The blizzard that swept through the state Wednesday produced white gold for the Nuggets.
The blockbuster trade for Allen Iverson, combined with the suspensions of Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith, left the Nuggets woefully short- handed for Wednesday night’s scheduled game against Phoenix, winner of 15 in a row.
So when the NBA finally announced around 4 p.m. Wednesday that the game was postponed because of the storm, the Nuggets exhaled. No makeup date has been set.
“We’re kind of lacking bodies,” Nuggets forward Reggie Evans said. “So it would have been interesting.”
Iverson, whom the Nuggets acquired from the 76ers on Tuesday, remained in Philadelphia on Wednesday. Weather permitting, he is expected to arrive in Denver this afternoon. The Nuggets next play at home Friday against Sacramento, a game they have been targeting as Iverson’s Denver debut.
Aware that a major blizzard was forecast, Nuggets officials were on the phone early Wednesday morning with the NBA, explaining the problems the snowstorm could produce. When no decision was made into the afternoon, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Gov. Bill Owens also spoke with NBA officials.
“The mayor and governor said, ‘We really can’t play this game,”‘ said Paul Andrews, Nuggets executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “They indicated strongly that this was an emergency situation. That’s what led to the cancellation.”
It’s rare for an NBA game to be postponed, especially when both teams and the game officials are in town, as was the case Wednesday. The Suns arrived in Denver early Wednesday morning after a home victory over Toronto on Tuesday night.
“This is extremely rare,” Nuggets vice president of basketball operations Mark Warkentien said. “The league is very good at listening. We had a lot of conversations during the day. The determination was that to put 1,000 cars on the road would be unsafe and irresponsible. After all the input, the league made a prudent and proper decision.”
Wednesday marked the first NBA game in Denver postponed since April 20, 1999, when the Nuggets postponed a game against Portland in the aftermath of the shootings at Columbine High School. According to Suns spokesperson Julie Fie, the last time the Suns had a game postponed was in December 1994 when a wet floor in Washington, D.C., washed out a game.
“We’re disappointed because we were ready to play and we’ve been on a roll and we’re healthy and rested,” Fie said. “But we understand that some things are bigger than a basketball game.”
Half of the Suns team was on a team bus heading to the Pepsi Center when word came that the game had been snowed out. The players returned to the team hotel and began scrambling to find a downtown restaurant open in the wake of the storm.
The blizzard could mean a later return date for Anthony, who has served one game of a 15-game suspension for his role in Saturday’s brawl against the Knicks. Anthony had been scheduled to return Jan. 20 at Houston, but his return could be pushed back until a Jan. 22 home game against Memphis.
Denver Post staff writer Marc J. Spears and The Associated Press contributed to this report
Staff writer Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
