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Denver Nuggets’ run to championship among most dominant in modern NBA history

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:18:54 GMT

It’s been 20 years since the NBA expanded the playoffs to four best-of-seven series.With Monday night’s 94-89 win over the Miami Heat, the Nuggets tied the 2007 San Antonio Spurs as the second-fastest to win a championship after steamrolling through the playoffs with a 16-4 record.The only team that lifted the Larry O’Brien Trophy in fewer games? The notoriously stacked Golden State Warriors of Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, who lost just one game (16-1) en route to the 2017 title. Here’s a look at each of the champions over that period:YearTeamRecordNBA Finals2017Golden State16-14-1 over Cleveland2023Denver16-44-1 over Miami2007San Antonio16-44-0 over Cleveland2020L.A. Lakers16-54-2 over Miami2018Golden State16-54-0 over Cleveland2016Cleveland16-54-3 over Golden State2015Golden State16-54-2 over Cleveland2011Dallas16-54-2 over Miami2022Golden State16-74-2 over Boston2021Milwaukee16-74-2 over Phoenix2014San Antonio16-74-1 over Mi...

Michael Porter Jr.’s double-double more than offsets poor shooting night: “I could have scored zero points, I don’t care. We won a championship.” 

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:18:54 GMT

Michael Porter Jr. knew he’d broken through a barrier, and even still he couldn’t quite bring himself to fully get past it.Hat backward, champagne bottle as his postgame podium companion, Porter reveled in his newfound title as a world champion and couldn’t quite shake the lifelong mentality of a scorer.“I didn’t think I really played that good of a game,” he said.A funny thing about that: Porter played exactly the kind of game Denver needed from him in a grind-it-out, 84-89 Game 5 clincher against Miami.He brought energy from the start, scoring seven points and pulling down seven rebounds in the first quarter alone as the Nuggets played like a team straining too hard against history in pursuit of their first title.He sparked Denver in transition in the third quarter, finding Jamal Murray for a rare 3-pointer — the Nuggets made just 5-of-28 from beyond the arc — and then finishing himself on a rollicking, between-the-legs sojourn through traffic to the hoop.The final line: 16 ...

Kiszla: Nuggets kick down the door, win first championship in franchise history

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:18:54 GMT

After 56 long seasons of banging their heads against the wall, the Nuggets finally kicked down the door.Denver beat Miami 94-89 Monday to win the NBA Finals in five games. The series clincher was beautifully ugly, a bare-knuckle street fight befitting a cosmopolitan city that has never forgotten its dusty old cowtown heritage.The beauty of winning the first championship in franchise history? It’s a debt repaid.Paid in full to Alex English and Doug Moe and all the loyal fans who kept loving the Nuggets, despite the nearly 2,500 losses the franchise endured before the one big victory nobody will ever forget.When it was over, the first people coach Michael Malone, the son of a coach who grew up wanting to be a coach, called were his father and mother, who watched on television.“They couldn’t be here tonight,” Malone said, “but they were with me.”A Joker made them kings of the NBA. Nikola Jokic, the people’s MVP, scored 28 points and grabbed 16 ...

Rockies beat Red Sox, 4-3, in their first extra-inning game of season

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:18:54 GMT

The Rockies’ first extra-inning game of the season produced a gritty 4-3 victory Monday night at Fenway Park in rainy Boston.Colorado received excellent starting pitching, a handful of web gems and a few key hits. And for the second game in a row, they came back from the clubhouse after a long rain delay to post a victory.“We earned this one, we deserved it,” manager Bud Black told reporters in Boston. “This was a good win for us.”True enough, but the Red Sox gifted the Rockies two runs in the 10th.The inning opened with Mike Moustakas on second base, but Nick Pivetta retired Jurickson Profar and Ezequiel Tovar. Boston chose to intentionally walk the red-hot Ryan McMahon, but Pivetta didn’t mean to walk Elias Diaz to load the bases, nor walk Randal Grichuk to give the Rockies a 3-2 lead.Enter right-hander Joe Jacques, making his big-league debut. He should have gotten out of the inning, but Nolan Jones’ grounder to second skipped on the wet ...

How Nuggets center Nikola Jokic’s run to 2023 NBA title stacks up historically

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:18:54 GMT

One could spend hours digging through the NBA record books and not find a postseason quite like the one Nikola Jokic just authored in leading the Denver Nuggets to the 2023 title.The Serbian center became the first player in NBA history to tally at least 500 points, 250 rebounds and 150 assists in a single postseason before Monday’s game even tipped off. As his averages across each of the major counting stats (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) illustrate, that isn’t simply a byproduct of the number of games played, either.In fact, Jokic’s performance over the last two months will easily go down as one of the greatest in postseason history, with only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 1974 showing — which ended with his Bucks falling to Boston in the NBA Finals — producing a higher cumulative total. And that’s not even taking into account the Joker’s unparalleled efficiency with shooting splits of 54.8/46.1/79.9. A look at the numbers:Player, ...

Man crashed into tree, ejected from car in Thousand Oaks

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:18:54 GMT

A man was airlifted to a nearby hospital after he crashed into a tree and was ejected from his car in Thousand Oaks on Monday. Authorities with the California Highway Patrol responded to reports of a solo vehicle traffic collision that occurred on Aggen Road, north of SR-118 around 1:14 p.m. One report indicated that the driver, identified as Jorge Herrera Huerta, was ejected from his car, a 2005 Toyota Scion. According to a preliminary investigation, Huerta was traveling southbound on Aggen Road at an unknown speed, when he lost control of the Scion. Officials say the back end of the Scion began to rotate in a clockwise motion, causing it to veer off the road. The car traveled onto a dirt shoulder and crashed into a tree and a water main. After the impact, the Scion spun back around and stopped, facing the wrong way in the northbound lane of Aggen Road.Aggen Road was shut down for nearly two hours while CHP personnel investigated the collision and recovered the vehicle fr...

Langeliers’ 3-run double sends MLB-worst A’s past MLB-best Rays for season-best 6th straight win

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:18:54 GMT

By JANIE McCAULEY (AP Baseball Writer)OAKLAND — Shea Langeliers hit a three-run double in the fifth inning to break up a scoreless game, and the Oakland Athletics won their season-high sixth straight with a 4-3 victory against the major league-leading Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.Ryan Noda added an RBI single in the fifth for the big league-worst A’s, finally riding some momentum after a weekend sweep in Milwaukee. James Kaprielian (2-6) pitched six solid innings, allowing three runs and five hits to win his second consecutive start.A’s rookie Ken Waldichuk relieved him and worked out of a jam in the seventh when he struck out Randy Arozarena to strand runners at the corners. Waldichuk earned a three-inning save, the first of his career.Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Ken Waldichuk #64 and catcher Shea Langeliers #23 celebrate their 4-3 MLB win over the Tampa Bay Rays at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, June 12, 2023. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) Jose Siri hit...

Shooting at Precita Park in SF being investigated

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:18:54 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Officers with the San Francisco Police Department are investigating a shooting that was reported in the area of Precita Avenue and Alabama Street Monday night, SFPD confirmed. Officers with the Ingleside Station responded to the area at 7:30 p.m. on a shots fired report. Nima Momeni, accused killer of Bob Lee, to appear in court Tuesday At the scene, officers spoke to witnesses who informed them that possibly two unknown males fired shots at one another and then fled the scene in two different vehicles. No victims have been located at this time.The information available is preliminary, according to police. Monday's shooting came just days after a mass shooting at a Mission District block party that left nine people injured over the weekend.This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Langeliers' 3-run double sends MLB-worst A's past MLB-best Rays for season-best 6th straight win

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:18:54 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Shea Langeliers hit a three-run double in the fifth inning to break up a scoreless game, and the Oakland Athletics won their season-high sixth straight with a 4-3 victory against the major league-leading Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.Ryan Noda added an RBI single in the fifth for the big league-worst A's, finally riding some momentum after a weekend sweep in Milwaukee. James Kaprielian (2-6) pitched six solid innings, allowing three runs and five hits to win his second consecutive start.A's rookie Ken Waldichuk relieved him and worked out of a jam in the seventh when he struck out Randy Arozarena to strand runners at the corners. Waldichuk earned a three-inning save, the first of his career. Defiant A’s fans plan ‘Reverse Boycott’ at Oakland Coliseum Jose Siri hit a three-run shot in the sixth for Tampa Bay's 113th homer of the year to match the idle Dodgers for most in the majors.Oakland (18-50) loaded the bases with none out in the fifth against Zach Efli...

Today in History: June 13, Johnson nominates Marshall

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:18:54 GMT

Today in History Today is Tuesday, June 13, the 164th day of 2023. There are 201 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On June 13, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. On this date: In 1865, Nobel Prize-winning poet-playwright William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin, Ireland.In 1942, a four-man Nazi sabotage team arrived on Long Island, New York, three days before a second four-man team landed in Florida. (All eight men were arrested after two members of the first group defected.) President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Office of Strategic Services and the Office of War Information. In 1966, the Supreme Court ruled in Miranda v. Arizona that criminal suspects had to be informed of their constitutional right to consult with an attorney and to remain silent.In 1971, The New York Times began publishing excerpts of the Pentagon Papers, a secret study of America’s in...