ABA days with 27.4 points per game during a 2-3 series loss against the Utah Jazz. Retiring following the 1984–1985 season, after the Nuggets were eliminated in the Western Conference Finals by the Los Angeles Lakers, he received the NBA's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award during his last season for his outstanding service to the community. In nine seasons and 718 NBA games with Denver, Issel averaged 20.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Wearing number 44, Issel is the Nuggets' second all-time leading scorer. He accumulated over 27,000 points in his combined ABA and NBA career, trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Julius Erving upon his retirement. Issel currently ranks #11 on the all time combined ABA/NBA scoring list. He missed only 24 games in 15 seasons, earning him the moniker, "the Horse". He was part of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 1993. Coaching career After his playing career ended, Issel retired to his Courtland horse farm in Woodford County, Kentucky. He spent a year doing color commentary for Kentucky basketball games then became a Nuggets broadcaster from 1988 to 1992. Even with no coaching experience, Bernie Bickerstaff recruited him as Nuggets head coach in 1992. In 1994, Issel led his team to the playoffs with their first winning record in four years, after only winning 44 games in the previous two years. That year, the Nuggets pulled off the biggest upset to that date in National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff history, knocking off the Seattle SuperSonics in five games (the first ever 8th seed to beat a 1st seed in the first round). He resigned 34 games into the 1994–95 season after facing criticism for his coaching style, saying he didn't like the person he'd become. Issel returned to the Nuggets in 1998 as president and general manager. He named himself head coach again in December 1999, yielding his general manager's title to Kiki Vandeweghe. His second tenure was far less successful than his first; the Nuggets did not post a winning season during this time. He was hampered in part by a drawn-out effort to find a new owner; two deals to sell the team collapsed at the last minute. Just before the start of the 1999–2000 season, he told reporters that there were several decisions he simply couldn't make due to the unstable ownership situation. In 2000, Issel faced a team