In the last two seasons, the decibel level at the Pepsi Center during Nuggets games has ranked somewhere between “your grandparent’s Sunday card game” and “suburban block party.”
Attendance at the Denver Nuggets’ home arena was the worst in the NBA in both the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. As a result, the Pepsi Center — except for a few exceptions, including a surprise win over the Golden State Warriors in February — has been a gloomy place to see a game. But that’s beginning to change.
After failing to draw more than 15,000 fans per game in back-to-back seasons, an average of 16,673 fans have come out to see the Nuggets play at the Pepsi Center this year. That’s vaulted Denver from dead-last in attendance to a more respectable 23rd, according to ESPN.
The odds are the fans who have come out have witnessed a win. The Nuggets are 8-2 at home with impressive victories over the Raptors, Thunder, Pelicans and Grizzlies. The Pepsi Center is once again becoming a tough place to play.
“Fans come out with a lot of energy every time, and it makes us play harder,” Gary Harris said after Friday’s 104-92 win. “Definitely want to win for them. I’ve been here when we didn’t have any fans. To see them fill the stands, it makes you go a little bit harder, and it feels good.”
Harris was a rookie during the 2014-15 season when Denver went 19-22 at home and drew an average of 14,700 fans. His sophomore year, the Nuggets went 18-23 at the Pepsi Center and drew only 14,095 fans per game. His third year, Denver went 22-19 — finally climbing back over the .500 mark at home — and averaged 14,770 fans.
The Pepsi Center used to be one of the toughest places to play before Harris’ time in Denver. The Nuggets rolled to a 38-3 home record during the 2012-13 season. Denver used the altitude to its advantage by playing an up-tempo style and wound up winning 57 regular-season games. That was the final year of the George Karl era. In the time since that 2012-13 team was dismantled, Denver has never won more than 22 home games.
Finally, the rebuild is starting to bear fruit. The Nuggets have a legitimate star in Nikola Jokic. They have one of the best young shooting guards in the game in Harris. And there are enough intriguing other young pieces like Jamal Murray and Juancho Hernangomez to think that the Nuggets could be good for a long time.
Fans have real reasons to come out to see the Nuggets play again. 16,736 of them watched Denver beat Memphis on Friday night.
“Thank you, guys,” Jokic said in his post-game interview after finishing with 28 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. “It’s really important for me and our team to win every home game as possible. We’re going to continue to do that. Thank you guys for coming here. It’s really nice to play in front of you guys.”
