It’s one thing to receive a great deal of criticism for their inability to make it beyond the conference finals in the post-season but the number one seed in the west was scorned for their play in the last week of the regular season after being named the number one seed in the Western Conference.
On Sunday, the Nuggets took to the court as the last game of the night hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves who previously beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday’s play-in tournament just to be in Denver that night.
The Nuggets and Timberwolves kept it close after the first quarter and exchanged leads late in the first. By the second it was clear that the Nuggets were all business despite half the starters shooting poorly in the first half of the game.
By the start of the third the Nuggets were holding on to an 11-point lead, which grew exponentially in the third. The Nuggets outscored Minnesota 32 – 14 in the third giving them an 87 – 58 lead at the start of the fourth. When all was said and done, six Nuggets were in double figures including
Jamal Murray who despite having a slow start in the first half ended the night with 24 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds followed by Michael Porter Jr. who contributed 18 points, 2 assists and 11 rebounds.
Game two is scheduled for Wednesday, April, 19th at 8 p.m.
In other sports the Colorado Avalanche are primed for their game-one matchup against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night (results not available at the time of print) at Ball Arena. The Colorado Avalanche managed to unseat the Dallas Stars for the top seed in the Western Conference after having a phenomenal run after the All-Star break which placed them atop of the West.
The Avs will be facing their former goalie Philipp Grubauer who was picked up by the Kraken after the 2021 season. The Kraken will be making their playoff debut one year after their inaugural season, facing the Stanley Cup Champs.
The Avs puckline is -1.5 with 93 percent of moneyline bets backing Colorado.
One player the Avs wish they had for their time in the postseason is team captain Gabriel Landeskog who has been nursing a knee injury since the 2020 season when his knee was sliced by the blade of a skate in the playoff game against the Dallas Stars. Landeskog was expected to return before the playoffs, however the nagging injury eventually got the better of him and last week it was announced that he would not be returning for the playoffs.
Despite having one of their best players out most of the season, the Avs still managed to close the regular season on top and are expected to be one of the top teams in the playoffs as they defend their title.
Since the Home Opener for the Colorado Rockies, they have gone 3 – 8 losing their series with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Seattle Mariners and their most recently loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in game one of a three-game series that begin yesterday at Coors Field. They lost 14 – 3.
The Denver Broncos are less than two weeks from the NFL Draft and as of now no moves have been made to adjust their draft order. With only five draft picks this season, some are speculating that they may trade down the draft in order to accumulate more picks late.
