Hooped Up

A dryer caught fire in the Nuggets’ locker room Sunday morning at 2 A.M., and the sprinkler system, soon followed by firemen and their hoses, doused the room with water.

The Nuggets were forced to use the opposing team’s locker room for Sunday’s game against Portland, while the Trail Blazers dressed in the locker room used by the Avalanche’s opposing team.

“Now you have to dry it up, test it,” Nuggets’ Coach George Karl said of the locker room. “I think we’ll be back in there in a week or so, but probably for at least a week, 10 days, we’ll be over here.”

The Nuggets have one of the nicer locker rooms in the NBA, spacious and equipped with a medical and therapy center, a training room, hot and cold tubs, a players’ lounge, conference rooms and, of course, a laundry room.

On Sunday, the Nuggets were cramped in their temporary digs, much like the previous night, on the road in San Antonio.