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Nikola Jokic: For Nuggets the End to Game 7 could have been ‘tragic’

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Denver Nuggets focus Nikola Jokic could just put both of his hands and a towel on the head of his head on the sideline as he viewed the last, wild seconds of Game 7 unfurl and Mike Conley dispatch a 3-pointer for the success.

“I bet we were cussing him out the full [time] that Mike [went to] shoot the 3,” Jokic said. “… We are laughing right now. But it could be tragic.”

The Nuggets and Utah Jazz’s first-round arrangement properly got done with an exciting ride finishing as Denver’s Torrey Craig missed a quick break layup with 4.4 seconds left in attempting to seal the game, just to see Conley’s potential winning 3-pointer turn out of the chamber at the signal to give Denver a 80-78 Game 7 triumph Tuesday night in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

“Man … first off, if we lost the game on that layup, that would’ve been so bad,” Denver’s Jamal Murray told Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter. “Mike almost hit that. I was looking at that shot like, ‘Man if this goes in, I’m going to be heartbroken.'”

Donovan Mitchell, who occupied with a productive duel with Murray, laid on the floor after the ringer, having given it his everything. Mitchell scored 15 of his 22 focuses in the subsequent half and helped the Jazz hold a limped Murray to just 17 focuses.

Murray, who had scored 50, 42 and 50 focuses in his three past games, lifted Mitchell up toward the finish of an arrangement that saw them join to score 475 focuses – the most consolidated focuses by rival major parts in an arrangement in season finisher history, as per ESPN Stats and Information research.

The Nuggets additionally joined an elite gathering by turning out to be just the twelfth group in NBA history to beat a 3-1 deficiency and win a season finisher arrangement. The third seed in the Western Conference presently faces the No. 2 LA Clippers, beginning Thursday.

Denver needed to endure this slugfest of a Game 7. The Nuggets scored only 30 focuses in the subsequent half yet appeared to have the success made sure about when Gary Harris jabbed the ball away from Mitchell on a drive. The ball went straight into Murray’s hands, and Murray and the Nuggets dashed toward a quick break hoping to seal the game with a simple bin.

Rather than hauling the ball out, Murray ran toward the crate and went to Craig, who missed a layup, sending the Jazz running back the other way and discovering Conley open on the left wing.

Conley about ruined another beast Game 7 execution by Jokic. In the wake of watching Murray convey the scoring load in this arrangement, Jokic had 30 focuses, 14 bounce back and the bushel that end up being the distinction.

With 27.8 seconds left in a hostile crush of a game, Jokic sponsored Rudy Gobert into the paint, siphon faked, turned and spun before flinging a snare 12.9 feet noticeable all around over Gobert’s outstretched arm while blurring off one foot.

Playing in their third sequential Game 7 since last postseason, the Nuggets rode their All-Star focus.

Murray was held to 7-for-21 shooting and appeared to be hampered after he took a knee from Joe Ingles to one side thigh in the principal half.

“We are not in a Game 7 without Jamal, but quietly, Nikola Jokic was having an outstanding series, as well,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “And you knew that they would take away Jamal Murray, they tried to do different things tonight, that was their adjustment. We were prepared for that. We knew they would try to get the ball out of his hands. That is when you need Nikola to step up.”

Jokic conveyed the Nuggets, scoring 17 of Denver’s 30 second-half focuses, the most noteworthy rate (56.7%) of a group’s focuses in a second 50% of a Game 7 in the course of recent years.

Jokic has adapted to the situation in Game 7, getting done with in any event 20 focuses and 10 bounce back in each of the three of the Game 7s where he has played. Just Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki have had three such Game 7s in the course of the last 20 postseasons, as indicated by ESPN Stats and Information research.

“Dude’s a joke,” Murray said of his All-Star teammate. “He does everything. Post up, he shoots it, he passes, he pushes the pace, he’s smart, and we definitely needed him today.

“He made clutch baskets and just kept us poised. Even when I didn’t have it going or I missed some bunnies or we messed up on defense and they made their push, especially in the third quarter. He was our leader for that second half and he did it all so, he’s gonna be a Hall of Famer one day.”

Denver drove by 19 right off the bat in the third however followed by three with 8:06 left as Gobert (19 focuses, 18 bounce back) appeared to be wherever in the paint.

Be that as it may, Jokic and Murray scored only enough down the stretch, and the Nuggets endure Conley’s miss to progress. Presently, Denver gets ready to confront Kawhi Leonard and Paul George after a troublesome first round and a passionate week with players meeting to conclude whether to keep playing last Wednesday in the consequence of Wisconsin police shooting Jacob Blake, a Black man, multiple times in the back.

“With everything we were facing, down 3-1, stoppage in play, are we going to continue, are we not, a lot of teams would have just given in,” Malone said. “Especially when you consider we have been 57 days away from our families. Man, do we really want to extend our stay. And that is where the pride comes into play. Our players, they wanted it.”

“… That is the amazing thing about this, three straight games of win or go home,” Malone said of the Nuggets overcoming their series deficit. “The resiliency, the mental toughness, and the want, the will to win was on full display for everybody to see. Couldn’t be more proud of our guys.”

Dan Smith is probably best known for his writing skill, which was adapted into news articles. He earned degree in Literature from Chicago University. He published his first book while an English instructor. After that he published 8 books in his career. He has more than six years’ experience in publication. And now he works as a writer of news on Apsters Media website which is related to news analysis from entertainment and technology industry.

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Dodgers Unveil Plans for Friday Parade and Stadium Celebration

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The Dodgers announced Wednesday night that they would celebrate their World Series victory on Friday with a parade in Downtown Los Angeles and a special ticketed event at Dodger Stadium. The full broadcast of both tournaments will be available on AM 570, local television stations, and Spectrum SportsNet LA. Fans will not be able to attend both events due to scheduling conflicts, transportation, and logistical issues.

The parade will start at Gloria Molina Grand Park on Spring Street in front of City Hall at 11 a.m. PT. The procession will begin with an official kickoff by Mayor Karen Bass and go for 45 minutes from 1st Street to Grand Avenue to 5th Street, ending at the corner of 5th and Flower Street. Dodgers players will ride double-decker buses during the parade. Due to extensive street closures and a shortage of public parking, those who desire to join the parade are strongly recommended to use public transportation.

At around 12:15 p.m., a special ticketed event at Dodger Stadium will start after the procession. The stadium’s entrance gates will open at 9 a.m., and parking gates for attendees will open at 8:30 a.m. There will be food and merchandise for sale. Before the team arrives, there will be entertainment inside the stadium, including DodgerVision scoreboards that will show the parade. This event will be subject to all Dodger Stadium policies and procedures, including the reminder that signs, bags, and other objects that are prohibited by our policies are not allowed.

At 9:30 a.m., SportsNet LA and local networks CBS 2, NBC 4, KTLA 5, ABC 7, KCAL 9, and Fox 11 will start airing coverage of every event on Friday. On AM 570, there will be radio coverage.

The Los Angeles Dodger Foundation, which is working to address the most important issues confronting Los Angeles with a mission to enhance social justice, health care, education, and homelessness for all Angelenos, will get a part of the stadium event’s earnings.

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Tuten Leads the Hokies with 4 Touchdowns and 266 Running Yards in a Blowout Victory

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Thursday night, Virginia Tech defeated Boston College 42–21 thanks to a school record 266 yards and four touchdowns from Bhayshul Tuten.

For the Hokies (4-3, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who scored touchdowns on their first three possessions and never trailed en way to a second straight victory, Kyron Drones added two rushing scores and a touchdown pass.

Tuten completed 18 carries while also scoring on 83 and 61-yard touchdown runs, the latter of which came with 8:28 remaining to win the game. And he caught a touchdown pass from Drones that was 20 yards in length.

Tuten declared, “Every game is a special game.” “That’s how I look at it. I just felt a little better today. We had a bye week. I felt great throughout practice. I took the knee brace off (for a sore knee). I felt fast, I felt good, I felt fluid. I just came out and balled today, and that’s what we needed.”

After trailing 28-0 at the half, Boston College (4-3, 1-2 ACC) got within 28-21 on a 5-yard run by Kye Robichaux with 2:55 remaining in the third quarter, and they were on the drive early in the fourth. However, Robichaux was stopped on a fourth-and-1 at midfield, and Virginia Tech took advantage of the next play. With 11:02 remaining, Tuten scored on a 6-yard run to give Virginia Tech a 35-21 lead.

“That’s a good team that we beat tonight,” stated Brent Pry, the coach of Virginia Tech. “And we beat them soundly.”

With his 266 rushing yards, Tuten eclipsed the previous school record of 253 established by Darren Evans in 2008 versus Maryland. After removing Tuten from the game because of his proximity to the record, the Virginia Tech coaching staff decided to put him back in to break it. During the Hokies’ last drive, Tuten set the record with a 17-yard run.

“I normally don’t like that, but a school record at a place like Tech with so many great running backs, and he was deserving with his performance,” Pry stated.

Drones completed 14 of 18 passes for 164 yards and ran for 40 yards. Drones scored on runs of 11 yards and 1 yard on the Hokies’ opening two possessions. The Hokies finished with a season-high 533 yards, trailing just Tuten and Drones.

The Eagles finished with 372 yards, led by Thomas Castellanos, who passed for 205 yards and two touchdowns.

“I felt really good about the preparation for the game,” Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien remarked. “Obviously, I was wrong. We’ve got to prepare differently, better, whatever it might be. We’ve got to figure it out. … We’ve got to coach better. We’ve got a good coaching staff. We do. We have a lot of experience. But we didn’t play well tonight, so that’s on the coaching. We’ve got to coach better and hopefully we’ll get it turned around.”

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Shohei Ohtani Gets Standing Ovation After Achieving 50-50 Milestone, Then Hits 52-52

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After securing the first 50-50 season in MLB history on Friday, Shohei Ohtani made a triumphant homecoming to Dodger Stadium. He continued doing what he does best after that.

The Los Angeles Dodgers player began the 52-52 club with a home run and a steal against the Colorado Rockies, after the teams reached 50-50 and 51-51 in the same game. In the fifth inning, Ohtani faced Rockies starter Kyle Freeland. He worked the count full before taking a pitch at his armpits to deep center field.

Few batters possess the ability to hit a pitch that high and blast it 423 feet in the opposite direction.

After a double and a single two innings later, Ohtani advanced to second base on Mookie Betts’ first pitch.

Ohtani broke Rickey Henderson’s record of 13 home runs in a single game set in 1986 by recording both a stolen base and a home run for the 14th time this season.

After going 9 for 10 with four home runs, two doubles, three steals, six runs, and 12 RBI in his last two games, Ohtani is now one home run behind Aaron Judge for the MLB lead. The majority of that output occurred on Thursday night against the Marlins, when Ohtani not only reached 50-50 with style, but he also had one of the best offensive outings in MLB history.

Ohtani combined an incredible season-long feat with the 16th 10-RBI game in MLB history in the same game that he hit his 49th, 50th, and 51st home runs of the year and stole his 50th and 51st bases. In addition, it was the first three-homer, two-steal game in MLB history, all on the anniversary of Ohtani’s unbelievable—that he didn’t have Tommy John surgery—on September 19, 2023.

The only downside of that magical night was that it happened on the road. Still, Ohtani received a curtain call at LoanDepot Park in Miami. Dodgers fans made an effort to show their support by giving him a standing ovation before his first at-bat on Friday, which earned him a wave in return.

Though it’s unclear how far into untested terrain Ohtani can go in homers and steals, he may have reached 50-50.

In addition, there’s the playoff issue. With eight games remaining, the 92-62 Dodgers have a four-game lead over the San Diego Padres for the NL West championship. They also secured their spot in the playoffs on Thursday. They’ll need to get beyond a string of pitching injuries if they hope to give Ohtani a ring, regardless of where they finish in his debut postseason.

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