Ajinca Lifts Pelicans Past Heat, 104-102

Courtland Sutton’s come a long way at reading cornerbacks. But man, does he have some ground to cover when it comes to reading a stinking room. Full disclosure: The usual gang of idiots up in the Grading The Week offices think OTAs are slightly overrated. OK, completely overrated. It’s another example of the NFL trying to suck all the oxygen out of the room for an entire calendar year.

Don’t take the wag out of the puppy’s tail. When watching Broncos practice Thursday, my eyes shifted to Javonte Williams. He is entering his fourth season with the team. If you haven’t realized, running backs age in dog years. It is the nature of the position. There is only so much tread on the tire. As Williams ran through drills, he showed the enthusiasm so common during his rookie campaign. Williams is not like most running backs.

A less celebrated homecoming is happening this weekend at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. But for U. S. Deaf Women’s National Team defender and Littleton native Mia White, it’s nothing short of a dream come true. Before USWNT stars and fellow Coloradans Sophia Smith, Lindsey Horan and Mallory Swanson hit the DSGP pitch to face South Korea on Saturday afternoon, the Deaf WNT, 37-0-1 all-time, will host Australia in its first game since winning the 2023 DIFA World Deaf Football Championships last October. What makes this different for White, who plays professionally for Finnish second-tier club Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat, is she will be playing at home in Colorado for the first time in a U.

By JOE REEDY (AP Sports Writer) LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ezequiel Tovar homered and had three hits, Dakota Hudson allowed only one run and four hits in seven-plus innings and the Colorado Rockies defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1 on Friday night. Hudson (2-7) entered the game with only 17 runs of support, the fifth-fewest runs in the majors among pitchers with at least 10 starts.

LAKEWOOD — Who says small ball is dead? Cherry Creek used a five-run fourth inning highlighted by three crafty bunts as a catalyst to beat Grandview 11-9 on Friday afternoon at All-Star Park. That propelled the Bruins into the championship against Regis Jesuit, Cherry Creek’s 15th title game appearance under retiring head coach Marc Johnson. “(Small ball) is what broke the game up,” Johnson said.

Beat writer Bennett Durando opens up the Nuggets Mailbag periodically during the season (and now, the offseason). You can submit a Nuggets- or NBA- related question here. Who is the most realistic addition the Nuggets will make this offseason? — Kevin G, Thornton  You and everybody else are wondering, Kevin. Look, if we’re going to cut right to the chase, then I appreciate your use of the word “realistic.” There are countless roster changes that would be fun to imagine, but the Nuggets simply aren’t signing Klay Thompson out of free agency this summer. Even in a hypothetical scenario where Kentavious Caldwell-Pope declines his player option, gets offered four years at $20 million by another team, and the Nuggets elect not to exercise their Bird rights to match that offer, that does not mean they suddenly have that exact amount of money to allocate elsewhere — even if Thompson’s market somehow falls to a $20 million salary.