DENVER -- Pacers guard Bruce Brown leaned back against the scorer's table Sunday before a game his team would lose to his old team 117-109 and found himself getting a lot more emotional than he expected.
He certainly realized that going back to Ball Arena as an opposing player for the first time since helping the Nuggets win their first NBA title in June was going to be different and that finally receiving his ring from that title was going to be special. What he didn't quite factor in was the fan reaction.
Even before the package of on-and-off-court highlights from his season with the Nuggets played on the four massive center court video boards, they were already cheering so loud for Brown that they were drowning out a public address announcer who was trying very hard not to be drowned out. Brown brought his hands together as a show of thanks and had to bow his head multiple times just so he could compose himself.
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"It was more than what I expected," Brown said afterward. "I didn't know the crowd was gonna cheer like that. I almost started crying but I had to hold it in. Because I told one of the fans I wasn't going to cry. It was tough. I loved it though."
In his one year with the Nuggets after a pair of two-year stints with Detroit and Brooklyn, Brown fell in love with Denver and Denver fell in love with him. Though a native of Boston, Brown has an obsession with country and western culture -- from the music to the style and beyond -- and living in Colorado allowed him to embrace that in a way he never had before. He earned the nickname Cowboy Bruce and wore cowboy hats and boots as part of his gameday outfits. He attended country music shows and rodeos. He's still done that as much as he could in Indiana, but he went all out Saturday and Sunday for his return. On Sunday, he wore a grey Stetson cowboy hat, boots, a western-cut, grey, black and red plaid shirt, cowboy cut blue jeans and a brown suede jacket, all of which made him look like he just walked off the set of Yellowstone.
On Saturday, he told reporters, he attended the National Western Stock Show, a livestock show and festival that includes a rodeo held every January in Denver at the National Western complex just seven minutes up Interstate 25 from Ball Arena. He attended last year's event and it was the first time he'd ever been to a rodeo, so with the Pacers in town for it he had to come back.
"Watching them real cowboys," said Brown, who also said that Sunday's game was not the first time he'd been at Ball Arena since he signed with the Pacers. He was also there on Aug. 19 to see the Cole Swindell/Thomas Rhett concert.
Brown won over Denver by giving the Nuggets whatever they needed off the bench whenever they needed it. He could run the point on offense, score at all three levels and chase down long rebounds. At 6-4, 200 pounds, he could defend any position 1-3 easily and even frequently took on power forwards. He averaged 11.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals in 28.5 minutes per game in the regular season even though he started just 31 of 80 games. In the playoffs, he averaged 12.0 points per game, shot 51.1% from the field and took on top defensive assignments every night, which included the likes of Minnesota's Anthony Edwards', Phoenix's Devin Booker and the Lakers' LeBron James. He scored 25 points in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Suns and 21 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Heat in wins that gave the Nuggets their third wins in each of those series and they closed out in the following game.
"I love Bruce," Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. "I wish we had him for longer obviously. His impact offensively, defensively, the versatility he brought every night, he was a guy that we closed a lot of games with. You could play him on the ball and off the ball. But when I think of Bruce, I just think of versatility and toughness. We all miss him. We appreciate what he did for us. We miss him."
That was clear when Brown's former teammates presented him with his ring at center court, slapping him on the back and shoulders and pounding on him lovingly as they jumped up and down with him. Though they were about to be on the other side of him and he was wearing a different uniform than they were, they treated him like he hadn't left the brotherhood.
"It was great," Brown said. "I haven't seen them since the parade. I miss them. As people say, it's a family atmosphere here. Everyone, they knew that at some point I was going to leave last year and they cheered me on. They said, 'You better not come back,' because they knew I couldn't turn down what I got, but I'm happy that they're still in my life."
Brown got far more money from the Pacers than the Nuggets could possibly pay him. Last season, Brown made just under $6.5 million under the Nuggets' mid-level exception. Denver couldn't offer him much more than that with two-time MVP Nikola Jokic starting a supermax deal and making $47 million, wings Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. both on max contracts at $33 million and forward Aaron Gordon making $22 million. The Pacers, meanwhile, needed to make a big signing just to get to the salary floor under the new collective bargaining agreement. They offered $45 million over two years with a club option for the second year. Brown didn't waste much time deciding and there were no hard feelings on Denver's side whatsoever.
"When he made the decision to go to Indiana, I was so happy for him," Malone said, even though at the championship parade he'd thrown his arm around a shirtless Brown and asked the crowd, "You tell me, is Brucey B going anywhere? Hell no."
"Bruce is a relatively young player," Malone said. "To receive a contract like that, as I told him at the time, you came here and helped us win a championship, the first one in franchise history. We helped you create a market for yourself where you could get paid the money you're making. That is what it's all about. He helped us. We helped him."
On Sunday, he couldn't help the Pacers beat his old team, though not for a lack of trying. He scored 18 points on 8 of 16 shooting, grabbed 10 rebounds and three steals and dished out six assists. Admittedly, though, he started to fade, scoring just four points after halftime.
Meanwhile, Jokic, Murray, Porter and Gordon proved to be too much and Brown was reminded of the advantage they have with the Mile-High City's elevation. Jokic nearly posted a triple-double, scoring 25 points on 12 of 13 shooting with 12 rebounds and nine assists. Murray scored 25 points on 11 of 18 shooting. Porter scored 25 points, hitting 7 of 11 3-pointers, and Gordon scored 20 on 7 of 10 shooting. The Pacers fought and didn't allow the Nuggets to outscore them in any of the four quarters by more than three points, but that firepower was too much for Indiana to match. Denver's starting five hit 42 of 60 field goals -- a scorching 70% -- including 10 of 19 from 3-point range.
"I knew every play but they still moved too fast," Brown said. "The air here is still crazy. I was tired after three quarters. They know exactly what they're doing. They know exactly our plays, where they needed to be. They communicated. It's a great team over there."
The Pacers are still a pretty strong squad themselves, still sitting 23-16 and in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, and Brown is significant reason why. It's debatable whether he's played well enough to justify the contract and being Indiana's highest-paid player but the Pacers had to give that money to somebody so they haven't judged it on that scale. As they see it, they've gotten the player they wanted. Brown is averaging 12.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.1 steals and taking on a top defensive assignment on the perimeter each night. He's started every game he's appeared in and he's been even more important over the past week as the Pacers have navigated the loss of All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton to a strained hamstring.
Haliburton will miss the rest of the Pacers' six-game road trip, but the Pacers won the game against the Celtics in which he was injured and the next two games after before losing to Denver on Sunday. In the three games Haliburton has missed, Brown is averaging a team-high 15.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.3 steals and is shooting 50% from the floor and 57.1% from 3-point range.
"He's brought everything we needed from him," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "Experience, veteran toughness, perimeter defense, willingness to take on challenges. Playmaking, scoring. He gives us a secondary and sometimes a third playmaker depending on who he's out there with. He's a worker. He loves to play. As we've re-set the culture this year, he's been a big part of it with his attitude. When you come off a championship team and a championship experience like he did here, he brings next-level credibility. All of those things have been real."
Brown has even more credibility now that he can flash a ring around. It was clear by his facial expression when he saw it for the first time that he was dazzled.
"I think it's huge and it's sparkly," Brown said. "A lot of diamonds. This my first thing with diamonds on it, so it's good."
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 'It was more than I expected': Bruce Brown gets title ring in emotional return to Denver
