Settling the Score

With both Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson starting in this weekend's All-Star game in New Orleans, it's easy to forget how far the Nuggets franchise has come in five short years. The season before Melo's arrival, Denver owned the worst record in the league, netting just seventeen wins and writing the coda to the "doormat era," in which the Nuggets went a horrendous 200-424 over eight seasons. Until Stan Kroenke's deep, Wal-Mart-laced pockets arrived in 2000, it was unfathomable that our team would contend for anything but the worst record in the NBA.

The Boston Celtics' revival has been even more sudden. The second-worst team in the league last year, the Celtics made off-season trades for Seattle's sharp-shooting Ray Allen and Minnesota's dominant Kevin Garnett. Now the Celtics own the best record in the NBA, and the trio of Allen, Garnett and Paul Pierce make up one of the most exciting rosters in the league.

Fresh from the All-Star break, the two rejuvenated teams will square off tonight at 7 p.m. at the Pepsi Center, 1000 Chopper Circle, but you can also catch the game on the Altitude sports network. The discounted $10.75 tickets — courtesy of a promotion with radio station KS 107.5 — are sold out (check www.ks1075.com for future games), but truly desperate fans will be able to get not-so-discounted tickets courtesy of the shifty-looking guy milling around on Speer Boulevard (cash only, no refunds). And if a couple of Benjamins seems too steep for a pair of tickets, well, no one said success would come cheap. Visit www.nba.com/nuggets.
Tue., Feb. 19, 7 p.m., 2008