"Creating People On Whom Nothing is Lost" - An educator and writer in Colorado offers insight and perspective on education, parenting, politics, pop culture, and contemporary American life.
Disclaimer - The views expressed on this site are my own and do not represent the views of my employer.
In 1996, Calvin Broadus, Jr. was acquitted of first-degree murder in the killing a gang member in Los Angeles. It was a life-changing moment for a young man from the hard streets of Long Beach, California, one that coincided with his meteoric rise in the music world with the impact of his debut hip-hop album Doggystylein 1993. The trial was a touchpoint in the mid-90s for the complicated world of hip-hop's gansta rap genre, and it was a moment that could have sent Broadus to prison for most of his life.
Fast forward to December 25, 2025.
Snoop Dogg absolutely owns Christmas Day with a stunning and star-studded halftime show of the NFL's Detroit Lions-Minnesota Vikings game in Netflix's first-ever Christmas Day football broadcast. The Snoop-football-Christmas event was a wonderfully entertaining bit of television that no one saw coming, and it capped several years of Snoop's mass media resurgence that has seen him as a sports commentator at the Olympics and in a surprisingly endearing collaboration with Martha Stewart.
The incredible turnaround in lifestyle and incredible thirty-plus year run as a pop culture icon is nothing short of inspiring, and it represents the absolute best possible outcome of an idea -- jaded as it has become -- known as the American Dream. It's not an overstatement to suggest there is something Dickensian in the story of a young man who rises from a life of poverty and crime and dangerous situations to a sphere of influence, comfort, and success rooted in his genuine good will, incredible work ethic, and charming ability to bridge countless cultural divides.
Well, that was a helluva Saturday afternoon football game in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs. The newly dominant number one seed Denver Broncos survived an overtime game, beating the solid Buffalo Bills, and being led by the calm, cool, and collected leadership of sophomore quarterback Bo Nix. And, then Broncos Country was dealt the devastating news that Nix broken a bone in his ankle on the second to last play of the game and will miss the rest of the season.
So many emotional storylines to follow in this game, and leading the charge is the slew of "controversial calls" by the referees that supposedly tilted the game in the Broncos favor and "cost the Bills a win."
And I have to say, "stop."
I've never been a fan of trying to reduce entire games to one call or another. While I get the motivation, and in genuinely evenly matched games, there is obviously an inclination to argue that a game can come down to a single play -- like the interception in overtime when: Broncos cornerback Ja'Quan McMillian's overtime turnover of Bills receiver Brandin Cooks, ruled an interception because Cooks lost control of the ball upon hitting the ground, despite appearing to secure it initially. Referees, led by Carl Cheffers, explained that McMillian completed the "process of a catch" by gaining possession as Cooks went down, a ruling that angered Bills coach Sean McDermott and fans but was defended by rules analysts who noted Cooks didn't maintain control through the landing. (disclosure: this is Google's AI summation)
That call, along with a couple of defensive pass interference calls on the Broncos' game-winning drive are certainly a bit "suss," inviting scrutiny and complaints and argument and outrage (if you're a Bills fan)
But we could do that all day long. For example, the game was arguably over earlier when the Bills should have been called for a safety after a blatant holding call in the end zone at the start of the Bills drive. The end zone judge couldn't have been more than a few feet away, and a Broncos player is literally held from behind and thrown to the ground in the end zone just as he's about to sack Josh Allen.
Games are filled with myriad plays that could go one way or another. And it's a game of human error ... and human achievement. Parsing all the plays with the idea that through replay and review and technology that we can eliminate the human element is simply silly. It's the antithesis to sport, and it brings nothing to the subject except our human need to vent and demand justice and perfection in an inherently imperfect world.
It was an incredible football game, and let's leave it at that.
The nation -- at least the college-football-watching demographic -- has marveled at the rise of Indiana University Hoosiers football. IU, one of the losing-est college football programs in history, will play for the CFP National Championship as the number one seed against the tenth-ranked Miami Hurricanes, a traditional powerhouse. And this IU team, coached by the enigmatic Curt Cigneti, is being talked about as one of the top-5 greatest college football teams ever. It's a truly fascinating story.
Ok, not really. It was actually influenced by the musician behind that iconic 80s song. And, not even really influenced by John Mellencamp, but there is a connection between the Indiana musician and artist and IU football program. That little tidbit of trivia is the surprising subject of a feature in the Wall Street Journal this week: The Chain-Smoking Rock Star Who Made Indiana Football Hurt So Good
There are a select few ways to become wealthy enough to join the ranks of college football’s most powerful boosters. The late T. Boone Pickens, the chief benefactor for Oklahoma State, built an oil fortune that he dispersed to the Cowboys. Phil Knight, who bankrolls Oregon, turned Nike into an intercontinental empire that transformed the Ducks into a gridiron behemoth.
Then there is Indiana University. The program that opened the season as the losingest team in Division I football history now stands one game away from its first championship—and it hasn’t gotten there via the pursestrings of one of the world’s richest people. In fact, the Hoosiers’ most prominent booster isn’t a tech genius or hedge fund titan.
It’s the guy who wrote “Jack & Diane.”
In a college sports landscape lorded over by billionaires, none other than John Mellencamp—the 74-year-old heartland rocker—has played no small part in Indiana’s rise from laughingstock to the No. 1 team in the country. Year after dismal year, Mellencamp trudged to Hoosiers games on Saturdays. At a time when nobody saw Indiana football as a good investment, he gave $1.5 million to build the team’s practice facility: the John Mellencamp Pavilion.
The facility’s namesake harbored no illusions that his donation might one day turn the downtrodden Hoosiers into the country’s top team. “It was a bunch of down years,” Mellencamp said. “That’s just the way it was.”
Well, finally some sanity in the dietary guidelines for public school cafeterias. Students can now, once again, drink whole milk at school. As they always did, and always should have been able to do. CNN and other outlets reported yesterday: Whole milk now allowed in school lunches as Trump signs bill reversing limits.
Whole milk could be coming to your local school cafeteria for the first time in more than a decade. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed a bill that allows schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to serve whole and 2% milk alongside fat-free and low-fat versions. The move comes a week after the US Department of Health and Human Services released new US dietary guidelines that highlight whole-fat dairy products, a recommendation that has received mixed reviews from nutritionists and medical experts.
The new legislation, which passed Congress last year by unanimous consent, rolls back US Department of Agriculture rules approved by the Obama administration that required milk served in schools to be fat-free or low-fat, part of efforts to fight the childhood obesity epidemic. The new law also allows nondairy beverages that are “nutritionally equivalent” to fluid milk to be offered, such as fortified plant-based milks.
I have more than a bit of experience with school cafeteria policy and the federal food guidelines after my time in school administration, which included a couple years of work redesigning a school cafeteria after we withdrew from the federal school lunch program. America's war on fat and the misguided attacks on whole milk as a contributor to childhood weight and health problems has been a colossal failure.
Let's be clear -- the fat content in whole milk does not make people fat. And, to add to that misunderstanding, skim milk is not only rather disgusting, but ironically is likely worse for people with weight and blood sugar problems because without the natural fat in the milk, the sugar content is actually increased, and the body turns excess sugar into fat.
So, the prohibition of whole milk in school cafeterias was nothing short of ignorant misguided nonsense, and it never should have been a policy mandate.
Free Solo, the absolutely stunning 2018 film of Alex Honnold's legendary free climb ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite, blew a lot of people's minds. For people who don't know much about climbing, it was a mind-boggling feat that was both inspirational and terrifying. The interesting thing is that for people who really know climbing well, like his long-time training partner Tommy Caldwell, it was even more than that. Honnold basically did the impossible, and it was an incredible, almost inconceivable feat of human excellence.
Well, Honnold is back with a new challenge that is likely to blow even more people's minds. And this time, his unprecedented and historic free solo Taipei 101 - a 101-story skyscraper in the capital city of Taiwan - will be broadcast live on Netflix.
And, if you're interested in more information and insight into exactly who this guy is, how he is preparing for the historic and nerve-wracking (for the rest of us) climb, and even what gear he will be using, check out this profile in Climbing.com, "How Alex Honnold is Preparing to Free Solo Taipei 101."
Imagine a freestanding 1,667-foot tower. Limited access and no protection have made it nearly impossible to climb. Now picture this: You’ve been granted permission to climb it, but you’ll be paid to do so. For many climbers, this would be a dream come true. For world-famous free soloist Alex Honnold, a rope-less ascent of Taiwan’s Taipei 101 will be a reality next Friday.
In the coming days, the 40-year old husband and father of two will travel from his Las Vegas home to Taiwan to free solo the tower on January 23 while Netflix livestreams his ascent, with climber Emily Harrington serving as a live announcer. Before this Netflix “Skyscraper Live” special, he and I have been sport climbing together at the Clear Light Cave, a limestone crag near his home, and talking about his upcoming solo.
“It’s two easy moves and then a hard move,” Honnold tells me of the climb, which will take approximately 90 minutes.
It has taken me too long to get around to seeing the long-running Broadway musical Kinky Boots, a situation I finally remedied this weekend when the traveling show stopped by the lovely Lincoln Center in Fort Collins. While I knew something about the show being connected to the music of Cyndi Lauper, I had literally no idea what the story was about, and that made it quite a treat. What a wonderful, engaging, entertaining, and heartwarming show, one that will have you practically dancing in your chair during the show's finale.
I didn't know this, but the musical, which won numerous Tony awards in 2013, is based on a film from 2005, which was seen and adapted for the stage by the esteemed Harvey Fierstein. And, Lauper came on to write the music, a score for which she won the Tony. I'd originally thought the story was based on the songs of Cyndi Lauper, ... so I was waiting for some story about "Girls [who] Wanna Have Fun." But, alas, no. It's an entire musical score, and it features some really great new Broadway hits.
Kinky Boots is the story of two people looking for their place in the world, a place where they can be who the truly want to be. Based on a true story (a BBC documentary inspired the original film screenwriter), KB is the story of Charlie who reluctantly takes over his father's struggling shoe business after his father passes, and his relationship with Lola, a flamboyant drag queen who could benefit from a new product -- obviously, the "kinky boots" of the title.
Not to give too much away, but the great message of the musical -- a message that is both timely and timeless -- can be found in Lola's six steps to success:
Human societies have long revered excellence, specifically physical prowess. The heroic ideal going back to Beowulf and early Anglo-Saxon storytelling is the foundation of the modern-day action hero. The epic hero is an individual of supernatural strength and endurance, and the storytelling around these paragons of greatness is foundational in practically every land and culture.
That is, of course, why professional athletes are called "heroes" and are not only awash in adulation but often material riches. It's why we talk about ideas like "the GOAT." But greatness is found in moments, and truly incredible feats of excellence happen every day, often simply for the thrill of the experience. And that idea in the digital age is spotlighted every day through the magic of YouTube.
"People Are Awesome" is a YouTube channel simply devoted to cool videos of amazing people doing awesome things. I am a fan, as you can imagine, and when I was teaching high school, I would often start some classes by watching a "Best of" video from the site, and then I would encourage my students to think -- sometimes write -- about how they can be awesome this year. Below are a couple favorites. As the song in one states, "we can be heroes."
LeBron is one of the greatest basketball players -- and pure athletes -- in the history of the NBA. That claim is not, or should not be, in any way controversy or disputable. However, in discussions of greatness, of a degree of excellence that poses questions and discussion about GOAT status, LeBron is not, for me, a Top-5 consideration. LeBron James is most certainly not the greatest player ever, and for many reasons he is a Tier-2 player in GOAT discussions.
A recent post of mine about Steph Curry and Nicola Jokic being more positive impacts on the game than Lebron has been or ever could be certainly set off a bit of online quibbling. And, let's be clear, some may call that rage baiting, but others would say that claims and social media threads like this are just part of the fun of being a sports fan. And to be clear: I am not a "LeBron hater." I have mad respect for the career he has produced and the person he is off the court. But as a basketball player, he is simply not the greatest.
Let's start with the most basic skill of the game - the dribble. For someone to be considered an elite baller, in my opinion, that player has to be highly skilled on the dribble. And Lebron is simply not a talented ball handler. In fact, as a point of comparison, Nicola Jokic is arguably the best big man ball handler I've ever seen. LeBron doesn't dribble well at all and carries the ball in a rather audacious way. And that carrying the ball often becomes some pretty ridiculous highlight reels that can best be characterized as LeTravel.
The greatest ballers have to be highly skilled on the dribble. Think about the Allen Iverson crossover, the graceful transition game of Magic, the manic movement of the ball in Larry Bird's hands, and the poetically frenzied dribble of Steph Curry. Great ballers have to be great on the dribble -- a fundamental component of the game. MJ was an incredible ball handler, so smooth on the dribble. And literally no one cites the graceful dribble of LeBron James because he's just not good at it.
The next most important consideration is, of course, the jump shot. To be the best, a player has to have a wide range of jumpers. And I've never heard anyone brag about Lebron's deft touch on the ball. Michael Jordan practically invented and certainly perfected the fadeaway jumper. It was an innovation in the game that he developed as a way to avoid the punishing treatment in the lane he received. Kobe, of course, took lessons and crafted an equally exquisite jumper. Bird could shoot from practically anywhere on the floor, Kevin Durant is an elite baller with a deft touch and staggering range, and, of course, Steph is a sharpshooter of historic proportions.
LeBron simply doesn't have a great jump shot -- the majority of his points come from back-down layups and jams with an often-blatant push-off, points in transition -- where he travels to an embarrassing degree -- and obviously free throws.
And, of course, we all know the mantra -- defense wins championships -- and LeBron is quite simply not a great defender. I'm not going to argue that he's awful or that he never plays D, though that is a common and widely held criticism of LB -- he doesn't play defense, especially not in the past few years. While he has made one all-defensive team, his prowess on D is often referenced to his skill at the "chase down block." But that's not defense -- often that's a reaction to a lapse or breakdown in coverage. And let's be clear -- Michael Jordan was a 9-time All-Defensive Team player and a one-time Defensive Player of the Year.
To add to that, it's worth noting an incredible stat of true greatness, of GOAT-ness. Only one NBA player has ever won the scoring title, been all defensive team, league MVP, NBA champion and Finals MVP in the same year. That player is Michael Jordan, and he did it four times.
The team hopping is another weakness. Jordan once noted a key difference in his era and today -- he didn't want to join another elite player's team. He wanted to beat that guy. MJ and players of his era did not hop around to other organizations and build "super teams" and the Big-3's. Bird wanted to beat Magic and vice versa. Jordan and Pippen wanted to beat Barkley and Ewing and Drexler and Olajuwon and Malone and Stockton. Dr. J -- a legitimate T5 player who never gets the respect he deserves -- said, "If LeBron hadn't tried to assemble superteams to win championships, I'd have him in the Top 10. I have him at #15 behind Scottie Pippin."
Finally, it's just really tough for me to declare greatness on a player who flops and begs for penalties as blatantly as LeFlop. It's honestly embarrassing. And while Kareem rolled back his comments on this in the past, he was being perfectly candid and honest when he criticized LB for whining and crying literally on the floor of the Boston Garden. Granted people have argued that it's all part of the game, but I find the whole thing just hugely disappointing. In all honesty, flopping is cheating. It's beneath the dignity of the game. And I have no memories of such nonsense from the time I grew up watching Bird and Magic and MJ. Those GOAT candidates never flopped.
So, yeah, LeBron is in no way the GOAT of the game of basketball. He's not even in a legit Top-5. LeBron James is an incredible athlete and great basketball player who has had an historic, impressive career. While I believe he would have greatly benefited from a couple years of solid college coaching, his ability to jump to the NBA and be immediately impactful is a testament to his skill. And, as a person, LeBron has carried off an achievement of a truly scandal-free career. He's a good guy, all the way around. I'm not a LeBron hater -- I'm just not a fan.
In the spring of 2024, my wife and I spent a weekend in Fort Collins, Colorado, where we came for a local musical festival, which I had written a preview about in Westword Magazine. And it was such a great time and cool town that roughly three months later we moved to FoCo, where we have enjoyed the last eighteen months in a hip, eclectic, and close-knit small town in northern Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.
Fort Collins, or The Fort, or FoCo is a cool, quirky, and quaint college town, home to Colorado State University and the the site of FoCoMX, America's "Biggest Little Music Festival," hosted each year in late April by the Fort Collins Musicians Association. The all-Colorado festival features more than 300 bands at more than 30 different venues over 48 hours, and it is a nearly all volunteer effort to "spotlight local music." It is something special to experience, and even be a part of, which my wife and I did during our first year here, volunteering to man the information booth and work at festival check-in.
Many people -- and music fans -- may not know this, but Colorado has an incredibly vibrant local music scene, one that runs from Fort Collins on the north, down through the incredibly rich and diverse Denver locale, on through the surprisingly hoppin' Colorado Springs environment, and all the way to a emerging scene on the southern border at Trinidad. Now, obviously with the revered venue Red Rocks Amphitheater just outside of Denver in Morrison, music is a big deal in Colorado, and the mountain towns all host a plethora of festivals like the legendary Telluride Bluegrass Festival. But Denver's local scene up and down the historic Colfax and Broadway Avenues offers a huge number of venues, from local spots like The Squire Lounge and The Skylark, partially owned by Colorado music royalty Nathaniel Rateliff.
But just forty-five minutes up I-25 from Denver, the town of Fort Collins is a music lovers dream, and it has stories worth telling, such as the emergence of FoCoMX, which grew organically out of local musicians committed to their scene. FoCo residents truly love their live music and residents go out to see and support musicians seven nights a week. There are so many places to see live music for a generally small town, and locals don't miss a chance to sit and chill with good sounds. And it's not just the local venues and music fest that provide the good vibes.
FoCo also offers a summer's worth of free music through programs such as "Thursday Night Live -- Bohemian Nights," a series of free shows in Old Town Center every Thursday through the summer. It's such a good time, with hundreds of people turning out to hang around the square, support local business, and listen to a diverse lineup of touring acts. The program is sponsored by Bohemian Foundation, the beloved local non-profit founded and fueled by the town's resident billionaire philanthropist Pat Stryker. The organization is committed to supporting music, arts, and education in northern Colorado, and it's so heartwarming to see a person with the means commit to making the world a better place through the power of music. And if that's not enough, one of BoHo in FoCo's coolest contributions to music and the arts is a division called The Music District, which exists to support artists through grants and residencies, offering the simple freedom of time and place to create.
And, if all that isn't enough to impress you with FoCo's music prowess, the town is also home to one of the most legendary music studios in the country. The Blasting Room founded by Bill Stevenson of the Descendents is located right in the heart of town, and it has produced some of the best punk rock albums of the past thirty years.
This week while listening to Denver's 93.3 KTCL as I drove my kids to the airport, I paused as morning deejay Steve Burrell intro'd a song with high praise, noting how he recently listened to it with fresh ears and urged his audience to take a moment and do the same. The song was "Under the Bridge" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Burrell explained that the song was a huge hit when it was first released in February of 1992, maintaining its powerful impact for decades.
It was a pretty impressive build-up, and I was thinking, "wow, Steve, what's going to live up to that hype?" Then I noticed the title on my radio feed, and just smiled. The kids and I just listened, zipping down I-25, my daughter softly singing in the background, my son and I nodding our heads to the beat, provided so smoothly when Chad comes in with that tap drum beat. And guess what: the song absolutely lives up to the hype. Give it a listen, with fresh ears.
The song is undoubtedly one of the best of the 90s, if not one of the best ballads in the history of alt-rock, and it evokes a special time when the music industry, especially rock and its offshoots, reminded us all of the magic of music. The Chili Peppers hit like a wrecking ball in the early 90s, blowing our minds with a fusion of punk, rock, funk, jazz, hip-hop, and more that sounded exactly like themselves and like nothing we'd ever quite heard before. The LP Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic was critically acclaimed, topping "best of lists" and became of testimony to the calm, reserved brilliance of producer Rick Rubin.
The kids and I chatted about the song and its unique development as my daughter commented, "Isn't this the song with the women's gospel choir?" And, it is. If you have ever been of fan of VH1's Behind the Music, you know the story of the song -- that the angelic choir voices in the backing chorus of the song are actually Flea's mom's church choir. So, you have one of the most powerful, funky, impactful rock songs of the 90s, and a fundamental part of the song is a group of middle-aged women who sing in a weekend church choir. That addition is just one part of Rick Rubin's brilliant vision and contribution to the music he "produces," -- if you can even call it that.
Finally, I can pay for and watch a single game on my FireTV at home.
Let's be fair -- the new media universe with numerous streaming services and countless league/network broadcast agreements is making it increasingly frustrating to just "turn on the TV" to "watch the Big Game." To watch the NFL, you can't just flip on any channel with your local programming or cable provider: some games are on ESPN, others on CBS (or some variation of CBS/Paramount+), a few on Prime Video but not always. It's a cluster for the average sports fan. And for people who have tried to "cut the cord" with media behemoths like Comast/Xfinity or DirectTV, it's often impossible to watch anything.
But this week, thanks to SlingTV working with Amazon Prime Video and, apparently the NCAA, I was able to "purchase a day pass" to watch the games of CFP (College Football Playoff), which made for a totally chill New Year's Day with the family and a thrilling ride last night as Miami - "The U" - punched its ticket to the NCAA National Championship Game by grinding out a gritty victory through a nail-biting fourth quarter over the Rebels of Ole Miss.
And, that's the way it should be.
With so many streaming services splitting access to so many sports, activities, and events -- Netflix, PrimeVideo, Hulu (or I guess Disney now), Paramount, Paramount+ (which might have something to do with CBS - I can't remember), Peacock, Tubi, Fubo, SlingTV -- it's overwhelming and confusing for anyone that doesn't just pony up several hundred bucks a month to subscribe to everything.
Because, well, no I do not want a monthly or annual membership to some channel that I will watch three or four times all year. But, just like going to a movie, or attending a game, or paying a cover at a bar, I will gladly pony up $5-$10 a pop when some event -- like the World Series or SuperBowl or NCAA National Championship (football, basketball, hockey, etc) -- is on and interests me.
It's just like Pay-Per-View back in the 90s, ... or was that even back in the 80s? Anyway, I can't for the life of me figure out why it's not lucrative for any channel to sell single day/event access to specific broadcast events like the NFL playoffs. And, considering pretty much everything runs through Amazon these days (don't forget the recent crash of the internet worldwide when Amazon Web Services went down), let's just normalize the a la carte purchasing of broadcasts.
By far the most exciting basketball game in the NBA this year was on Monday night in Philadelphia. And it's not even up for consideration or debate. Granted, yes, the Spurs knocking off the seemingly invincible OKC Thunder -- with Wemby on limited minutes -- was awesome. And the Charlotte Hornets basically scorching the defending champs this week was another thrilling bit of roundball this year. But Monday night's Nuggets victory over the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers was, in the words of Jake Shapiro, "A Nuggets win they'll talk about for 20 years."
Rarely does a game in the NBA regular season live on for ages and echo through the fanbase. On Monday night a variety of factors combined into the Denver Nuggets’ most memorable win of the 2025-26 regular season as they took down the Philadelphia 76ers 125-124 in overtime.
Coming off a horrendous loss in Brooklyn on Sunday, the Nuggets took to the road again for a back-to-back and this time without their entire starting five and top two bench players. With only nine mostly little-used players available, the Nuggets took it to former MVP Joel Embiid and his nearly fully healthy star-filled 76ers squad.
It was nothing short of a true barn burner with the Nuggets putting what amounts to the C-Team on the court against a full-strength Philly team that has two Hall of Famers, the likely Rookie of the Year, several potential All Stars, and which was rolling on a win streak. The Nuggets "Young Guns" led by role player Jalen Pickett with 29 points, 7 boards, 7 assists, and going 7-11 from 3-point land, played some of the scrappiest ball I can recall seeing in a game they were destined to lose and lose in a big way.
Yet, these ballers refused to roll over. And potential Coach of the Year David Adleman set them up for success with a game plan designed to simply be competitive -- stack the lane, fight for rebounds, play quick to avoid a stagnant half court against a more experienced team -- just ball like you got nothing to lose. And they didn't lose. Even when the Sixers bullied their way to overtime. The Nuggets key bench player Peyton Watson played like he deserved that big contract extension last summer. But he's not griping -- just watch the clips of P Wat being coached by Nicola Jokic during timeouts. The intensity and focus is nothing short of impressive.
Perhaps the best part of the game that wasn't actually on the court was the raucous enthusiasm of the starters and key bench players, cheering on the team like it was Game 7. The joy and camaraderie on the bench after big plays and during timeouts tells us something quite important -- this is a TEAM. It's a pretty special vibe running through a Nuggets organization that has been decimated by injuries. I mean, seriously. All five starters out, plus the two key bench players, including the back-up center. It's incredible that this team is still winning games.
And, guess what?
The Nuggets did it again two nights later, playing short but with the presence of "must-finally-be-an-All-Star-selection" Jamal Murray, knocking off the solid Boston Celtics. The Nuggets have now won 15 road games this year, often with a half a team. I'm telling you, this team can flat out play. And I mean the entire team.
In a season that has seen the league anoint the Thunder with near legendary status, comparing them to the 2017 Warriors and more, the best team in the NBA is the Denver Nuggets. And it's not really close.
