NBA Finals Game 2: Miami Heat vs. Denver Nuggets live updates, how to watch
DENVER — I forgot where I was.
No, it wasn’t the typical NBA travel “I forgot where I was” situation where you startle awake in a generically bland Marriott property wondering what city you’re in, what day it is and whether that blaring alarm sound that woke you up is ringing because you have to go to the airport right now, or if it’s doing so for some other, less urgent reason, such as the hotel being on fire.
This, instead, was a different kind of “I forgot where I was” moment that happened as I was otherwise merrily ambling along on my sad effort to bang out some miles on Denver’s Cherry Creek running trail. As I was plodding along, I couldn’t help but notice I was going a bit slower than usual, and I felt like it took concerted effort just to achieve that. This was a flat, paved trail too. I should have been cooking. Was it bad sleep? Advancing age? Had my head become insufficiently aerodynamic?
That takes us to the part of the story where I forgot I was. Yes, I knew my x- and y-coordinates placed me on a running trail in Denver, but the part I forgot about was the z-axis: I was 5,276 feet above sea level, give or take 6 feet if I took a nap. Halfway through my trying traipse, it hit me: Of course you feel like you’re running in quicksand, doofus. You’re a mile high, and you’re not getting enough oxygen.
Granted, I am not a professional athlete and am perhaps a year or 20 past my physical peak. Nonetheless, the laws of physics work the same for all of us: Higher altitudes have lower air pressure, which in turn means the air carries less oxygen for us to inhale. Did you know that atmospheric pressure decreases linearly with increasing altitude? As a result, the air in Denver has about 20 percent less oxygen than it does in a sea-level city like, say, Miami or Boston.
In a related story, the Denver Nuggets are incredibly hard to beat in Denver. Historically, they have maintained the largest home-court advantage in the league over their history; the fact that the next-highest NBA locale, Salt Lake City, also ranks in the top three in this metric offers further support that elevation is a quietly potent adversary.
And in particular, this season, the Nuggets have been near impossible to beat at 5,276 feet. Denver is an amazing 43-7 in its 50 home contests this season, including a perfect 9-0 in the playoffs after cruising past Miami in Game 1 of the NBA Finals 104-93.
Read more about what the Nuggets’ home-elevation advantage means for Miami.
(Photo: Jamie Schwaberow / Getty Images)
