# 1968–69 Denver Rockets season

The 1968–69 ABA season was the second season of the Denver Nuggets. They ended their season with one less win compared to last season, but ended up in the playoffs once again. Out of the 11 ABA teams that season the Rockets were ranked second in offensive rating.

## Season standings
### Eastern Division

| Team | W | L | PCT. | GB |
| Indiana Pacers | 44 | 34 | .564 | - |
| Miami Floridians | 43 | 35 | .551 | 1 |
| Kentucky Colonels | 42 | 36 | .538 | 2 |
| Minnesota Pipers | 36 | 42 | .462 | 8 |
| New York Nets | 17 | 61 | .218 | 27 |

### Western Division

| Team | W | L | PCT. | GB |
| Oakland Oaks | 60 | 18 | .769 | - |
| New Orleans Buccaneers | 46 | 32 | .590 | 14 |
| Denver Rockets | 44 | 34 | .564 | 16 |
| Dallas Chaparrals | 41 | 37 | .526 | 19 |
| Los Angeles Stars | 33 | 45 | .423 | 27 |
| Houston Mavericks | 23 | 55 | .295 | 37 |

## Game log

* 1968-69 Denver Rockets Schedule and Results | Basketball-Reference.com

## Statistics

| Rk | Player | Age | G | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | TOV | PF | PTS |
| 1 | Larry Jones | 26 | 75 | 40.6 | 10.1 | 21.7 | .465 | 0.3 | 1.3 | .240 | 9.8 | 20.4 | .480 | 7.9 | 10.1 | .778 | 2.2 | 4.4 | 6.6 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 28.4 |
| 2 | Lonnie Wright | 25 | 69 | 36.8 | 6.6 | 15.8 | .416 | 0.3 | 1.2 | .221 | 6.3 | 14.5 | .433 | 3.0 | 4.0 | .743 | 0.7 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 3.6 | 16.4 |
| 3 | Wayne Hightower | 29 | 67 | 34.6 | 4.6 | 11.4 | .408 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | 4.6 | 11.3 | .409 | 4.6 | 6.4 | .730 | 2.3 | 7.3 | 9.6 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 3.6 | 13.9 |
| 4 | Byron Beck | 24 | 71 | 32.2 | 6.0 | 11.9 | .502 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .667 | 5.9 | 11.8 | .501 | 2.6 | 3.4 | .765 | 3.8 | 7.1 | 11.0 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 3.5 | 14.5 |
| 5 | Julian Hammond | 25 | 78 | 29.9 | 4.2 | 7.7 | .547 | 0.0 | 0.0 | | 4.2 | 7.7 | .547 | 2.1 | 3.2 | .652 | 3.4 | 4.3 | 7.7 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 10.6 |
| 6 | Bob Verga | 23 | 6 | 25.0 | 4.0 | 12.8 | .312 | 0.2 | 0.5 | .333 | 3.8 | 12.3 | .311 | 3.0 | 4.7 | .643 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 3.5 | 1.8 | 4.2 | 2.7 | 11.2 |
| 7 | Walter Piatkowski | 23 | 77 | 23.6 | 5.2 | 12.4 | .417 | 0.4 | 1.1 | .329 | 4.8 | 11.4 | .426 | 1.5 | 2.0 | .775 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 4.7 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 2.9 | 12.2 |
| 8 | Bill McGill | 29 | 78 | 22.6 | 5.3 | 9.6 | .552 | 0.0 | 0.0 | | 5.3 | 9.6 | .552 | 2.3 | 3.4 | .682 | 1.9 | 4.0 | 5.9 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 3.7 | 12.8 |
| 9 | Levern Tart | 26 | 20 | 17.3 | 2.8 | 8.0 | .352 | 0.0 | 0.1 | .000 | 2.8 | 7.9 | .357 | 2.1 | 2.8 | .750 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 2.6 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 7.7 |
| 10 | Jeffrey Congdon | 25 | 59 | 16.6 | 1.8 | 4.7 | .386 | 0.1 | 0.5 | .161 | 1.7 | 4.2 | .415 | 1.2 | 1.4 | .812 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 4.9 |
| 11 | Grant Simmons | 25 | 17 | 14.8 | 1.3 | 3.5 | .373 | 0.1 | 0.1 | .500 | 1.2 | 3.4 | .368 | 1.2 | 1.7 | .690 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 3.8 |
| 12 | John Fairchild | 25 | 11 | 12.3 | 1.1 | 3.1 | .353 | 0.0 | 0.0 | | 1.1 | 3.1 | .353 | 1.5 | 2.2 | .667 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 3.6 |
| 13 | Ken Wilburn | 24 | 37 | 11.1 | 1.9 | 4.9 | .398 | 0.0 | 0.0 | | 1.9 | 4.9 | .398 | 0.8 | 1.5 | .526 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 4.8 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 4.7 |
| 14 | Larry Bunce | 23 | 23 | 9.8 | 1.0 | 2.6 | .373 | 0.0 | 0.0 | | 1.0 | 2.6 | .373 | 2.1 | 3.0 | .700 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| 15 | Willie Rogers | 23 | 40 | 7.4 | 0.7 | 2.0 | .338 | 0.0 | 0.1 | .000 | 0.7 | 1.9 | .351 | 0.8 | 1.3 | .596 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 2.1 |
| 16 | Charles Parks | | 2 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | .000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | | 0.0 | 0.5 | .000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 |

## Playoffs

Western Division Semi-finals
| Game | Date | Location | Score | Record | Attendance |
| 1 | April 5 | Oakland | 99–129 | 0–1 | 2,358 |
| 2 | April 6 | Oakland | 122–119 | 1–1 | 1,580 |
| 3 | April 8 | Denver | 99–121 | 1–2 | 5,062 |
| 4 | April 10 | Denver | 109–108 | 2–2 | 5,431 |
| 5 | April 12 | Oakland | 118–128 | 2–3 | 3,156 |
| 6 | April 13 | Denver | 126–115 | 3–3 | 6,481 |
| 7 | April 16 | Oakland | 102-115 | 3–4 | 5,123 |

## Awards and records

* ABA All-Stars: Larry Jones, Byron Beck, Wayne Hightower
* ABA All-League Team: Larry Jones
* League-leading scorer: Larry Jones