Well, that was fun. The Denver Nuggets are in fact not frauds.
The San Antonio Spurs pushed an inexperienced Nuggets squad to the absolute brink, fighting back from down 17 points in a Game 7 on the road. All credit to the Spurs for making this a game. They couldn’t shoot from anywhere in the first half and suddenly turned it on.
But the Nuggets weathered the storm. With a 90-86 win, the Nuggets will move onto the second round for the first time in 10 years. The last time they did so, they advanced to the Western Conference Finals and lost to the eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.