When Denver Nuggets fans discuss their franchise’s history of playoff disappointments, we first direct our ire in the direction of Los Angeles, as that city’s Lakers have bested our beloved Nuggets in the post-season a franchise-record six times (without a lone playoff series victory for Denver) since the Nuggets entry into the NBA in 1977.
But when it comes to playoff futility for Denver professional basketball, another franchise has been almost equally stonewalling for the Nuggets: this year’s playoff opponent, the San Antonio Spurs.
Even though the Nuggets and Spurs were American Basketball Association (ABA) rivals - both being original ABA teams as the Denver Rockets and Dallas Chaparrals, respectively, when the league was formed in 1967 - they never met in the ABA playoffs with the lone exception of the Texas Chaparrals losing to the Denver Rockets for the ABA Western Division in a one-game tiebreaker in 1971.