NUGGETS

sta ers, cheerleaders and Rocky the mascot – showered with love, beer, and cheers from the masses as they passed on a procession of re trucks.

David Zuckerman brought his two kids down from the Boulder area to see the spectacle. He said he is thrilled Denver can o cially be called “Champion City” after seeing both the Avalanche hockey team and Nuggets win titles in back-to-back years.

He said the Nuggets are more than a Denver team. ey’re a Colorado team.

“It’s exciting for everyone to be moving in the same direction for something positive, especially considering the Avalanche won last year (also),” Zuckerman said.

Taylor Wright has lived in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood for eight years after moving from Kentucky. ough he’s watched lots of great basketball from the Nuggets, and has become a self-proclaimed diehard fan, he wasn’t sure if they could really win a championship until recently.

“After the performance in the NBA bubble in 2020, it seemed more realistic,” he said. “It’s unreal to witness a franchise winning its rst championship, though.”

Ashley Guss of Adams County said her family has been strong Nuggets fans since the J.R. Smith days, and to see a championship come to fruition is surreal.

Health

In 2021, 53 young people ages 1518 and 19 people ages 10-14 died by suicide in Colorado, according to the Je erson Center.

e crisis stabilization unit is seeing younger patients, including a “dramatic increase” in the number of children ages 5-11. e proportion of kids ages 5-11 was once 10-20%. Now, it’s 40-60%.

And children and teens referred to

“I knew as soon as we went up in the nals series that we were coming out here for the parade to celebrate,” Guss said. “It’s been a long time coming for this team, and you can see that in the amount of people who came out today.”

Stan Jacobsen from Evergreen agrees.

“Watching these guys this whole season really shows how much they deserve to win it. It’s great to see them get what they’ve worked so hard for. e fans here have really embraced the entire team,” Jacobsen said.

Festivities kicked o with a prerally at Civic Center Park at 9 a.m., followed by the parade at 10 a.m. that traveled from Union Station to Civic Center Park.

During the parade, players and coaches signed merchandise. ey even hopped o the oats to interact with the crowd. Several players and coaches addressed the massive congregation at Civic Center Park.

“Life’s about moments,” Coach Malone said. “We have people that have been supporting this team for 47 years … We’re some greedy [expletive], baby. We’re getting another one. It’s hitting me right now. For me, to share it with our fans, that means the world to me. is is an amazing experience. Something that I believed in. I had no doubt that we’d get to this point.” the unit have more acute issues than in the past, including more dangerous suicide attempts, Kuenzler said.

Fans from all the corners of Colorado came. ey hailed from Fort Collins in the north to Pueblo in the south to Grand Junction in the west. ey might as well rename the team the Colorado Nuggets.

“ ese are really young kiddos,” she said. “We need to do a lot more to invest early and often and with the right resources for behavioral health. is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.