The sign still is placed strategically over the door where visiting players enter the Pepsi Center, warning about Denver's mile-high elevation. Then there is the scoreboard video reminding opposing players of the effects of altitude.

If the mind games don't work, Nuggets trainer Steve Hess said there is scientific evidence the physiological effects of the thin air are real.

It has to do with hemoglobin and the body's ability to use oxygen.

"It's an overload on your system," Hess said of playing at altitude. "The immediate benefit when people come to play at this altitude a lot of times is caused by dryness in the throat and it becomes harder for them to breathe."

Sure, teams no longer bring the oxygen tanks the way Houston once did for players such as Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon, but Hess knows they still feel it.

"Since I'm down on the bench I hear players say, 'Oh, my God, I can't breath here,' and things like that," he said. "For them to say that in today's day and age, where coolness is important, is huge."

To take full advantage of this home-court advantage, however, players need to train at altitude for two to three months nonstop. Of course, Hess acknowledges while there is a physiological effect, it's only a certain percentage.

"Is (altitude) 50 percent, no, but it is a percentage."