For the first times since 2010, the Denver Nuggets had two representatives participating in the NBA All-Star Game – or Games – in three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and star guard Jamal Murray, who was making his first ASG appearance. They dynamic duo – who’ve formed one of the NBA’s best tandems over the past decade – both started for the World Team in the debut of the three-team, round-robin format.

Between 2011 and 2019, Denver did not have a single player make the All-Star team. Until this season, Jokic had been the organization’s lone representative for the past seven seasons.

The New Format Pumped up the Competitive Juices

The notoriously non-competitive NBA All-Star game was anything but this time, with the participants playing hard on both ends of the court. Team Stars ended up besting Team Stripes for the championship after each USA squad had edged the favored World Team by a single bucket in the first two 12-minute contests.

Both Murray and Jokic went scoreless in the first game against the USA’s Stars team. Joker only played five minutes and missed his only shot. Murray, meanwhile, played a lot of minutes in place of injured starter and fellow Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Murray was a frustrating 0-6 from the floor in the first game, but bounced back with a pair of three pointers and eight points in the second game, another last second loss, this one to Team Stripes.

Jokic didn’t play in the second game, opting to rest his knee after missing 16 games in December and January. It’s fair to wonder if the results of the round robin mini-tournament would have been different if he, plus the Los Angeles Lakers Luka Dončić – who also started and played just five minutes while nursing a sore hamstring and Milwaukee’s former MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, out with a calf strain – had been full go.

Can a Healthy Nuggets Squad Remain in a Top Three Playoff Position?

Regardless, the question for Denver Nuggets fans is now simple: How will the All-Star experience translate into the resumption of the NBA regular season? Denver opens the final stanza of the season in Los Angeles against the red-hot Clippers next Thursday. Joker will be Joker, regardless. Perhaps Murray can build off his positive performance in the second game when he puts a Nuggets jersey back on?

Both All-Stars will get some much deserved rest before the resumption of the schedule, which has 25 games left for Denver. The Nuggets will need both stars to be healthy if Denver is going to hold onto a top three seed in the competitive Western Conference.

The All-Star weekend showed Nuggets fans a couple of other things as well. First, the San Antonio Spurs, who lead Denver by 3 1/2 games for second place in the Western Conference standings, are going to be a problem. Spurs center Victor Wembanyama had 33 points in the two 12-minute All-Star contests and was the most dominant force on the court at both ends. His young San Antonio teammate De’Aron Fox hit the game winning three-pointer for the Stripes team against the Stars in Game two.

The other thing is that the Nuggets rivalry with the Minnesota Timberwolves isn’t dead. After the end of the mini-tournament, T-Wolves Most Valuable Player Anthony Edwards of Team Stripes called out Jokic and Dončić for their lack of participation in the games. No doubt Joker will remember that comment when the two teams meet again on March 1^st in Denver.

Mark Knudson Mark is a former MLB pitcher for the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies. He’s the only person ever to play high school, college and professional baseball in Colorado. Mark earned a BA in Technical Journalism from Colorado State University and has worked in radio, television and print sports media since 1994. He’s the co-author of “Pitching to the Corners” with former teammate Don August and the author of “Just Imagine,” a historical fiction novel about The Beatles.
Mark is currently a feature writer and columnist for Mile High Sports in Denver and recently joined the team at Heavy.com. Mark is also a high school baseball coach in the Denver area. More about Mark Knudson

Jennifer Jones was sitting in Montrose Municipal Court in early January when she noticed something that didn’t seem right.

She witnessed a man in his 60s with multiple trespassing and camping charges receive a 10-day jail sentence. This individual, though, did not have an attorney — a right afforded under the Constitution to anyone facing jail time.

If Jones, a volunteer court-watcher, hadn’t been observing proceedings that day, nobody outside of the people involved with the case would have known what happened.

That’s because Montrose Municipal Court is not a “court of record” — meaning it keeps no written, audio or visual recording of court proceedings. The public, civil rights organizations and members of the media cannot watch court hearings virtually, or access video after the fact, and cannot request any transcripts or audio of the day’s docket.

It’s not clear how many municipal courts in Colorado are not courts of record. But court watchers say they believe Montrose to be the only court in the state that sentences people to jail and isn’t a court of record.

It’s examples like these that spurred Colorado lawmakers this month to introduce a bill that would bar municipal courts that are not courts of record from sending people to jail. House Bill 26-1134, titled “Fairness and Transparency in Municipal Court,” also clarifies that municipal court defendants have a right to counsel and that in-custody proceedings must be livestreamed for the public to view.

The legislation marks a second stab at codifying protections for municipal defendants after Gov. Jared Polis vetoed a similar bill last year. The governor, though, took issue with the part of the bill that sought to address sentencing disparities between municipal and state courts. A Colorado Supreme Court ruling settled that issue in December, leading bill sponsors this year to focus on the transparency elements from last year’s legislation.

“Justice dies in the dark,” said Rebecca Wallace, policy director for the Colorado Freedom Fund, an organization that helps people pay bail. “Montrose Municipal Court needs a light on it — this bill provides some of that light.”

If municipal courts have the same power to put people in jail as state courts, they must provide the same due process protections, said Rep. Javier Mabrey, a Denver Democrat and one of the bill’s sponsors.

Access to counsel is already a right for municipal defendants facing jail time — but that doesn’t mean it always happens.

In October 2024, The Denver Post reported that poor and unhoused individuals in custody in Grand Junction Municipal Court were frequently appearing in court without attorneys. This came to light because the Colorado Freedom Fund obtained hours of recordings of court proceedings. If Grand Junction hadn’t been a court of record, that would not have been possible.

Alida Soileau, a defense attorney who practices in Montrose, said she’s never heard the municipal court say that someone’s case qualifies for court-appointed counsel. She said she’s witnessed one occasion in which a defendant facing jail did not have an attorney.

“It’s the wild west,” she said in an interview.

Without recordings or transcripts, Wallace said it’s impossible for watchdog organizations like hers — or members of the media — to confirm such accounts and investigate further.

Chris Dowsey, Montrose’s city attorney, said the municipal court directs people to a written advisement on the right to an attorney when a case involves a possible jail sentence, and follows that up with an oral advisement.

“For each case, the judge confirms that the defendant has received one of those advisements of rights,” he said in a statement. “If they have not received such an advisement, the judge would give another oral advisement to that individual.”

Montrose city officials say they’re working on becoming a court of record.

Municipal Judge Thomas LeClaire told the City Council during a January meeting that he recommended the court make the change. Councilmembers supported the idea, saying the pending state legislation made it a good time to get ahead of the curve. Officials estimated it could happen as soon as this spring.

Montrose Municipal Court needs only minimal investment to make itself a court of record, including some staff time and equipment modifications, Dowsey said in a statement.

As to why the city waited so long to make this happen?

The Dig is back with a recap of the first half of the season including chatter around the NBA All-Star game, the current zeitgeist, and first-half awards. Nick, Miro, and Jeremy also make some second-half predictions and try to keep Miroslav off of FBI blacklists. (NOTE: My Twitter account was hacked this week, so please disregard any DMs asking for a vote for some podcast award. Obviously, I am well-aware that this podcast has no business being awarded anything.)

The Dig is a biweekly-ish podcast for Denver Nuggets fans, hot-take appreciators, pro-America globetrotters, and all around ethical hoops enjoyers. The Dig is not for fans of floppers, flukes, and flameouts.

WARNING: Content may include Serbian idioms that would likely be, if intelligible, offensive to some listeners. Discretion advised.