Recap of Warriors-Nuggets

When you play the Golden State Warriors, you always have to think on your shoes. You have to try to stop them and you have to try to separate past from reality. The reality hit the Denver Nuggets big time on Saturday night, and especially in that third quarter against the Warriors.

 The Nuggets ended up losing the game 127-108 to the Warriors on Saturday at the Pepsi Center, and it was highlights by two very different teams that the Nuggets put on the floor. The Nuggets were down but a deficit that we've expected from a lot of teams lately. They always came back and they always hung in there. But there was one case of disaster that haunted the Nuggets on Thursday night, and it was their defensive play and their terrible offensive prowess, particularly in that third quarter, which was the deciding quarter that sealed the win for the Warriors.

Nuggets coach Mike Malone put the blame on the games they've had to play on many nights, saying, "Obviously, this was our sixth game in nine nights...That's part of the NBA. We can't use that as an excuse, but that definitely played into it, I believe."

Six games in nine nights is nothing new and many superstar players like LeBron James and Stephen Curry have advocated for longer seasons and more rest between games. But you can't change everything, and in this particular case, the Nuggets were the victims of a weary team that was trying to keep up with a dominating Warriors team that had their way.

Now for the third quarter, the Nuggets were down by five points, which could've been a good deficit to try to get back into it. But coming out of that halftime, Golden State was on it. They went on a 27-6 run that pushed the lead to well over 20 points, thanks in part to the big quarter numbers put up by Curry. He had 12 points in that period and had three 3-pointers to go along with it.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said about that period, "We came out firing in the third." And they did. They came out firing, they took the third quarter by storm, and the Nuggets could never keep up at that point. You could bet it was going to be a long second half for them.

With the loss, the Nuggets' winning streak of two games was snapped. Yeah, it's not much, but it's the Nuggets, who are looking for anything to try to get their winning ways going again after a couple years of being out. The Nuggets benefited, though from Will Barton's 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Muddily also finished with 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds, and Trey Lyles scored 11 points.

For the Warriors, they finished on the night with Kevin Durant's 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Curry also finished with 22 points and 11 assists.

Some would say this is an ugly loss and while it may have been true in the third quarter, the fact of the matter is, when the Warriors stars are on the floor, it's hard to guard them and to prevent them from scoring points. It's just that hard, and the Nuggets learned that tonight. Yes, they've had the Warriors' number in Denver in recent years, but that was a few times when most of the Warriors stars were not out there. This time, they were, and Denver was clearly outmatched in this game, especially in that third quarter.

The Nuggets should not take this as a bad taste. It was an expected loss. The third quarter might not have gone the way they expected, but it's an expected loss, and they'll recover from this and get better. The Warriors are the best team. Even a rebuilding team like the Nuggets are not exactly on the level of the Warriors stars to beat them yet.

Warriors-Nuggets Preview

The Warriors made a big statement on Thursday by knocking off the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio. For the Denver Nuggets, they've won four out of their last five games after a close win against the Miami Heat on Friday night. Tonight, both teams square off in the Mile High City as the Warriors will look to continue momentum while the Nuggets will try to put the brakes on a hot Warriors team right now.

For the Nuggets, the upside might be in their favor. They've beaten the Warriors in 19 out of the 25 games they've played in Denver, in a 132-110 blowout back on February 13, but that was also a game where all of the Warriors star sat out for, so it was basically a game with no real leverage on both teams. Tonight might be.

Nuggets forward Paul Millsap said about the game last night against Miami, "I'm glad we got this (win)...Our confidence is up, we're playing really good basketball defensively and offensively. So on Saturday, it should be a good game for us. It's a good challenge for us."

The Nuggets have played well as of late, including the game I went to on Wednesday night where they seemed to blow out the Toronto Raptors at every turn, and then almost lost to the Miami Heat before winning by one. The Warriors are going in making sure that won't happen to them on this night.

For the Nuggets, some of the keys are very simple. They need to get the ball. The Warriors are the best team in transition play so far this season, averaging around 1.3 points per possession when they go on the break, and are difficult to stop when they do that. They need to hold off the delay long enough to get the defense set. The Nuggets are not going to be able to avoid turnovers on the night, because the Warriors can create that without turnovers. What they need to do in those situations is think defense first when it comes to those possibilities.

Another crucial key for the Nuggets is the timeout calls. They've struggled after timeout calls, and teams have capitalized when both teams come out of the timeout. The Raptors proved that on Wednesday night, as did the Heat on Friday. It's important to come out of a timeout with a winning attitude and the ability to score points. These are what some analysts called "extra" points. You're either in the game or in a big lead, and the Nuggets have to do better not only with creating points but also coming out of the timeouts not giving up a bunch of points either.

The Warriors have big stars but they haven't been putting up a lot of points this season. They're 30.4 percent from the line and are allowing 111.3 points per 100 possessions. That's not the team we're used to seeing in recent seasons. But their lineup is still so versatile and can pass, handle, and shoot the ball. They can also defend as well. The lineup of Curry, Durant, Thompson, Iguodala, and Green have shown up they can do damage when they're in the zone, and for the Nuggets to win tonight, they have to keep this team out of the zone.

It's going to be a fun matchup in Denver tonight. I wish I actually stayed there through the weekend to watch this game, but unfortunately, I had to come home for work and I couldn't see this game. But I'm expecting a really close game, maybe a chance for the Nuggets to possibly put the Warriors in some kind of mix. But the thing is: That lineup for the Warriors will be playing tonight, unlike the last time these two teams played in Denver. And another big thing for Denver: They're playing back-to-back and both of those games are at home. Denver is going to make it a great game. I just think the Warriors are playing to get better right now, and I think when all five of the guys that I mentioned for the Warriors are on the floor, they are almost unstoppable. I think the Warriors handle business in Denver and they come out with a win.

Two MLB Free Agents Staying Put

You can cross off the list two names that won't be joining the free agent market when it opens this winter.

Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka said on Friday that he will be indeed staying with the New York Yankees and will not opt out of his contract, which still has three years left on it.

He said in a statement about the decision to stay put, "It was a simple decision for me as I have truly enjoyed the past four years playing for this organization...I'm committed to our goal of bringing a World Series championship back."

Tanaka just turned 29 on Wednesday, and was 13-12 with a 4.74 ERA, surprisingly high, as this is the first season where his ERA has jumped up. He also allowed 35 home runs, which is a career-high and was on the DL for nearly two weeks in August due to right shoulder inflammation. In his last seven starts after that, he was 5-2.

During the playoffs, he fared better, going 2-1 with a 0.90 ERA and 18 strikeouts, but couldn't get the Yankees over eventual champion Houston Astros.

That brings Tanaka's record to 52-28 with the Yankees and has gotten plenty of rest from the Yankees since the 2014 season when he discovered he had a partially torn ligament.

So while Tanaka is staying, another team that Tanaka's team beat is also keeping one of its best players.

Michael Brantley, one of the best players this season with the Cleveland Indians, will also not head to the market as the Indians exercised his $11.5 million option for next year, meaning that the Indians have a bigger chance of getting back to the playoffs than without him.

Although Brantley is 30 years old and getting up to veteran status, he hit .299 this season with nine homers and 52 RBIs in 90 games. However, he was also hit the injury bug as he went to the DL twice and had ankle surgery on Oct. 18, after the Indians were eliminated by the Yankees. This comes off an injury-plaqued 2016 where he only played 11 games in 2016 because of a shoulder injury that required surgery.

The Indians also exercised a $3 million option on right-hander Josh Tomlin, so he won't be going anywhere.

Taking on the Tanaka thing for a minute, I think is the smartest move by the Yankees so far in only two days of the offseason. When he's healthy and he's right, he's one of the best pitchers they have. The thing is, like many good pitchers they've had recently, they've been hit with the injury bug, and they usually haven't been the same since, despite them going to the ALCS this year and almost beating the Houston Astros. But they have to do this and I think it's a wise move because pitching is a valuable commodity to them and they need to make sure their guys are locked down for a long-haul. Plus, they have the money to do it.

As for the Brantley, I'm a little bit more surprised they held on to him. I know he played well this year and was a big factor for them in the regular season and the playoffs, but he is not only injury-prone, but he's getting up to an age where your production tends to go down and not up. I'm hoping he can have another good season next season and that won't happen, but when you start to hit 30, don't expect him to be the same guy he was over the last few seasons, when he was one of the best clutch hitters in baseball.

For the Yankees, it's a wise move because they need to lock down their pitching, at least for next season, where they could win the World Series again. For the Indians, it might be questionable to keep Brantley, just based on age, but I always say that age is just a number, and Bartolo Colon was one of the few people that did it. But it tells one thing: They're not on the market and they'll be with their teams, at least for next season, and I think that keeps him in the picture for the postseason in the near future.

Varlamov Has A Monster Game For Avalanche

The Carolina Hurricanes spent most of the night trying to get pucks past Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov. Every direction, every angle, every corner. But Varlamov was the one that stopped the door on the Hurricanes on Thursday night.

Varlamov stopped a career-high 57 shots and Blake Comeau scored one of three second-period goals for Colorado to lead them to a 5-3 win over the Hurricanes.

In this game, Varlamov set a new Avalanche record for most saves in a regular-season game. He still couldn't get the franchise record, set by Ron Tugnutt when he got 70 shots on them back in March of 1991 when the Avalanche were still known as the Quebec Nordiques.

Well, the Nordiques are gone and Varlamov is now considered the hero of Avalanche hockey, not that he's already etched his name on that.

Varlamov wasn't even worn out apparently, saying to reporters after the game, "I feel not bad, actually...Sometimes you face 30 shots and you're exhausted after the game. You never know how your body is reacting."

Well, he must've felt pretty good after the game. He looked pretty good and was the big difference-maker for the Avalanche on that game.

Varlamov has come a long way since his Vezina Trophy finalist days back in the 2013-14 season, and is coming off much of last season after having hip surgery to fix a groin issue he had been dealing with before that surgery.

The little extra: The bad loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Vegas may have given him an extra boost, considering that he gave up seven goals in that game. Only three in this one.

Varlamov said about bouncing back, "If you have a bad game, the next night you have to bounce back, so I had to forget about it and then just keep going."

Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen also contributed with goals with Carl Soderbergh added one, and Patrik Nemeth got his first NHL goal. The Avalanche are now 5-1 at home and they embark on a four-game, 10-day road trip that will also take them to Stockholm, Sweden.

The Avalanche played great on the night. I don't want to take anything away from Varlamov, because he played well, but this is a team that still has trouble on the road and they also played a team in Carolina that isn't playing so well either. But Varlamov did what he had to do tonight and he was indeed the big difference-maker in this game.

I'm hoping for good things from this win. I don't know how a 10-day road trip can solve that, but you have to go somewhere and he's the best players they have on the ice. He's on a bad day, like the one we saw in Vegas, the team has no chance. On a good day, he gives them a better chance.

It was a great game all around but Varlamov especially. And I was glad that I saw this game in Denver because it was the textbook definition of playing great goaltending, and by golly, that's what the Avalanche played with all night, and it paid off.

Time To Speed Up MLB Games?

We all agree: Baseball is a very slow game. Sometimes, it takes hours before a game ends, and that's why MLB has been doing so much to try to speed up the game. Problem is, it hasn't exactly solved that problem yet to get it close or under three hours yet.

I say three hours because that's usually when a baseball game lasts. But now, the sudden new changes implemented by baseball last March have somehow made the game even stronger.

The reason I am bringing up the speed of baseball games yet again is because the Los Angeles Angels have recently become victims of these long 4-hour-or-so games involving multiple pitching changes or called time to allow the batter to get himself together again or even players just hitting the ball every chance they get. And, as a result, it has made the game long again.

Ever since they traded for Justin Upton and Brandon Phillips, Angels games have lasted 4:33, 4:09, 3:49, and 4:38. That's an average of around 4:17 a game, and two of those games went to extra innings, thanks in part to no good pitching for the later half of those games. Unfortunately, that may continue for the last month of the season as the roster expands to 40 players and more pitchers are being utilized after only one pitcher or one player or even both.

Now this isn't just for the Angels. A game between the Blue Jays and Red Sox on Tuesday night went 19 innings. If I remember correctly, that was around six hours or so. That was incredibly long and almost a waste of time. Thank god I didn't go to that game.

Many games this season have gone to extra innings and these extra innings games have lasted so long that many people just get up and leave, because they're tired of seeing ineffectiveness, especially in late innings.

So with all that being said, MLB definitely has to do something, because to them, it almost makes them embarrassed to see how long these games are taking, and I can imagine that there's going to be plenty of new rule changes to come next season. That could include a pitch clock, which has already been implemented in Double-A and Triple-A, as well as possibly a runner on second to start the 11th. Those are just some of the few changes that baseball has been considering doing. But I have another aspect that baseball should look at: Continuing to limit the number of relief pitchers.

In recent games that I have seen, many managers will change pitchers either after one batter or after two, most likely due to if the batters hit left-handed or right-handed. And to me, I feel that's almost unacceptable, and I'm not a baseball manager.

And that's another point I'll put onto this long-game theory: Baseball managers don't trust their pitchers anymore. Especially not their relief pitchers. I can understand it for teams who have terrible pitching and can't seem to get through a single inning without giving up many runs, but it shouldn't be for teams who are competing for playoff spots or who are already in it. I mean, if you can't trust your relief pitcher to get you through a couple of batters, then how good are you at your job?

So, with all that being said, speeding up the game seems almost inevitable, because many times I just get tired of everything that slows a baseball game down: Bad pitching, too many mound visits, and even the strike zone. Last March, MLB pushed up the strike zone to just above the knees, and that has hurt a lot of pitchers who rely on that portion of the zone to strike people out. I wish that hadn't been done, but here it is now, and I guess we have to live with it.

I love baseball and I hope it doesn't change. But in order for people to enjoy baseball, you can't have these games taking four or five hours every single time. You probably think it's just the Angels games alone, but this is everybody. This is everybody whose managers don't trust their pitchers and who make too many mound visits, and as a result, long games is what you get.

Things probably will change as a result, but I won't be surprised if I didn't. But just be prepared for long hours at the ballpark while managers try to figure out how many pitchers they want to throw into a single inning. You might be sleeping in the stands at that point.