During the 2009 NBA Playoffs, the Denver Nuggets had a deep postseason run, their deepest in quite sometime. The Nuggets sideline leader was head coach George Karl. The Nuggets won a pair of series during the Western Conference playoffs, before losing a tough series vs. Los Angeles Lakers, the eventual champions. Many thought going into 2009-10 season the talented Denver Nuggets with the likes of : Anthony, Billips, Martin, Nene, Smith and Birdman could make another deep postseason run and possibly defeat the Lakers and advance further. However on July 27 during the off season the team announced Karl had prostate cancer. Karl still planned to coach the team for the upcoming season, which he did. However in February 2010 the team announced coach Karl would be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team. Denver missed their 58 year old coach and sideline leader as assistant coach Adrian Dantely, long time NBA great took over, the final two months of regular season Denver had it's ups and downs with wins and losses, became the #5 seed in the West, while playing #4 Utah. Utah eventually defeated the Nuggets 4-2 during the first round. While Karl watched the team play from home during his cancer treatments. Karl would like to come back and coach the Nuggets for the 2010-11 NBA season, however he'll need to improve with his treatment and get clearance from his doctors. George Karl play for and graduated from University of North Carolina, coached in Spain and coached four NBA franchises : Cleveland, Golden State, Seattle and Denver. His 1993-94 Supersonic team will be remembered for being the first #1 seed to lose a first round series to #8 seed as Denver defeated Seattle 3-2, first round series after trailing 2-0. Karl led 1995-96 Seattle Supersonics to the 1996 NBA Finals, which fell behind 3-0 to Chicago, before winning 2 games to make it a respectable series, eventually losing to the Bulls 4-2. Karl had prostate cancer surgery in 2005, however he didn't miss any games. Everyone in the NBA family hope and pray George can defeat cancer and recover. While being able to live a pain free lifestyle.
No comments:
Post a Comment