Big Week Ahead For Teams In The Hunt

Ke Huy Quan opens the envelope at the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. “And the Oscar goes to … Robert Downey Jr.!” Only he’s … not … done. “Wait, wait, wait,” Quan continues. “I’ve got to get something off my chest.” The incidental music stops cold. The hailstorm of applause slows to a golf-ish trickle.

The Broncos have made passing a kidney stone look easier than passing the football the past eight years. Only two quarterbacks since Peyton Manning boast a winning record – Trevor Siemian and Brett Rypien – and Russell Wilson is the only starter of the last 13 to eclipse 20 touchdowns in a season. Coach Sean Payton thought so little of Wilson’s style that he decided he would rather take an $85 million cap hit than continue playing him. He now has his guy in Bo Nix.

MINNEAPOLIS – The face of the Nuggets’ most impressive win of the season wore orange sherbet and raspberry kicks and a black hat. Jamal Murray stepped onto the Target Center court to thunderous boos and embraced the role of the villain. After throwing a towel Monday, Murray refused to throw in the towel Friday. He embarrassed the organization with his actions and his lack of accountability following Game 2.

MINNEAPOLIS — Aaron Gordon made the Timberwolves respect him, Jamal Murray made them fear him, and the Nuggets made them realize mowing through the Western Conference isn’t meant to be easy. The Nuggets have made this a series, for now at least. They still must win Sunday at Target Center to avoid facing three consecutive elimination games, but a clinical 117-90 victory Friday over the Timberwolves closed the gap to 2-1 in the second round of the playoffs.

Initial thoughts from the Nuggets’ Game 3 Western Conference Semifinal win over the Timberwolves: Murray the Bad Guy is a Good Thing: Jamal Murray wanted the smoke more than the Marlboro Man. Booed relentlessly each time he touched the ball, Murray met the moment, embracing the villain role. After serving as a ghost in the first halves of the first two games, Murray erupted for 18 points in the first 24 minutes.

Rangers right-hander Jon Gray and Rockies lefty Austin Gomber engaged in a sensational pitching dual Friday night at Coors Field. But 37-year-old Charlie Blackmon stole the show. The veteran ripped a two-out, two-run double off of right-hander Yerry Rodríguez in the eighth inning to lift the Rockies to a 4-2 victory and give them their first winning streak of the season. By winning two in a row — the Rockies beat the Giants on Thursday — the Rockies snapped a streak of 51 games without consecutive wins (37 games in 2024), the longest stretch in franchise history. Leave it to Blackmon, a franchise icon, to be the difference-maker. “I’m not a big, rah-rah, super-emotion guy, but I do like to come through in big spots and big team situations,” said Blackmon, who had tied the game in the seventh by sprinting from first to home on a shallow popup to center that turned into an error.