The Avs and Nuggets are neighbors who live under the same arena roof, but their definitions of success seem to have been discovered on different planets.

For the hockey team, winning is all that matters.

“It’s like Cup or bust, Cup or bust. Well, we’ve got one Cup. It’s hard to win, OK? But I wouldn’t have it any other way. And I don’t think our players would want it any other way. I don’t think the players who joined our team at the (trade) deadline or the guys who have been here for years would want it any other way,” coach Jared Bednar said after the Avalanche eliminated Minnesota and reached the halfway mark of the 16 playoff victories required to win the NHL championship.

“Now you’re leaving yourself open to a lot of criticism, because it’s always Cup or bust. And every time you lose in the first round, the second round or whenever it is, people are going to get on you, because you didn’t win the Cup.” 

The basketball team across the hall of Ball Arena gets way too caught up in its feelings.

After finishing as the third seed in the Western Conference and getting bounced from the playoffs by a shorthanded Timberwolves team that refused to use significant injuries as an excuse, Nuggets president Josh Kroenke wanted everyone to know this was “a season that never was,” begging for sympathy for how center Nikola Jokic was never quite his MVP self after hyperextending his knee in late December.

In the Executive of the Year voting by his peers, Kroenke was named on two ballots for wasting another season of Jokic’s prime.

“I know who voted for me … and it was a joke, an inside joke,” Kroenke said. “I rolled my eyes and said: ‘You’re going to create hell for me.’ But he felt it was really funny.” 

While the Avs spared no effort in reshaping their roster to reinvent themselves as a physically tougher team with defensive chops to match its offensive magic, NBA friends punked Kroenke for his influence on the Nuggets.

When I asked Kroenke if he now serves as the de facto general manager of the team, he insisted: “I’ve been in the same role since 2010.”

And for more than 15 years, if there’s a flaw to Kroenke’s approach with the Nuggets, it’s that a former college player loves hoops too much. He treats players like beloved members of a family, and often refers to his general manager as a basketball brother.

“Whether that was Masai Ujiri, whether that was Tim Connelly, whether that was Calvin Booth, whether that’s these guys (Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace), I’m always going to be there, around, listening and trying to help shape the direction of the franchise,” Kroenke said.

With the Avalanche, big hockey decisions are left to trusted hockey executives Joe Sakic and Chris MacFarland.

Listen to Kroenke speak, and the idea of trading Aaron Gordon is as painful as breaking up with a bestie, as was the case when the Nuggets parted ways with Michael Porter Jr. two years ago.

When the Avs dared to deal star forward Mikko Rantanen last season, the move was as bold as it was painful. But it was a business decision based on sound hockey principles, acknowledging the team’s need to evolve in a major way. 

Almost without fail, when the Nuggets faltered in the playoffs, coach David Adelman’s instinct was to gripe about the negative narrative being foisted on highly paid professionals by anyone who dared question the grit or resolve of a team that ultimately used the midseason injury to Jokic as an excuse for defeat rather than a way to evolve.

Championship DNA is neither a given nor forever. Team culture can’t be worn like a medal; it’s a living, breathing thing that must be nurtured daily.

The complacency Kroenke cited as creeping into the Nuggets culture resulted from the false belief that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Victor Wembanyama gave a flying flip that Denver won the first championship in franchise history three years ago.

One big reason why Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon should be the runaway winner of the Hart Trophy extends beyond his 127 points in the regular season and unsurpassed domination at 5-on-5 hockey.

At age 30, MacKinnon has finally learned to harness the passion that burned so intensely that it could go up in flames of frustration when adversity struck the Avs on the ice.

“You talk about my leadership,” captain Gabe Landeskog said. “But I think Nate’s leadership is something that goes under the radar.”

The Nuggets’ core of Jokic, Gordon, Jamal Murray and Christian Braun got a ring, got paid and expected everybody else in the league would bow and curtsy in their presence instead of trying to kick their arses.

The Avs are headed toward another championship because they not only embraced change, but realized running it back is an invitation to running in place while everyone else blows by you in the race to the top. 

The Nuggets waste too much time telling everyone how great they were.

The Avalanche are too busy winning playoff games to get lost in nostalgia.