Denver Nuggets NBA championship parade and rally draws fans to downtown

There was no shortage of memorable moments during the Nuggets NBA championship parade and rally on Thursday. Players and fans were celebrating in the streets, literally! 

Check out the best moments from the parade and rally in a photo gallery that shows Nuggets players, coaches and fans. 

Serbian center Nikola Jokic said Thursday's parade in Denver to celebrate the NBA Championship was unforgettable, and a moment he'll never forget. The typically polite Joker even shockingly used a curse word to emphasize his point that he's glad he stuck around for it.

Denver head coach Michael Malone spoke to the massive crowd of Nuggets fans at Civic Center Park rally for 4 minutes.

Malone is celebrating his first NBA Championship as a head coach, and he's planning to win another next year.

RELATED: Michael Malone becomes star of Nuggets parade: Says they'll win again, chugs beer, gives emotional interview

During the NBA championship rally at Civic Center Park a shirtless Bruce Brown hinted that he'd like to be back in a Nuggets uniform next year.

RELATED: Bruce Brown leaves questions about his future with Denver Nuggets: "One more year?"

Kyle Speller, the Nuggets announcer in Ball Arena, introduced the Denver players at the rally in Civic Center Park rally. The last player to come out was Jamal Murray, holding the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

A Denver police officer was struck by a fire truck along the Nuggets' NBA championship parade route. The officer was struck at 13th and Cherokee Street and rushed to the hospital.

The officer's injuries are serious. On Thursday afternoon, the Denver Police Department tweeted that the officer was in serious condition and stable with injuries to the lower leg.

The crowd is growing in Civic Center Park for the Denver Nuggets rally. Anchor/reporter Kelly Werthmann interviewed fans who both love Aaron Gordon and expect this to be a dynasty, with many more NBA Championships to go.

A Nuggets fan at Civic Center Park held up a sign before the start of the rally for the Denver champions that plays off of Nikola Jokic's comments earlier this week. It says "Let Joker go home."

The NBA Finals MVP said he wasn't too thrilled that he's wasn't on a plane back to the Balkans right after Monday's Game 5 win. The center said on the court "the job is done, we can go home now."

He was forgetting about the fact that there was going to be a big parade to celebrate the franchise's first NBA championship in the Mile High City.

It appears the Joker will head home on Friday.

It's truly affair in Denver today. Reporter Karen Morfitt brought her children to the parade. 

She and reporter Conor McCue also interviewed the Martinez family. They talked about the excitement of the Denver Nuggets championship parade, which they watched from 14th and Broadway.

Thousands of Nuggets fans broke through the barriers lining the NBA championship parade route as players made their way from Union Station to Civic Center Park for the rally on Thursday.   

NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic celebrated during the Nuggets NBA championship parade by enjoying a cold one while making his way to Civic Center Park for the rally after the parade.   

NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic is showing off the Larry O'Brien trophy during the NBA championship parade through downtown Denver.    

Jokic's daughter was also on the engine with her father, seemingly taking it all in. 

Romi Bean and photographer Dave Wille got to ride on a City of Thornton Fire Department fire truck for the Denver Nuggets parade.

Guard Reggie Jackson rode on the fire truck.

Kelly Werthmann found the Nuggets fan who has the most impressive mohawk we've ever seen:

Nuggets mascot Rocky shoots confetti from atop a fire engine at the NBA Championship parade.  

Nuggets players DeAndre Jordan and Jeff Green jumped off the firetrucks during NBA championship parade to celebrate in the street with fans.   

Gov. Jared Polis addressed the crowd at the Denver City and County Building before the start of the parade. The Colorado governor just proclaimed June 15 as Denver Nuggets NBA Champions Day! 

The Denver Nuggets NBA championship parade kicked off downtown from Union Station at 10 a.m. Thursday. 

This dog was spotted in the crowd! Woof!

Thousands of people lined the streets of downtown Denver for the Nuggets NBA championship parade on Thursday morning. 

One dedicated Nuggets fan was prepared for Colorado's changing weather at the NBA championship parade on Thursday- he dressed in layers- a LOT of layers. The fan took off not one, not two, not three, but five jerseys to show his team spirit along the parade route. 

Once he showed some skin, though, CBS News Colorado's Michelle Griego and Brian Flores were happy that he stopped showing off his layers!

Some Denver firefighters are taking center stage on fire engines at the Nuggets NBA championship parade through downtown on Thursday. 

CBS News Colorado Sports Romi Bean will be on one of those engines with four Nuggets players: Reggie Jackson, Vlatko Cancar, Zeke Nnaji and Thomas Bryant.

A rally and parade for the Denver Nuggets takes place today, and you can watch it on CBS News Colorado.

The coverage starts at 9 a.m. and continues through the end of the parade, which should be around 1 p.m. 

Fans started gathering at Civic Center Park early Thursday morning for the pre-parade rally and to celebrate with thousands of other Nuggets fans. 

Expect lots of fun fan interviews, reports from the tops of fire trucks moving through the parade with players, execs, owners and coaches on them and analysis of the Nuggets first-ever NBA Championship.

Denver Nuggets fans arrived early in LoDo on Thursday to get a good spot to watch the NBA champions parade through downtown. That included Ben and his family, who got to Union Station before 7 a.m. The parade starts at Union Station at 10 a.m.  

"I'm just here to take in all the experience," he said. "Finally celebrate a team that brought the NBA Championship to Denver. Just taking the day to take it all in."

Ben has been a Nuggets fan his whole life.

"Went to the first Nuggets game with my dad back when it was at McNichols Arena," he said.

While Ben was doing an interview on CBS Colorado Mornings, anchor Michelle Griego revealed that Ben is her cousin! Griego also grew up in the Denver area rooting on the Nuggets.