There’s a tale rooted deep in Nuggets lore that serves as a fitting conclusion to Denver’s dream season, which came to an end Sunday. In 2013, soon after Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly took over Denver’s front office, he and his staff went out to lunch at a downtown establishment. During the meal, he offered his waiter tickets…...

Here's how the rookies stack up entering OTAs, which begin on Monday.

In Drew Lock's pre-draft visit in Denver, the Broncos didn’t want to know how great the 6-foot-4, 228-pound quarterback with a laser-rocket arm was. They already knew.

The Nuggets’ 119-108 Game 6 loss to the Trail Blazers didn’t end without a few fourth-quarter fireworks. With 6:16 remaining in regulation, Will Barton and Portland guard Seth Curry shoved each other after Zach Collins, who was defending a Nikola Jokic drive a few feet away, flew into Barton’s knee. As officials jumped in to separate the two, Barton raised…

Drew Lock set foot on the field on Friday for the first time as a Denver Bronco.

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Yeah, they got screwed by a stupid rule. A really stupid rule that had absolutely zero to do with the play/goal it nullified. It was like having a home run disallowed because the hitter didn’t touch first base. But we know, deep down, the Avalanche didn’t deserve that Game 7 tonight. The team that played the…...

Thanks to his father, one of Noah Fant's toughest football moments turned him into a beast.

How do you begin to grieve after yet another school shooting, especially one that takes place in your own neighborhood? Michael Malone chose to talk about it. “I just wanted to start off with a quick word,” a shaken Malone said unprompted as he began his pregame press conference before the Nuggets’ and Trail Blazers’ Game 5. “I think we’re…...

SAN JOSE, Calif. – That rink below is where it all happens tomorrow night, the Avalanche and Sharks getting it on for a Game 7. I just happened to be up in the press box this morning, retrieving a laptop power cord I somehow left there (gettin’ old, folks) and snapped that picture of the dark SAP Center. This will…

Playoff hockey brings a different feel to the arena. Every shift matters, every puck bounce could change the game, every little detail on the ice could mean the difference between winning and losing. In elimination games, that feeling is amplified by a hundred. Or a thousand. Or a million. It feels like life and death, like every day of practice…...

A nasty identity is already beginning to form in the Broncos' offenisve line room, thanks in large part to their new coach.

PORTLAND, Ore. — It’s 2013, and Will Barton is two seasons into his pro career and doubting for the first time in his life that he can make it in the NBA. He’s at Bay Club — a Portland rec center located a stone’s throw from the Trail Blazers’ practice facility and 16 minutes south of Moda Center, facing off…...

PORTLAND — First, the Nuggets were an easy target because of him. “When you talk to teams in the West, they don’t fear the Nuggets,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said in March. “… What people will say is that their best player, which is (Nikola) Jokic, is more neutralizable in a playoff setting than a guy like Durant or Curry or…...

SAN JOSE, Calif. – This, truly, is the last thing I thought I’d be quoting from the mouth of Jared Bednar after this Game 5 of the Western semifinals with the San Jose Sharks: “They outworked us,” Bednar said. “They were more competitive than us tonight.” And this, folks, is the one thing still keeping the Avalanche from entering the…...

PORTLAND — Where do you even start? There are a million different entry points into whatever that was on Friday night at the Moda Center in Portland. So much happened, Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts could barely recall specifics. “I have no idea what happened in the first half or the second half or the first three overtimes,” said Stotts…...

In a lot of ways, Erik Johnson has been Avalanche hockey. Maddeningly inconsistent at times, tantalizingly talented, and perpetually on the verge of putting it all together and ascending to new heights but never quite actually getting there and wondering if that day will ever come. Yes, it’s easy to look at Johnson’s time as a leader and member of…...

“Convince your enemy that he will gain very little by attacking you; this will diminish his enthusiasm.” – Sun Tzu There was still plenty of time left for a comeback, and if these playoffs have taught us anything, it is: don’t throw the confetti until that final tick is off the clock. The shot was fired, and Avalanche players prepared in…...

The education of Cale Makar continues – and will continue beyond his hockey career. “I want to get that degree,” Makar told BSN Denver Thursday morning, several hours before he and the Avalanche were set to play the San Jose Sharks in Game 4 of their second-round series. That degree, in sports management from the University of Massachusetts, is about…...

Brick by brick, the boos started to trickle out. With three minutes remaining in the first half, Nikola Jokic whipped a pass to a wide-open Malik Beasley at the top of the arc. Beasley set and fired his belongs-in-an-instructional-video jumper, but the shot glanced off the front rim. On Denver’s next time down the floor, Beasley barreled into the lane,…...