here’s what he announces at the start of the season: We take the ball, we go up the field and we shoot in less than six seconds. This is the ideal system for this season’s squad. »
153 points conceded on average after six matches
We find there the rookie Chris Jackson (who will become Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf) but also the elf Michael Adams or the veterans Orlando Woolridge and Walter Davis. On paper, there are indeed only attackers…
Result: the Nuggets begin with five defeats in a row when they move on November 10, 1990 to Phoenix, a formation that also relies on attack. At the time, the press wondered which of Phoenix or Denver would be the first team to reach 200 points in a game.
An embryonic response at halftime from this Phoenix – Denver with a surreal score of… 107 to 67 for the Suns of Cotton Fitzsimmons, on track that evening to win their 700th career game. 107 points is the new record for points scored in a first half. The old record dated November 7, three days earlier, and was owned by the Nuggets with 90 points against Spurs.
The butchery would subside in the second half, but the Suns would eventually win 173-143, and the Suns mark is still today the highest point total for a game without overtime, tied with the Celtics of 1959. All without scoring a single 3-point! On the other hand, no record for the number of points accumulated, since it belongs to the Warriors and the Nuggets who had separated with the score of 162-158… eight days earlier! After six games, the Nuggets are averaging 153 points per game…
” They take open shots, and we rush to score on the other side explained Tom Chambers, the Suns’ All-Star winger. ” Every time we took an outside shot, the coach would yell at us. » Author of 23 points and 17 assists, Kevin Johnson will ask to leave because of a side point from the second quarter! ” You know, like when you’re a kid, and you run too much “Say the leader of the Suns.
You will have understood it, it’s basketball hooray, to the one who will score more points than the other, and that saddens everyone in the NBA. Spurs coach Larry Brown sums up this basketball in one word: “Ugly”. On the side of the players, we believe in it. The proof with the pivot Blair Rasmussen: “ We know people laugh, but we’ll see who has the last laugh. ” Top scorer of the match with 40 units, the late Orlando Woolridge has an idea of the origin of the mockery: ” Many people criticize this system for a simple reason: they don’t want it to work. Because if so, they’re preparing for tough times. »
“When it works, it does not give 1+1 = 2 but 1+1 = 7”
Assistant to the Suns, before becoming a coach a few years later, Paul Westphal summed up the meeting well: For us, it was a game like any other. The game is so fast that the points no longer make sense. The way they play, they encourage taking layups, and that’s very good for us. We have plenty of fast players, and that fits our style. As for them, I don’t think they’re a good team, and any system depends on the players you have. Today, for me, they look like an “expansion team”. They got rid of two All-Stars, Alex English and Fat Lever. »
NBA finalist, Portland will be disturbed by this atypical basketball. ” It’s scary cause we don’t know what to expect “Acknowledged Rick Adelman, the coach of the Blazers. ” It was really difficult to play, and to explain. »
But Paul Westhead will insist. ” This is a high risk strategy as it creates high risk problems in opponents he explained that year. ” The idea is to play ultra-fast in attack and defend ultra-fast, so that it’s a double hit. When it works, it does not give 1+1 = 2 but 1+1 = 7. »
And as it will not work, the Nuggets will end the season with 20 wins for 62 losses, and the worst defense in the NBA with nearly 131 points against per game. It was against these Nuggets that Scott Skiles set the assist record with 30 assists… Small consolation, Denver also finished with the best offense in the NBA with 119.9 points per game. This is less than the Nuggets version Doug Moe who used to exceed 120 points on average, and even to reach 126.5 points per game in 1982!
