"Nene grimaced as he slowly lifted his left heel out of the ice tub while somberly seated in the losing locker room, each knee covered by an ice pack the size of Earl Boykins.

The image speaks. It epitomizes the Nuggets' grueling, grinding stretch of six games in eight days, including a back-to-back and a back-to-back-to-back.

On this particular night, the Nuggets' loss to Dallas was their fourth in a row — and Nene would jump the next tipoff in just 21 hours.

"We're banged up, we're sore," coach George Karl said after that loss. "We're searching for confidence."

The Nuggets knew. This lockout-shortened season meant games crammed onto calendars, little time to practice and even less time, in Nene's case, to heal heels. But they didn't know, that sunny morning in L.A., what could be in store for them.

On Thursday, Feb. 2, the Nuggets arrived at the Santa Monica High School gym for shootaround, one of just three shootarounds — and four overall practice sessions — the team would have in this eight-day stretch. Each time the gym door was opened to the outside, the sun shoved its way inside. Karl gushed about Andre Miller, the point guard set to play his 1,000th career game that night. The veterans made the three rookies belt out "Happy Birthday" to the team's assistant trainer."