NBA star torches fan base after boos rain down after first half: 'They are not welcome anymore'
DENVER — The Denver Nuggets opened their NBA season with a gritty comeback win over the New Orleans Pelicans, but the victory was accompanied by a confrontation between the team and its own supporters. Nikola Jokic, the three‑time MVP, delivered a near‑triple‑double night of 35 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, yet he was forced to address a vocal group of fans who turned on the Nuggets during halftime.
The game, played Saturday at Ball Arena, saw Denver fall behind 75‑57 at the break after a slow start. The Nuggets mounted a relentless second‑half surge, finishing with a 141‑135 triumph. Denver’s offense sparked after halftime, hitting 48 percent of its shots from the floor and connecting on 32 percent of three‑point attempts. The Pelicans, meanwhile, capitalized on Denver’s lapses, scoring 15 points off 12 Nuggets turnovers.
During the game, boos echoed through the arena as the Nuggets’ early struggles unfolded. When the team rallied and secured the win, Jokic addressed the hostile crowd. In a candid postgame interview, the Serbian center said he believed the fans who jeered the team at its first home game “don’t need to come anymore.” He added that supporters who follow the franchise “know that we never quit and we've come back from much worse situations,” and concluded that “if they ask me, they are not welcome anymore.”
The win keeps Denver from dropping to a 0‑2 start, though the Nuggets still opened the season on the wrong foot with a loss to Oklahoma City in their opener. Denver finished last season with a 54‑28 record, earning the third seed in the Western Conference before being ousted in the first round by Minnesota. The team has now posted at least 50 wins in four consecutive campaigns, yet it has managed only a single championship during that span.
Fan expectations have grown higher as the franchise looks to expand its trophy case beyond the lone Larry O’Brien Trophy it has claimed. With a core built around Jokic and a resilient defensive identity, the Nuggets aim to turn their consistent regular‑season success into deeper postseason runs, hoping the current window of competitiveness can yield more titles for the Rocky Mountain region.