In a city located at 5,276 feet above sea level, players can certainly feel the effects of lower air pressure and decreased oxygen and that’s the case with the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat, who collide in the NBA Finals.
With the first two games of the series taking place at Ball Arena in Denver, the debate on whether players get affected by the altitude has re-surfaced. Does this altitude really affect the players’ performance, though?
“Oh, it’s real,” veteran Denver Nuggets forward Jeff Green said this week. “I mean, it’s real for us too. We have to deal with it as well. It’s not something you get used to off the bat and ‘aw, it’s nothing.’ Sometimes if we don’t get a chance to practice, we feel it.”
“You feel it everywhere, through your whole body,” Green told NBA.com. “You just have to get over it. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Jeff Green has experienced some of the sluggishness, the shortness of breath, the lightheadedness, sleep issues, headaches and even nausea that can hit people new to the altitude, even though he has played numerous times in Denver as an opponent and is part of the Nuggets roster for the past couple of seasons.
“The altitude, actually, it is an advantage. It plays a difference,” Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said before the opener. “I remember when I was in Orlando and coming to play against Denver, it was difficult just to get your first and second wind. But that [Heat] team is full of fighters. That team is excuse-less.”
On the other hand, the Heat have not used the altitude as an excuse and they make it clear that they are not affected by it.
“We’re not getting into any of that stuff,” Erik Spoelstra said. “Our guys are in great shape. They’re ready to compete. If Denver wants to tip this thing off at the top of Everest, we’ll do that.”
“This thing is going to be decided between the four lines. They’ve also got to come back to Miami. If you want to make it about that, we’ll turn off the air conditioning and they’ve got to play in 90-degree humidity, sap the [bleep] out of their legs.”
“I don’t think that was part of the game anyway,” Bam Adebayo added. “I didn’t even think about the altitude until you just said it.”
The city of Miami – elevation 6.5 feet – is about as low as one. So, the Nuggets may face similar issues as they will spend five days in south Florida and will then need to return to Denver if the series extends to five, six or seven games.
“You’ve got to get used to the altitude every time we leave and come back,” Denver guard Bruce Brown said.
So far, the Nuggets have showed they are not affected by the altitude and are much better at home than on the road. According to NBA.com, they have an all-time record at home 1,238-641 in regular season games, compared to 662-1,250 on the road.
In the NBA playoffs, Denver is 65-45 at home, 30-86 elsewhere. This season, its home marks were 34-7 in the regular season and 9-0 so far in the postseason.
