Last year, their dominant run created excitement across the city and packed sports bars no matter the day of the week. This year, Westword has you covered: Here are our favorite sports bars where you could meet your next best friend while bonding over drinks and the highs and lows of Denver Nuggets basketball.
Chopper's Sports Grill
80 South Madison Street
303-399-4448
Named after founder and former Denver Nuggets trainer Robert “Chopper“ Travaglini, Chopper's Sports Grill has plenty of basketball spirit pumping through its veins — and even more on the bar's thirty TVs. The longtime Cherry Creek bar and grill has been hosting sports fans for 28 years, and that experience shows. On top of a solid bar menu, quick service and plenty of flat-screens, Chopper's has a 165-inch HD projection screen.
Wynkoop Brewery
1634 18th Street
303-297-2700
If you're near Union Station, Wynkoop Brewery is a great place to hole up in. The bar area is full of well-placed TVs so everyone gets a view, the wings are seriously underrated, and Wynkoop's drink lineup is full of new brews and Colorado classics as well as wine and mixed drinks for non-beer drinks — although on a cold day, you really should try the black and Vienna lagers or Patty's Chile Beer, a smoked serrano German-style beer named after Westword editor Patricia Calhoun. And if the Nuggests don't get a win, you can always shoot your sorrows away in the brewery's famous pool hall.
Basketball Social House
7450 South University Boulevard, Centennial
720-773-9685
Let's be real: You can watch basketball at any bar with a TV, but how many bars have indoor basketball courts? Basketball Social House is like a Topgolf or Unser Racing, but for roundball, with indoor hardwood courts, rec leagues, private event rooms, ice cream, a full bar and restaurant menu and flat-screen TVs all in the same building. If your belly is too full of beer to play a real game, then test your jumper in the Wall of Hoops, a single wall with 23 basketball hoops at novelty heights and positions.
Society Sports & Spirits
1434 Blake Street
720-517-7303
Society Sports & Spirits has all the fixins for excitement and hype during clutch moments. The main area, one long strip of bar seats and TVs, fills up early, but with 28 flat screens, three projectors and four sound zones, there's no need to worry about missing any of the action at this lower downtown watering hole.
Stoney's Bar and Grill
1111 Lincoln Street
303-830-6839
Stoney's has two sports bars in Denver, with an outpost in Uptown, but the best place for game-watching is still the OG in Capitol Hill. The lunch and post-work happy hours, full of cheap eats and $5 drinks, is tough to beat in a neighborhood full of overpriced sandwiches. Stoney's often offers draught beer, bucket and liquor specials for big games, and you won't miss anything with 31 TVs and two projection screens in the building.
1930 Blake
1930 Blake Street
303-296-1930
Formerly called Sports Column, this spot recently got some upgrades and now boasts 26 large-screen TVs and projectors as well as games such as darts, shuffleboard, beer pong, Jenga, corn hole and Connect Four. It also has some of the best food deals in town including a $3 basic cheeseburg. The drink menu won't hijack your wallet, either, with deals like $3 green tea, lemon drop or Mexican candy shots whenever the Nuggets, Rockies or Avs win.
JD's Bait Shop
9555 East Arapahoe Road, Greenwood Village
303-790-4744
There's no shame in going out in the suburbs, especially if the spot is JD's Bait Shop, where the beer mugs are heavy and frozen and brunch menus don't exist. Even if there aren't endless TVs like in modern sports bars, this is the type of place where your dad would be proud to see you catch a game. JD's has more than enough screens, bar tables and standing room to watch basketball all day, though, as well as a set of pool tables to check out if the game is a dud.
The 1Up Colfax has plenty of games, including NBA Jam and Pop-A-Shot, to keep you busy at halftime.
1Up Colfax Facebook
717 East Colfax Avenue
303-736-2230
The 1Up has locations in downtown Denver, on East Colfax Avenue and in Greenwood Village, but the best bar and TV setup is on Colfax. Few sports fans hang out here, but that's what makes it such a great place to watch games when you really want to watch games. The 1Up is full of pinball machines and arcade games — including a Pop-A-Shot-style basketball game and NBA Jam — so finding a seat at the bar is easy, and the TVs are close. You might be the only person interested as Nikola Jokic throws a full-court outlet pass for an easy layup, but the beers are cheap and cold, and there are dozens of classic video games to play during halftime. Is this paradise for introverted sports fans? We think so.
Origins Sports Bar & Grill
266 South Downing Street
303-635-6691
Formerly the Sportsbook Bar & Grill, a new owner renamed this Wash Park bar Origins but kept its low-key, sport-centric atmosphere intact. With a door opening to the alleyway and a descent down a flight of stairs, it feels like a hidden oasis for beer specials and bar eats plus plenty of seating and TVs to catch all the action on the court. And if you stop by during the playoffs, you might be able to snag a Nuggets jersey during one of its giveaways.
Do you know of any bars offering great deals during the NBA playoffs? Send information to [email protected].
