The Denver Nuggets were not supposed to win on Monday night. Not without Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Jonas Valančiūnas, Cameron Johnson, and Christian Braun, all of whom did not play against the Philadelphia 76ers. Combined, those six players account for 104.8 points per game for the Nuggets.
In other words, practically the whole team was sitting out.
So it wasn’t exactly a bold prediction to assume a beatdown was coming, especially when the 76ers are putting out guys like Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, and V.J. Edgecombe.
Local sports anchor Scotty Gange for 9NEWS Denver told viewers as much prior to Monday’s game. Don’t watch. There’s no point. Come back when the Nuggets have at least a couple starters in the lineup.
“Wash the car. Take out the garbage,” Gange suggested to viewers.
But then the unlikely happened. The Nuggets’ team full of backups pulled off an upset, beating Philly in a 125-124 overtime thriller. Gange apologized to viewers the following night.
An apology to the Denver Nuggets and their fans: pic.twitter.com/VCXcW2o9kF
— Scotty Gange (@Scotty_G6) January 7, 2026
“Hey, if you watched that Denver Nuggets game last night, you witnessed the greatest, most-impressive win of the season. And I’m the dummy that told you not to watch. Really. Seriously, I’m sorry about that. There are actually a lot of people I need to apologize to,” the Denver sports anchor said before cutting to a highlight package from the prior night’s game. “I’ve missed before, I’ll miss again. Kim and Kyle, I’ll tell you what, I couldn’t have missed any bigger on this one.”
To be fair to Gange, he certainly wasn’t the only one to believe the Nuggets had no shot at winning. But that’s why the games are played!
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.