In days of yore, back when fleet footed titans patrolled the wilderness that is the Pepsi Center, opponents – no matter how talented or well coached – would approach the second night of a back to back with the same dread as a hedge knight entering a primordial forest hunting a dragon. Those titans, however, are all gone. Like their namesakes, they have been replaced. No longer do teams step onto the court in trepidation. No longer do they ask priests to bless their lungs before braving the tissue-thin air. No longer do their legs ache in anticipation of the 48 minutes of extreme agony to come.
But all is not lost, fearless readers. Those titans, great as they were, ultimately were unable to fulfill their destiny. Like trying to escape Tartarus, they continually ran afoul of their multi-handed, lightning imbued gaolers who kept them jailed in a ground hog day of first round exits. And, if able to escape the first round trap, still Nix awaited in the Lakers.
We must eschew those titans, those glorious behemoths of times past. Take heart, o long maligned fans of Denver. Put faith in our new pantheon of young talent. True, they have yet to recreate what their forebears wrought upon the Pepsi Center court. Yes, at times they have often looked like the team that fades in the thin air during the second half. Agreed, the progress has occasionally resembled a racing snail. No matter! Soon our young gods of basketball will once again assert their home court dominance. Soon will teams once more view the Pepsi Center with apprehension and trepidation. Soon.
