For the first time in its 47-year history, the Denver Nuggets basketball team clinched the Larry O’Brien trophy, defeating the Miami Heat in game five of the NBA playoffs. The team finished 16-4 in the playoffs, which tied for the second-best mark by an NBA champion since the first round was expanded to best-of-seven in 2003.
An estimated 700,000 to 1 million fans – new and seasoned – flooded the streets of downtown Denver to cheer the team, riding atop a cavalcade of firetrucks from stations across the metro area. Attendees tossed items for the players to sign – and drink – as they passed by.
Johns Manville Employees watched the parade from office windows and joined in the streetside celebrations as the parade passed right by the company’s world headquarters building. Even 12 floors from the ground, the roars of the crowd were clearly audible – particularly when center Nikola Jokic and his MVP trophy appeared.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for this,” one employee commented.
Another added that the crowd and its noise were even louder than the parade that celebrated the Colorado Avalanche’s Stanley Cup win, almost exactly a year ago.
After the parade passed by Johns Manville’s building, nearly 250 employees and family members attended a catered barbecue lunch to celebrate the championship win.