Top 25 This Week: Big Matchups Abound In Sec, Big Ten

They gave us what we wanted: The Nuggets back on stage with Maury Povich and a manila envelope. In the case of the 64-year-old Los Angeles Lakers, you are the father. Denver welcomes the Lakers back to Ball Arena on Saturday as family. Cup your ears from Trinidad to Windsor and you can still hear the “Who’s your daddy?” chant that reverberated throughout Ball Arena on Ring Night back in October. This came mere months after the Nuggets broomed the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, exorcising a few playoff demons in the process. It was the exclamation point in a series of wows for the Nuggets last postseason, culminating in their first NBA championship.

For much of this season, the Colorado Avalanche had six Stanley Cup-winning defensemen in its lineup. Those six guys had combined to play 100 of the 120 games available at the position two years ago when the Avs stormed to a championship. Four players — Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Bowen Byram and Josh Manson — played in 20 playoff games. Samuel Girard (seven) and Jack Johnson (13) split one of the other two spots, while Erik Johnson held down the other. Fast forward to now, and it’s possible the Avalanche will start its first-round series against Winnipeg with two defensemen who each have two Stanley Cup Playoffs games apiece: in-season additions Sean Walker and Caleb Jones. “The atmosphere is at another level, and the intensity gets ramped up,” said Walker, who appeared in two playoff games for the Los Angeles Kings last season.

Courtland Sutton’s absence from voluntary workouts this month might raise some eyebrows. For Sean Payton and George Paton, though, the veteran wide receiver skipping April work isn’t anything to get worked up about. “It’s 100% voluntary. It’s the first week of the offseason program,” Paton said Thursday. “Sean’s talked to Courtland. I’ve talked to Courtland.

The last thing an NFL decision-maker is going to do one week before the draft is tip their team’s hand. Broncos head coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton certainly didn’t Thursday. But they did make one thing clear seven days before Denver enters the first round of the draft needing a quarterback and holding the No.

The Ride the Rockies Bicycle Tour, a cherished institution in Colorado’s cycling community for more than three decades, has been canceled for 2024 due to lack of interest, according to the event’s website. Founded by The Denver Post in 1986, Ride the Rockies was a fully supported tour that took cycling enthusiasts to dozens of locations around the state and over many high mountain passes over the years.

As the Denver Nuggets enter the Western Conference playoffs for the sixth consecutive season, a breakdown of their first-round rematch against the Los Angeles Lakers: Who has the edge? Guards: D’Angelo Russell was a defensive liability in the Western Conference Finals last season, and his offense seemed to suffer from it. The Nuggets, namely Bruce Brown, played him off the floor.