The Denver Nuggets won a controversial game on Monday night at Ball Arena when they hosted the Toronto Raptors. The Nuggets trailed for a good part of the game but took the lead halfway through the third. Their lead was short lived as Toronto’s full court defense kept the Nuggets offense at bay.
The Nuggets trailed by as much as 8 with a little over five minutes left in the game, but brought it to within 1 with 90 seconds left on the clock. There were a couple of fouls that Raptors coach Nick Nurse unsuccessfully challenged which lead to the Nuggets taking lead on two foul shots from Nikola Jokic.
Toronto took the lead with about a minute left to play; however, the Nuggets took yet another lead after Jokic was fouled (114-113). The Raptors turned over the ball on their possession and Aaron Gordon was fouled under the basket.
It was at this time the controversial call was made by referee Scott Foster which lead to a technical called on Raptors rookie Scottie Barnes which also lead to his ejec- tion from the game with less than half a minute to play. This gave Denver four free throws and the win with a final of 118-113.
Monday nights win gave the Nuggets a commanding 7 game lead in the West which will likely result in solidifying the top seed in the West. The Nuggets would have to have a complete meltdown prior over the next 17 games to give up a 7 game lead over the Memphis Grizzlies who have indefinitely benched their star, Ja Morant for his social media post of him brandishing a gun shortly after Memphis’ loss to Denver last Saturday.
The Denver Nuggets are at home this week to host the Chicago Bulls before hitting the road to face the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.
In other sports the Colorado Avalanche have lost three straight after going on a four game winning streak. The Avs, are eight points behind conference leading Las Vegas Golden Knights and one point behind divisional foes the Winnipeg Jets.
This week the Avalanche are at home to host the San Jose Sharks (results not available at the time of this writing), and the L.A. Kings on Thursday at 7 p.m. On Saturday the Avs travel to Arizona to face the Coyotes on Saturday at 4 p.m.
The Rockies are prepping for the season in Arizona at Spring camp but may be without key players either for the start of the season and quite possibly the entire season. Brendan Rodgers received some bad news last week when an MRI on his shoulder came back showing more damage than was anticipated. Rodgers will need surgery that could end his 2023 season before it even started.
The Colorado Rapids kicked off their season opener on a cold Saturday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The Rapids hosted Sporting KC in a match that garnered zero goals with a final of 0-0. The Rapids are in San Jose this weekend to face the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, at 8:30 p.m.
