One of the perks of being a season-ticket holder is that the Nuggets offer you a select amount of complimentary tickets for the season, only available at certain games. I always jump at the chance to get more tickets and scored four extra ones for last night's game against the Heat. It just so happened that the Heat are one of the better teams in the league thus far, so I guess you could say the stars all aligned for me.

Here are my observations:

1. My complimentary tickets were in section 308, so I donated my regular seats to the Nuggets to distribute through their charity. Not trying to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm glad there's something like that in place.
2. With DirecTV ending its lockout of Altitude broadcasts last week, Kroenke is now trying to drive fan discontent solely at Dish Network and Comcast. Little vouchers were stuffed into each cup holder, thanking DirecTV and saying some not such nice things about the two holdouts. There were also many ads during the game attacking Dish and Comcast. I'll be very glad when this is over and I'm sure the rest of you feel the same.
3. A good portion of the home crowd didn't arrive until well into the first quarter. I understand that rush hour traffic is a nightmare pretty much everywhere in Denver, but I didn't have any issues getting there by 7:00. There were also a number of Miami fans in attendance. I hope they enjoyed taking that L on the way out.
4. There was a group of kids from an elementary school sitting in a section across from me (330 or 328 I believe). The kids were shown on the jumbotron and went crazy with excitement, then started a raucous, "Let's go Nuggets!" chant that lasted for at least a couple of minutes. It turned out that the school was in attendance to sing the National Anthem, which they did admirably and to the delight of the rest of the crowd. After the game started, I looked back over and all of the kids were gone. I guess it was past their bedtime?
5. It was a night of honoring our armed forces at The Can. First, Army Captain Mitchell Daugherty took the first shot before the game, and sank it! Then several recruits marched out onto the court during a TV timeout and were sworn into the U.S. Army. Then there was the usual Hero of the Game segment during another timeout. Rocky even began the night in an army uniform. Pretty cool stuff with Veteran's Day on the horizon.
6. Very entertaining first quarter. Barton looked no worse for the wear coming off of his injury, Millsap made some big shots and the backcourt did their thing. Now if we could only get that Jokic guy going...
7. This was the first game this season where I was mostly at ease throughout. The only times I got kind of worried were when Millsap and Harris both left and didn't return. Sounds like they're okay though and now we get headband Paul! All is well.
8. Not a great night if you're a fan of free throws. Unless your name was Jimmy Butler, there were many clanks off the rim by both teams. Is it me or are the Nuggets never that efficient from the charity stripe at home?
9. There were audible "MPJ" chants about midway through the fourth quarter. When Malone finally subbed the kid in during garbage time, The Can just about lost its mind. Fans rose to their feet and erupted on that MPJ putback. This kid is already one of the most popular players on the team and Malone is going to have a full-fledged revolt on his hands if he doesn't find MPJ some regular minutes.
10. The Nuggets rolled even without much help from Jokic. Just imagine what they can do once he's his normal superstar self again...