The Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche are bringing NBA and NHL playoff excitement to Denver, and when Colorado's teams win, so do local bars and restaurants.The teams carried momentum from a huge sports weekend, as both the Avalanche and the Nuggets took home victories in their first playoff games. The Nuggets are now tied 1-1 in their round one playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves after a loss on Monday night. But fans are still optimistic and showing out to bars like Chopper's Sports Grill in Cherry Creek."When you've got the best basketball player on the planet, it's really difficult to be pessimistic about any given season," Nuggets fan Patrick Carey said. Watch the full story in the video player below. The playoffs economic boostJonathan Engleberg, the general manager of Chopper's, said sales have gone up about 18% from the start of last playoff season to this year. He said a normal tab during the regular season is about $40 to $50, but that will likely double during playoffs."We just installed a almost 300-inch LED TV at the end of last year to help out with this upcoming season and the playoffs," Engleberg said. "The playoffs create that atmosphere of wanting to be involved, wanting to, you know, really cheer on our teams."He said later games, like Monday's 8:30 p.m. tipoff, are a bit of a challenge, but can sometimes lead to customers coming in earlier and staying longer than usual."We get those people who get to come in, hang out a little bit longer than they normally would before a game, sit down, relax, they eat dinner, and then we ramp up for the game time," Engleberg said. "Plus, there's the other games on beforehand, so we're watching somebody that we might be playing in the next round."At Stoney's Bar and Grill on Lincoln Street, the official Nuggets watch party headquarters, staff are stocking up on plenty of beer and merchandise."The Nuggets came by today. They brought us a little bit of swag to give out to the guests. We got some T shirts, drink koozies, hats," front of house manager Magdalena Demetriades said.She said the hype surrounding the Avs and Nuggets playoff season is comparable to football season."This is amazing for our business. With having both the Avalanche and Nuggets in here, we expect full houses for all of our home and away games," Demetriades said. ...read more read less