Balkan spirits and Detroit-style slices were served to the various factions of the Denver Nuggets as they learned which opponent they would be facing in the playoffs.

Jambalaya is officially off the table.

It’s Nuggets vs. Lakers for the third time in five years after Los Angeles knocked off the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Before the defending champions got to work Wednesday with their first matchup-focused practice of the week, they enjoyed some quality time together with multiple NBA Play-In Tournament watch parties.

The players met at Nikola Jokic’s house for the game. The coaches watched at the office, ordering from local pizzeria Blue Pan. “Gotta give them a shoutout, they always take care of us,” head coach Michael Malone said. “And (we) were able to watch the game and meet and discuss after the game.”

Full of pizza, the coaches assembled a schedule for the week and examined matchup personnel. Meanwhile, on the players’ side?

“It was a blast,” Peyton Watson said. “It’s always a good time when we can all get together. And it’s always an honor when the two-time MVP, soon to be three, invites you over to his house to indulge in a basketball game. So definitely went over there, drank a little Rakija. Got acquainted. A little ritual right before the playoffs. Kind of just letting loose and having a good night with my guys (to) bond a little bit before we get into these serious playoffs.”

The Lakers are as serious as it gets. Both of these teams have eliminated the other to reach the NBA Finals in the last four years. After the Nuggets swept Los Angeles in 2023, Anthony Davis called out Denver for continuing to trash-talk during the offseason. At training camp, Malone rejected the idea that it was transforming into a rivalry. “Oh, they’re talking about us?” he said in San Diego. “Yeah, that was, like, four months ago?” Then the Nuggets proceeded to win all three regular-season matchups, spoiling the Kobe Bryant statue unveiling and LeBron James surpassing 40,000 career points in separate road games.

Of course, it was all leading to a playoff rematch.

“We know them. They know us,” Malone said Wednesday at Ball Arena. “And we know what to expect.”

So while the Lakers’ play designs and personnel were a part of Denver’s practice, it was equally focused on broader themes — such as the Lakers ranking fifth in the NBA in transition scoring per game and second in transition efficiency. Or that the LeBron James-led offense averages 55.6 points in the paint, leading the Western Conference.

Questions for Malone and Jokic largely revolved around Denver’s eight-game win streak against Los Angeles dating back to the 2022-23 regular season. The coach and the star player downplayed the idea that the Nuggets are a matchup problem for the Lakers.

“I think every game in the playoff series last year was really tough,” Jokic said. “Could’ve went either way. … Yes, we beat them 4-0, but they’re a really talented team. They’re really well-built.”

“Everyone keeps talking about how we’ve beaten them eight games in a row, and as I told our players today, that doesn’t mean anything,” Malone said. “This is a different team, a different series, and we know what we have in front of us. It’ll be a hell of a challenge to beat the Lakers in the playoffs.”

Having seen the same roster in a best-of-seven series so recently does help from a scouting perspective, Jokic acknowledged. He saw every type of coverage the Lakers had in the 2023 showdown, from single-teams to double-teams, from Anthony Davis as a primary defender to Rui Hachimura. Even James guarded him in the post for a while as Darvin Ham was looking for a solution.

“I think we match up with them really good and they match up with us really good,” Jokic said. “… They can do a couple different things on defense. On offense, we can put some other guys on their main players. So I think it’s gonna be really interesting basketball-wise. Strategy-wise, I think it’s gonna be really interesting.”

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When Ross Colton scored his 15th goal of the season last month, he turned and jumped into the arms of Zach Parise.

It was a great moment for Colton, who grew up in New Jersey with Parise as one of his favorite players. Colton has a photo of that embrace, and he intends to find a frame for it. He might want to grab another photo with one of his teenage idols Thursday night.

Parise, who joined the Avalanche just before the All-Star break after taking the first half of the season off, confirmed Wednesday to The Denver Post that the contest against Edmonton at Ball Arena will be the last regular-season game of a long and distinguished career.

“Yeah, I’ve decided,” Parise said. “I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. I was content coming back that this would be the last one.”

It will be regular-season game No. 1,254 for Parise, who has also played for the Devils, his hometown Minnesota Wild and the New York Islanders. He’s eighth all-time among American-born players with 433 goals. His goal with 25 seconds left in regulation helped the United States reach overtime in the gold medal game of the 2010 Olympics before Sidney Crosby scored one of the most famous goals in hockey history for Canada.

Parise had 21 goals for the Islanders last season, but decided he was ready to hang up his skates this past summer … until he wasn’t. Then he spent the first half of the season working himself back into playing shape before signing Jan. 26 with the Avalanche.

“It’s been awesome to be a part of,” Parise said. “The experience itself. Playing with these guys and even just practicing with them, it makes you a better player — even at my age. It’s gone even better than I thought it would.”

Parise has four goals and nine points in 29 games for the Avs. He’s moved around quite a bit in the lineup with various injuries. The forwards he’s played the most with are Colton and Miles Wood, who also played for a long time with the Devils.

The pace at which he can play, even as he approaches his 40th birthday, and his versatility was attractive to Colorado as the Avs searched for another depth forward.

“Knowing how he is, you knew he was going to come here in shape and ready to go. I had no doubt in my mind that he could step in and play,” said Avs defenseman Jack Johnson, who played with Parise at the 2010 Olympics. “He’s just a great guy to have around. He’s a great pro. Does everything right. Has a great attitude every day. Works hard, works on his craft — just a great human being on and off the ice and a great example for the younger guys.”

Parise didn’t come back to play with the Avs to pad his regular-season resume. He’s here because there’s one big thing missing: a Stanley Cup championship. He got close with the Devils in 2012, losing to the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Avs have a lot of players who won the Cup in 2022. Colton won with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021. Jared Bednar said recently that helping Parise get his first is one of the reasons he wants to win again this season.

Bednar isn’t alone.

“Everybody wants to win, obviously. I think it would be even more special for him and to help him win,” Colton said. “I think when the time comes, it will be something we can rally around.

“He’s been a great leader. A great mentor. Just doing stuff with him, like after practice and trying to be a sponge with the way he carries himself on and off the ice. I’ve been pretty fortunate to play with him and it’s been pretty special. He was one of my favorite players, if not my favorite player. It’s kind of been a full-circle moment for me.”

Parise joked that Colton likes talking about the Devils’ 2012 run more than his championship with the Lightning, and that the situation reminds him of when he was a younger guy in the New Jersey locker room with players like Martin Brodeur and Scott Gomez sitting in the stalls near him.

He’s already going to be remembered as one of the best American players of all time. Now he’s ready for one last dance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“(Coming back) was a great idea. No. 1, it has been fun,” Parise said. “It’s been just a really good experience to play with these players, and to have one more crack at it. I’m happy I did it. Hopefully, we’ll be playing for a couple more months.”

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Before even playing a WNBA game, Caitlin Clark has become a key figure in the U.S. Olympic roster discussion.

In the latest edition of the Nuggets Ink podcast, beat writer Bennett Durando and sports editor Matt Schubert reconvene after the Los Angeles Lakers beat New Orleans in the play-in round to set up another playoff series with Denver. Among the topics discussed:

• The Lakers held on to beat Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans, setting up a third playoff series in five seasons.  With the series tied 1-1, can the Nuggets ride their eight-game win streak against the Purple and Gold to the second round?
• With the No. 1 seed on the line and almost in the bag, the Nuggets blew a 23-point lead to the Spurs en route to ending the season at No. 2. Does the seeding matter in a stacked Western Conference?
• Victor Wembanyama is here and it’s official. Has his second-half emergence moved Jokic’s projected titles line?
• Will Bennett reveal his NBA awards ballot? Or will it remain shrouded in mystery?
• Bennett and Matt hand out Nuggets team awards for the 2023-24 season.

Subscribe to the podcast
SoundCloud | iTunes | Spotify | YouTube Music | RSS

Producer: AAron Ontiveroz
Music: “The Last Dragons” by Schama Noel

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Jontay Porter, the younger brother of Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., has been banned from the NBA after a league investigation found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors about his health, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes.

Porter, 24, was on a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors, splitting time between the NBA team and its G League affiliate.

The league investigation found that Porter also placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using an associate’s online betting account, according to a news release. He did not place any bets involving games in which he played, but three of the bets he placed were multi-game parlays that included a wager on the Raptors to lose one game.

“There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams and everyone associated with our sport, which is why Jontay Porter’s blatant violations of our gambling rules are being met with the most severe punishment,” league commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.

The NBA has maintained a partnership with FanDuel as the league’s authorized gaming operator since 2018.

The investigation into Porter, which remains open and could result in further findings, centered on the Raptors’ loss to the Sacramento Kings on March 20. It was concluded that Porter shared information about his health with an individual he knew to be a sports bettor. According to the release, a different person Porter also knew to be a sports bettor subsequently placed an $80,000 parlay with an online sports book, betting Porter would underperform in the game. Porter played only three minutes, claiming he felt ill. The parlay payout would have been $1.1 million, but due to unusual betting activity and Porter’s actions that game, the bet was frozen and not paid out.

The investigation found Porter “limited his own game participation to influence the outcome of one or more bets on his performance.”

Porter was one grade younger than Michael Porter Jr. in school when they were growing up, but he re-classified in high school to graduate a year early and join MPJ on the University of Missouri men’s basketball team. The brothers shared an NBA floor together for the first time March 11, when the Nuggets defeated the Raptors, 125-119, at Ball Arena. It was nine days before Porter’s alleged disclosure of confidential information violated league rules.

“I know what you guys know,” Michael Porter Jr. said March 27 after news of the investigation into his brother came to light. “I know Jontay loves the game of basketball. He’s been really excited to play with the Raptors. So I know just as much as you guys know at this point. I have known my brother my whole life. I know what type of dude he is. I know he’s excited to play basketball and highly doubt that he would do anything to put that in jeopardy.”

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LeBron James is going back to the Olympics for the first time in 12 years. Stephen Curry is headed to the games for the first time. Kevin Durant will go there with his eyes on history.

And they’re just part of a star-studded roster the Americans have assembled for the Paris Games.

USA Basketball announced its men’s Olympic team for Paris on Wednesday — James, Curry, Durant, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards and Kawhi Leonard the 12 names on the current roster.

“We’re giving ourselves a chance to win with the talent we have,” USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill said on NBC’s “Today” show. “It’ll be exciting. It’ll be tough. It won’t be easy. We have great respect for all the other teams. But certainly, this is going to be an iconic roster.”

The group has seven players with 10 combined Olympic gold medals; Durant has three, James has two, while Adebayo, Booker, Holiday, Tatum and Booker each have one. Combined, the 12 players had averages of 24.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists this season, shooting 39% from 3-point range.

“Obviously, it’s a great honor to represent your country,” Adebayo said. “But for me, to be in that room as part of those 12 players, part of who they think are the 12 best players to represent the United States, it takes it to a different level.”

The amount of talent on the U.S. roster is staggering. Of the 12 commits, seven finished the season ranked among the NBA’s top 15 scorers per game. James is the league’s all-time scoring leader, Curry the all-time leader in 3-pointers, Haliburton won the assist-per-game title this season and 10 were All-Stars this season as well.

“The goal is to win the gold,” Hill said. “They know that.”

The Americans have won the last four Olympic gold medals and remain ranked No. 1 in the world by FIBA even after failing to medal in the two most recent World Cups — finishing seventh at China in 2019 and fourth at Manila last summer.

They won gold at the Tokyo Games by topping France 87-82. A slew of other nations will expect to contend for gold in Paris — the host French, reigning World Cup champion Germany, Serbia and Canada among them — but the American roster has a depth of NBA stars that no other country can reach.

“Your hope is that they haven’t played together before,” Canada’s Kelly Olynyk said when told this weekend of the U.S. roster, “other than the 12 last All-Star games.”

Hill has led the task of assembling the roster for the past several months, and the plan all along was to put together the team well in advance of training camp starting at Las Vegas in early July. Tryouts were never part of the plan for this team.

Durant has said since last year that he plans to play, which means he will pursue becoming the first men’s player in Olympic history with four basketball gold medals. He and Carmelo Anthony are the only men’s players with three Olympic golds; there are six women, all American, with at least four Olympic basketball golds. Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi each have five, while Teresa Edwards, Tamika Catchings, Sylvia Fowles and Lisa Leslie each won four.

James will seek a fourth medal, after winning bronze in 2004 and golds in 2008 and 2012. The other past gold medalists on the roster are Davis (2012), Adebayo (2020), Booker (2020), Tatum (2020) and Holiday (2020). The 2020 gold medals were won in 2021, since the COVID-19 pandemic forced a one-year delay of the Tokyo Games.

Curry will play in the Olympics for the first time, as will Leonard and Embiid — who chose to play for the U.S. last year after becoming an American citizen. The Cameroon-born center also could have chosen to represent France at the Paris Games.

The other first-time Olympians on the current roster are Haliburton and Edwards, both of whom played for the U.S. team that finished fourth at the World Cup in Manila last year.

There were more than 40 players under consideration for this team, and getting the roster to 12 was far from easy.

“I think everybody understands that these Olympics are going to be maybe the most anticipated, given that it’s Paris, in terms of players wanting to go, players’ wives wanting to go, everybody wanting to go,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “It made for some really difficult decisions for us, for sure.”

Durant and Curry said in October that they wanted to play this summer, Adebayo said then that he had already committed to the team, and it’s been assumed for some time that if players like James want to play, then all they have to do is say so.

The U.S. men have competed in basketball at the Olympics 19 times, winning 19 medals — 16 gold, one silver and two bronze.

The Paris team will be coached by Kerr, assisted by Erik Spoelstra, Tyronn Lue and Mark Few. It’s still possible that the roster changes before the summer, if injuries or deep runs in the NBA playoffs force players to change their minds about committing to the national team.

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By TIM REYNOLDS (AP Basketball Writer)

Golden State guard Stephen Curry knew he was running out of chances to play in what would be his first Olympics, so he and his wife Ayesha started planning many months ago about how to make the Paris Games work for their family.

Their growing family, that is.

Ayesha Curry revealed in March that she is pregnant with the couple’s fourth child and the baby is due in June. That’s not entirely by accident; the couple thought ahead with hopes of keeping the Olympic months of July and August clear — just in case.

“We thought about it ahead of time, which was nice,” Curry said. “If the timing didn’t work at a certain month in the fall, we actually would have made a different decision knowing the Olympics were on the radar. So, thankfully, the Lord looked out for us and if everything goes to plan, I’ll be available this summer.”

That is, indeed, the plan. Curry was one of the 12 names formally announced by USA Basketball on Wednesday as the initial roster for this year’s Paris Olympics. It’s entirely possible that the roster gets tweaked between now and the first practice in early July — injuries or long playoff runs could spark changes — but Curry has been planning to make his Olympic debut this summer for some time.

“I wanted to play in the last two that I was eligible for,” Curry said, referring to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and the Tokyo Games that were delayed to 2021 because of the pandemic. “Watching guys that I’ve been competing against the last 10 years all have that experience win gold medals, watching three of my teammates (Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green) win gold medals, I knew I wanted to do that.”

It would be logical to think that part of the recruitment pitch to Curry this time around was the fact that the Olympic team is coached by Steve Kerr, his coach with the Warriors.

That wasn’t really the case. Curry had talks with Durant and LeBron James about teaming up — those talks sparked in part by the U.S. taking a less star-studded team to the World Cup at Manila last summer and finishing fourth — but Kerr wasn’t pushing his best player to play this year.

“He wanted to do it,” Kerr said. “He’s excited. I think 2016 would have been the year that made the most sense. In 2020, there was the pandemic. But I’ve never had the discussion with him. Going to the Finals wears you down and we had gone in 2015 and 2016. Then 2021 comes around, there was the pandemic, but now, it makes perfect sense. It’s another box to check in his career.”

There aren’t too many of those boxes unchecked. And this might really be the last one of any significance left.

He’s the NBA’s all-time 3-point recordholder, a four-time NBA champion, 10-time All-Star, nine-time (and probably soon to be 10-time) All-NBA selection, a two-time scoring champion, a two-time MVP, a Finals MVP, an All-Star MVP and a member of the league’s 75th anniversary team. He even helped put together one of the more memorable moments in All-Star history this year, when he faced off with WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu — someone he simultaneously mentors and admires — in a 3-point contest.

The legacy has long been secure. But a little extra gold wouldn’t hurt.

“That’s the goal,” Curry said.

Curry and the Warriors won 46 games this season but didn’t make the NBA playoffs, falling to Sacramento on Tuesday in an elimination game of the Western Conference play-in tournament, 118-94. So, the next time he’s slated to play for real is now July, when the Americans convene for training camp in Las Vegas. The U.S. opens Olympic play against Serbia on July 28.

Curry has played with “USA” across his chest plenty of times before, going back 17 years. He was on the under-19 team that won gold at the 2007 Global Games and won silver in that year’s U19 world championships — “that burned,” Curry said, “because you hate losing at anything.”

He hasn’t lost a game with the national team since — 18 games, 18 wins. The Americans went 9-0 on their way to gold at the 2010 world championship (now called the World Cup), then went 9-0 on the way to another gold at the World Cup in 2014.

“I definitely wanted this experience,” Curry said of playing in an Olympics. “I think the timing is just right. I’m later in my career. This is probably the last opportunity I have to play. And that made it a much easier decision to say, ‘This makes sense.’ And then I was talking to some other guys who were interested in playing, so you knew this could be a great team.”

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

For the third time in the last five years, the Nuggets and Lakers are getting together for a playoff series.

Only this time, it’s not a trip to the NBA Finals on the line (at least not immediately). Denver and Los Angeles are renewing their definitely-not-a-rivalry in the first round of the 2024 Western Conference playoffs after the Nuggets (57-25) finished the regular season as the No. 2 seed and the Lakers (47-35) climbed to No. 7 by beating New Orleans in the Play-In Tournament.

LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers prevailed in the 2020 Western Conference Finals. Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the Nuggets got their revenge in 2023.

The rubber match series is set to begin Saturday (6:30 p.m. MT, ABC), with Game 1 at Ball Arena in downtown Denver. Here is the full television schedule for the best-of-seven series.

Nuggets vs. Lakers Game 1: Saturday, April 20

6:30 p.m. MT, ABC

Ball Arena, Denver

Game 2: Monday, April 22

8 p.m. MT, TNT

Ball Arena, Denver

Game 3: Thursday, April 25

8 p.m. MT, TNT

Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles

Game 4: Saturday, April 27

6:30 p.m. MT, ABC

Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles

Game 5 (if necessary): Monday, April 29

Time, TV channel TBD

Ball Arena, Denver

Game 6 (if necessary): Thursday, May 2

Time, TV channel TBD

Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles

Game 7 (if necessary): Saturday, May 4

Time, TV channel TBD

Ball Arena, Denver

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WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Kyle Connor scored twice and Tyler Toffoli broke a third-period tie to lift the Winnipeg Jets to a key 4-3 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night.

The win clinched second place in the Central Division for the Jets and home-ice advantage in their first-round playoff series with the Colorado Avalanche.

“Obviously that’s what we wanted to do tonight,” said Nikolaj Ehlers, who had a goal and assist. “Wasn’t beautiful all the way through, but we got it done and that’s what’s important.”

Winnipeg (51-24-6) also stretched its win streak to seven in front of its eighth sold-out crowd of the season at Canada Life Centre.

Toffoli took a pass from Ehlers during a power play and sent a backhand shot past Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer with 8:20 remaining in the third period.

“Nice to get that out of the way in this game,” Connor said of securing home-ice advantage. “I thought we stuck with it, you know, ups and downs in the game.”

Connor’s pair of markers extended his point streak to eight games, including four goals and eight assists.

“I see him skating really well at both ends of the ice. He really is,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said of Connor. “That tells you that he’s engaged in the game. There have been some great back checks.”

Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey each contributed a pair of assists.

Connor Hellebuyck made 20 saves for the Jets, who finish the regular season at home Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks.

Yanni Gourde had a goal and assist and Tomas Tatar and Tye Kartye also scored for the Kraken (33-35-13).

“I think it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’ve got to bring that every night,” Kartye said. “It’s a good team over there and it was a pretty good effort by us.”

Grubauer stopped 20 shots for Seattle, which lost its fourth game in a row and concludes its playoff-less season Thursday in Minnesota against the Wild.

“Our entire team fought hard tonight,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “Regardless of anything else, we’re in a situation where we’ve dug out of a two-goal deficit, got ourselves back to even.

“We take a careless penalty and that’s the difference in a hockey game like this. We did a heck of a job for the first minute and 50 of the kill, but they found a spot inside and found the game-winner on that.”

The Jets had veteran forward Nino Niederreiter back on the ice after he missed the past five games because of skate cut that nicked his Achilles tendon.

Winnipeg forward Morgan Barron left the game in the first period and didn’t return because of a lower-body injury. Bowness said he’ll be evaluated more.

UP NEXT

Kraken: Travel to Minnesota to play the Wild on Thursday night.

Jets: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

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