The Nuggets suffered a severe delay en route to the STAPLES Center on Sunday afternoon, according to ESPN.com.

Several players were stranded on the highway on their way to the arena after the team's bus broke down.

The bus left the hotel nearly three hours before tipoff but had problems just a few minutes into the trek.

"There was a pop, black smoke, there was another pop, more black smoke," spokesman Eric Sebastian said. "We rushed off the bus. We were standing on the side of the road."

The team's second bus stopped by to pick up the rest of the team, and the team arrived at the arena just 90 minutes before tipoff.