Opening the 2023-24 NBA season against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers would have been big enough news by itself, but tonight there is more. The team will probably come running out onto the court as the DJ blasts Tobe Nwigwe’s song “Fye Fye.” Flashing lights will shoot across the darkened arena like a European dance club. The Finals MVP, Nikola Jokic, will probably say a few words. And the Championship banner will slowly be hoisted to the rafters to deafening applause. But we are no longer just the Denver Nuggets. We are the reigning World Champion Denver Nuggets – and we’re... Read More

As the Denver Nuggets rolled through the downtown streets of LoDo, champagne filled and shirtless, the confetti flew, and fans cheered. A franchise that began back in 1967 had finally captured its first NBA Championship. A victory parade of epic proportions. But as the fire engines stopped, and thousands packed into Civic Center Park, I realized that Denver’s victory parade was also a goodbye parade. A goodbye to sports for quite some time. Forty-one days to be exact. Starting with the NBA draft on June 22 (in which – spoiler alert – the 7’5 French guy is going first) and ending with... Read More

The last thing I want to do is wake a sleeping giant – especially an eighth seed sleeping giant. The Miami Heat have won three championships, their President, Pat Riley, has nine of his own, along with 19 Finals appearances. Eric Spoelstra has two rings, Udonis Haslem has three, and Kevin Love and Kyle Lowry own one each. Miami’s retired numbers include Dwayne Wade, Alonzo Mourning, Chris Bosh, and Shaquille O’Neil. While Lebron’s will be there soon. The Heat showed up to Ball Arena with a roster full of undrafted players, a 6’9 center, and a so-so Playoff Jimmy Butler, and pretty much... Read More

It is often hard to compete with the bright lights of Los Angeles. Los Angeles has Adele, Denzel, and DiCaprio. We have the guys from South Park. Los Angeles has Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube. We have The String Cheese Incident and icy roads. Los Angeles has Beyonce and her $200 million Malibu estate. We have Ciara and her four-bedroom twelve-bathroom home in Cherry Hills. Los Angeles also has 31 trips to the NBA Finals including 17 NBA Championships. We have none. Correction. We had none. The turning point in Game Four occurred around the two-minute mark when Nikola Jokic drained a one-footed,... Read More

It is hard to describe my excitement of the current sports calendar. It is as if the Sport Gods opened up the heavens and simply let it rain. The NFL kickoff could have satisfied my fix as entertainment filled my Sundays, Mondays, and even Thursdays. But add to that the college football season and I really start to get aroused. Using the term aroused intertwined with sports seems a little creepy, but it is not sexual. It’s not like I’m Ime Udoka of the Boston Celtics or anything. And after months of meaningless baseball, the MLB is finally getting good. Teams fighting for playoff spots,... Read More

And then there were four. Luka Doncic could have defeated the Phoenix Suns by himself, and after a first half in which Doncic scored 27 points, equaling the Suns halftime total, he almost did. Spencer Dinwiddie added 30 points on 11 of 15 shooting. Jalen Brunson chipped in 24 points, and the Dallas Mavericks made 19 of their 39 threes (48.7%) on their way to a lopsided 123-90 game seven victory. The Boston Celtics got 27 points from Grant Williams, 23 from Jason Tatum, and 19 from Jaylen Brown as the team made 22 of their 55 threes (40%) in a game seven route of the Milwaukee Bucks, 109-81. The... Read More

The darkness that is Halloween conjures up many frightful images.  The silence of an empty graveyard, the shadows of creatures that roam, and the fear of things that go bump in the night. The world of sports can be just as scary. Try watching the Colorado Buffaloes compete against Oregon, or the Denver Nuggets without Nikola Jokic.  In Denver, we hide under the blanket when the Broncos are on, and stars like Von Miller and Nolan Arenado can vanish without a trace. A look at the past week in sports – the tricks, and all the treats. Apparently, the only thing scarier than John Gruden’s resemblance... Read More

The NBA season tips off this week and the Western Conference is up for grabs.  The Suns look to shine.  The Lakers added Westbrook and Carmelo.  Golden State is getting the band back together. Doncic is the Mavericks Top Gun.  While the Jazz are sounding smooth. And don’t forget about the Denver Nuggets and their league MVP. The Wild West with its new faces, players returning from injuries, and young talent developing is about as predictable as Kawhi Leonard’s next Clipper game. But here are how the teams will finish when the regular season ends. 1. Utah Jazz – The Jazz bring back almost... Read More

The Denver Nuggets season came to an abrupt end following Sunday’s 125 -118 loss to Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns.  The Suns swept the series in four games as Devin Booker, Paul, and a cast full of others dominated the undermanned Nuggets from start to finish. Paul finished with 37 points on 14 of 19 shooting as he continued to dominate the Denver guard trio of Monte Morris, Austin Rivers, and 5’10 Facundo Campazzo.  Booker added 34 points and 11 rebounds as he took advantage of the absent and injured Jamal Murray.  And a frustrated Nikola Jokic was ejected in the third quarter after a... Read More

The last time a Denver Nugget won an MVP award was back in 1969-70.  The player was Spencer Haywood, the league was the ABA, and technically, he wasn’t a Nugget, as the team was then called the Denver Rockets. Since the merger from the ABA to the NBA, there have been many great Nuggets such as Alex English, David Thompson, and Carmelo Anthony.  But none have won an MVP. Nikola Jokic is looking to change that. The oddsmakers will point to a Lebron James (LAL), Joel Embiid (PHI), or a James Harden (BRK) as betting favorites to take home the trophy, but the sixth-year center from Serbia shouldn’t... Read More