DENVER - Selfless and starless. These were the staples of the exhilarating Denver Nuggets’ NBA franchise-record 57-victory regular season.
George Karl kept with that theme Wednesday, sharing the credit far and wide after being named the league’s Coach of the Year for the first time in his quarter century as an NBA head coach.
Karl thanked everyone from his middle school coach who got him into the game to his good friend, the late Rick Majerus, in an emotional news conference at the Pepsi Center. Majerus was the former college coach who died of heart failure in December.
He credited Nuggets players, assistant coaches, scouts, trainers, front office, ownership and support staff as he eyed the bronze Red Auerbach Trophy in front of him.
“What I hope is everybody understands this is not about me. It’s about a lot of people and a lot of people in my past and I am proud to have that trophy,” Karl said.
The trophy depicts the architect of the great Boston Celtics teams back in the fledgling days of the NBA, Auerbach sitting at one end of the bench with his trademark cigar in his right hand, a rolled up program in his left.
There’s a life-sized statue of it in Boston and Karl said he sat there once, imagining this very day.
“When I was told of the award about a week ago, it was a very humbling, emotional experience, because it made me think about my career,” Karl said. “… A lot of times I wanted to win it and never did win it and now I’ve gotten calloused to winning it. And now I win it because this was probably in my career the most ‘oneness’ of an organization, a basketball team, a coaching staff, a support staff, administrative staff.
“I get the award in my name but it is totally because of the ‘oneness’ that we brought to the table this season.”
Karl worked wonders with a lineup that lacked an All-Star, was beset by injuries to several starters and twisted its way through a brutal early-season schedule in which 22 of the team’s first 32 games were on the road.
Relying on an old-school up-tempo offense and a deep bench that wore out opponents, especially at altitude, the Nuggets led the league in scoring, fast break production and points in the paint with nary a dominant scorer - Ty Lawson led Denver with 16.7 points a game, which ranked 31st in the league.
They went an NBA-best 38-3 at home, winning their last 23 games at the Pepsi Center in the regular season.
The third-seeded Nuggets missed forward Danilo Gallinari (knee) in the playoffs, and they lost in six games to sixth-seeded Golden State.
That was their fourth consecutive first-round exit and the most disheartening in Karl’s 8½ seasons in Denver.
“It was an incredible season. That’s why the disappointment is so immense,” Karl said. “I wake up every morning depressed. I woke up about 6 o’clock, I was hoping for sunshine and I got rain and it didn’t make me feel very good, and then I said, ‘Oh, God, I’ve got to put a suit and tie on.’ ”
Sports, Pages 19 on 05/09/2013