Denver Nuggets: 15 greatest playoff moments of all-time

13. Alex English’s 28 lifts Nuggets past Rockets in overtime

• 1986 Western Conference Semifinals, Game 4
• May 4, 1986 (McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, CO)
• Denver Nuggets 114, Houston Rockets 111

Alex English is one of four former Nuggets greats to have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame based primarily on his performance in Denver. He is also one of seven former members of the Nuggets organization to have his number retired. No Nuggets player has worn a No. 2 jersey since March 2, 1993.

Still, for whatever reason, English tends to get overlooked in the national pantheon of great all-time scorers. His 25,000+ career points have had him in Springfield since 1997. Perhaps what hurts English’s place among the NBA elite is that a lot of points felt, for a lack of a better word, empty.

That being said, English was huge for Denver in the Doug Moe days. One of his greatest games of note as a Nugget came in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals versus the Houston Rockets. Denver needed every one of English’s 28 points to hold off the Rockets’ “Twin Towers” of Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson in that early May playoff game.

Houston had won the first two games of this conference semifinals series on its home floor. Denver would take Game 3 at McNichols Sports Arena two days prior with a one-point victory over the Rockets, 116-115. The Nuggets needed to hold serve to keep this dynamic Rockets team at bay.

It was not an easy effort for English, but he powered his way to 28 points versus this strong Rockets group. Even though he attempted a whopping game-high 28 field goals, English was perfect at the line (6-6) to tie Sampson with a game-high 28 points.

Denver was down by six heading into the fourth quarter. English and the Nuggets would outscore the Rockets 30-24 in the final frame of regulation at 104 points apiece to force overtime. Denver would take the lead in overtime and would win by the score of 114 to 111 to tie the series up at two.

Houston would blow out the Nuggets at home in Game 5 and eked out a series-clinching Game 6 win in Denver to win the best-of-seven series. The Rockets would go on to stun the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. Sampson hit the biggest shot of his career in Game 5’s clincher, but Houston would fall in six to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.

Denver would make the NBA playoffs for the rest of English’s tenure with the team. Though the Nuggets made it to the conference semifinals four times and the Western Conference Finals once during English’s prime, Denver never managed to make it to the NBA Finals when Doug Moe was the coach. Regardless, this Game 4 performance by English is notable because he carried the team to a must-win, even if wasn’t truly feeling it from the floor in that ball game.