Comment on Briefs: Broncos are keeping eyes on Los Angeles market

By TIM REYNOLDS (AP Basketball Writer) Bill Walton, who starred for John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins before becoming a Hall of Fame center for his NBA career and one of the biggest stars in basketball broadcasting, died Monday, the league announced. Walton, who had a prolonged fight with cancer, was 71. He was the NBA’s MVP in the 1977-78 season, a two-time champion and a member of the league’s 50th anniversary and 75th anniversary teams.

Troy Renck: OK, the reality of the Nuggets’ elimination clobbered me over the head Sunday. And scratched my arms and hurt my back. Instead of spending the day in Dallas preparing for the Western Conference Finals Game 3, I removed a bush in my front yard. The bush won. But after my light head regained its bearings, I started thinking: Who has more work to do this offseason to win a championship?

There was no Sunday hangover for the Rockies. After a crushing 8-4 loss Saturday night, they rebounded with a 5-2 victory over the Phillies to take the three-game series. Philadelphia lost its first series since April 1-3 vs. Cincinnati, snapping a streak of 15 straight series with a win or split. Right-hander Cal Quantrill once again delivered the goods for Colorado, making his fifth consecutive quality start.

With his left hand in a splint and heavily wrapped, Jordan Beck was still coming to grips with his injury on Sunday morning. “It’s a tough ticket,” the Rockies rookie outfielder said. “Stuff happens and you just have to get through it and move on.” Beck broke the fourth metacarpal bone in his left hand in the Rockies’ 8-4 loss to the Phillies on Saturday night at Coors Field.

LOVELAND — As he coats a mold of Jackie Robinson with wax, metalsmith Alex Haines reflected on the extra importance of a project that will soon give the city of Wichita, Kansas, a replacement bronze statue of the baseball icon after thieves brazenly destroyed the original. “Many sculptures come through here,” said Haines at the Art Castings studio in Loveland where the original statue was cast.

Jerry DeVaul was lying in a puddle of water, his legs severed, when he made a vow to himself and the sky above. It was October 2011, and DeVaul was working at a mine in Trinidad after recently finishing his service in the U. S. Army when a coworker ran him over with a mining scoop — altering his life forever. DeVaul spent nearly two hours after that alone and critically injured, waiting for help and hoping for a second chance. Out of that trauma, and a bumpy road to recovery that included multiple detours, DeVaul eventually found his calling as a player and now president for Colorado Sled Hockey. “When I lost my legs, I made a promise to God that day that if I kept my life, I would inspire daily,” DeVaul recalled.