It was a novel strategy, allowing the Nuggets to top the Midwest Division and qualify for the playoffs during that span.

The Nuggets were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs that season.

In the playoffs, however, the Nuggets could not survive the San Antonio Spurs.

However, in an eerie repeat of the 2005 playoffs, the Spurs bounced back to sweep the next four, as the Nuggets were eliminated in the first round in five games for the fourth straight year.

They finished the season as the top seed in the Western Conference with a record of 58 – 24, and beat the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings in the first two rounds of the NBA playoffs.

In a tight Western Conference, the Jazz finished 53 – 29 and lost the division in a tiebreaker with the Denver Nuggets, ending with the No. 5 seed, matched up with the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.

In the playoffs, they defeated the Nuggets in four games, the Jazz in six, and the defending champion Spurs in five, but lost to the Celtics in six games in the NBA Finals.

With a 41 – 25 regular season record the Lakers entered the playoffs as the third seed, the team defeated the Denver Nuggets in the first round in seven games but were eliminated by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round in five games.

In the playoffs, he led the Spurs to a 4 – 1 series win over the Denver Nuggets in the opening round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs, a 4 – 2 win over the Phoenix Suns in the second round, and a 4 – 1 win against the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference Finals, setting up a meeting with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals.

He also led the Nuggets to nine consecutive playoffs, and for himself was awarded with three All-NBA Second Teams ( 1982, 1985, 1986 ), 8 All-Star appearances, set 31 team records in his decade in Denver, helped Denver win 2 Midwest Division titles and get to the 1985 Western Conference Finals, and was the leading scorer in 55 % of the games he played in Denver.

The Stars finished the season in fourth place in the Western Division and lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Denver Nuggets, 4 games to 1.

However, Denver Nuggets and Pepsi Center owner Stan Kroenke arranged a verbal agreement to book Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference Finals between the Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers on the same date prior to the Nuggets actually earning a slot in the playoffs.

WWE chairman Vince McMahon said, " Even though the Denver Nuggets had a strong team this year and were projected to make the playoffs, obviously Nuggets and Pepsi Center owner Stan Kroenke did not have enough faith in his own team to hold the May 25 date for a potential playoff game.

The Jazz were tied with the Denver Nuggets for the eighth and last spot of the playoffs with three games to go in the regular season.

Vitale called his first NBA game on television since the 1984 NBA playoffs, along with Dan Shulman, on January 7, 2009 when the Miami Heat played the Denver Nuggets as ESPN swapped its NBA and NCAA crews.

Don Nelson's Mavericks went to the second round of the 2002 NBA Playoffs after trading Howard, while the Nuggets failed to make the playoffs under coaches Dan Issel and Mike Evans.

The Colorado Avalanche played their final game on June 1, 1999 during the playoffs versus the Dallas Stars and the NBA's Denver Nuggets played their last game on May 5, 1999 against the Houston Rockets.

On April 17, 2010, Okur ruptured his Achilles ' tendon during the first game of the post-season against the Denver Nuggets, eliminating him from the remainder of the NBA playoffs, as well as the World Basketball Championships in his native Turkey later that summer.

During the 2008-09 season, the Nuggets, led by Karl, Carmelo Anthony, and the newly acquired Chauncey Billups tied a franchise-best 54 wins and entered the playoffs as the Western Conference's # 2 seed.

He returned to the Nuggets as head coach in 1992 and led them to the playoffs in 1994.

The team took a risk by recording and releasing the song before the playoffs had even begun, but were able to avoid embarrassment by going on to win Super Bowl XX by a then-record margin of 46 – 10.

Advancing to the playoffs as winners of the second half, Houston beat Los Angeles in their first two playoff games at home, but the Dodgers took the next three in Los Angeles to advance to the NLCS.

In his first year, he took the team to the 2001 playoffs but lost to the Minnesota Vikings a week after beating the St. Louis Rams for the team's first ever playoff win.

In the third round of the playoffs, the Islanders nearly did it again, rallying from another 3 – 0 deficit to force a seventh game against the defending Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers before the Flyers took the decisive seventh game at home and went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Chris Ford took over, but the 76ers finished the 2003 – 2004 season at 33 – 49, missing the playoffs for the first time in six years.

Jordan returned for the playoffs, and took the 8th-place Bulls up against the 67 – 15 Boston Celtics, led by Larry Bird.

However, the team initially took a step backward, losing in the first round of the 1986 playoffs to the more athletic Atlanta Hawks.

In the 1999 – 2000 NHL season, the Ducks finished with a winning record, but missed the playoffs by 4 points as the rival San Jose Sharks took 8th place that year with 87 points while the Mighty Ducks took 9th place with 83 points.

In 2010, the Montgomery Lady Raiders softball team took second place in the PIAA State playoffs, losing to champion Chartiers-Houston.

When center Eddy Curry showed possible symptoms of a heart problem shortly before the playoffs, Paxson took a cautious approach and would not clear Curry to play without extensive DNA testing.

If the Twins were in the playoffs with a home series, the baseball game took priority and the Gopher football game had to be moved to a time suitable to allow the grounds crew to convert the playing field and the stands to the football configuration.

In the playoffs, the Sting once again lost the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Houston Comets, and the Comets once again took home the championship.

With the future of the franchise up in the air, Mystics assistant coach Marianne Stanley took over as head coach and with the duo of Holdsclaw and rookie guard Stacey Dales-Schuman, the Mystics made the playoffs in 2002 with a 17-15 record.

The Fever took the owners ' ultimatum to heart and reached the playoffs as the first seed overall in the Eastern Conference with a franchise best record of 22 – 12.

When Mark Bright arrived on the Palace scene the following year the duo soon established a successful striking partnership and it was largely their goals which took the club to top flight via the playoffs in 1989.

Assistant Coach Dennis Meyer took over from Rita after 11 games and finished the season 3 – 4 – 0 and out of the playoffs.

2011, was a very dismal year for the Argo faithful as the team took a step back and missed the playoffs while going 6-12 in the regular season.

Sestak served as the cornerstone of a defense that took the Bills to the playoffs four straight years ( 1963 – 1966 ) and consecutive AFL championships in 1964 and 1965.

He took over as the Giants ' left fielder and hit 18 home runs in 96 games for the Giants as they made the playoffs.

Hockey legend Phil Esposito would later tell Primeau that " During the 04 playoffs, when you and the Flyers took the Lightning to seven games, you were the most dominating player I ever saw.

Back-up goalie Chris Mason took his place as the starter, but the Predators failed to advance in the playoffs, again losing the quarterfinals.

During the playoffs, Wally took over as a starter for the Cleveland Cavaliers playing at the # 2 spot.

In his second pro year, Grahame returned to the P-Bruins and took the team to the playoffs, leading them to victory in the Calder Cup.