The Denver Nuggets are NBA Champions!

The Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat Monday night to win the Championship. It was their first time making it to the NBA Finals. 

It wasn’t until this year that the Nuggets won the Western Conference — they lost in their four previous trips to the Western Conference Finals in 1978, 1985, 2009, and 2020. Two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic led the team to the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

The Nuggets finished the 2022-23 regular season with a record of 53-29 — the best record in the Western Conference.

In the playoffs, the Nuggets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games before beating the Phoenix Suns in six games.

The Nuggets then swept the Los Angeles Lakers four games straight in the Western Conference Finals.

The Heat ended the regular season 44-33 before their surprising run as an eight-seed. They defeated the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals in seven games. 

Without Aaron Judge, thriving is probably out of the question. But if the Yankees can survive until their captain returns, they would be thrilled.

In the Yankees’ first day of games since their best player was placed on the injured list, they survived by digging a hole and climbing out.

After fighting back but falling in a 6-5 matinee loss to the White Sox on Thursday, the Yankees responded by shutting down Chicago in a 3-0 victory to salvage a split of the day.

A sparser-than-usual Bronx crowd of an announced 40,659 watched the Yankees (37-27) play through an air-quality crisis that postponed Wednesday’s game.

The Yankees dropped a series to the White Sox (28-36) in part because a couple of veteran pitchers in Game 1 — Luis Severino and Michael King — allowed a combined four home runs. 

The final one was a two-run blast from Eloy Jimenez that gave the White Sox a seventh-inning lead they would not cough up.

The Atlanta Braves came back against the New York Mets for the third time in the series, completing a dramatic sweep against the NL East rival as the Braves walked it off, 13-10, in ten innings. 

As Atlanta improves to 38-24, the Mets drop their sixth straight game and continue their free-fall in the NL East standings.

An Ozzie Albies three-run home run sealed the deal after an Orlando Arcia homer in the bottom of the ninth was enough to force extra innings.

The rivalry continues to get more and more one-sided. After seeing several fans and media members react poorly to the first two games of the series, it will be interesting to see the fallout from the completed sweep. 

On the Mets broadcast, the postgame show brought up phrases that you never want to hear as a fan like “there’s a lot of season left,’ or “if things don’t turn up, changes need to be made.” 

To make matters worse for the Mets, this is the first time in their history that they have lost 3 consecutive games games when they held a 3-run lead. They’ve been playing baseball since 1962.

The Vegas Golden Knights struck first by following the script that has been so successful for them in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, coming from behind to win with discipline, offense and a dash of the unexpected from Adin Hill.

Zach Whitecloud and Mark Stone scored less than seven minutes apart in the third period, Hill made 33 saves that included a highlight-reel stick save with the game tied early in the second period, and the Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers 5-2 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

The Golden Knights improved to 8-3 when allowing the first goal in the playoffs. They have nine come-from-behind wins.

“We don’t change anything,” said Stone, the Vegas captain. “We stick to the program. We stick to what makes us successful. We don’t get rattled.”

Anthony Volpe, Greg Allen and Isiah Kiner-Falefa took care of the heavy lifting early. Aaron Judge provided the final punch. 

Judge homered for the third time in two games, Volpe and Allen also went deep and the New York Yankees stretched their winning streak to four with a 10-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

The Yankees moved a season-high 11 games over .500, and have posted 20 runs and 30 hits in the first two games of the series against one of the American League’s top pitching staffs. 

“Everybody’s chipping in right now and everybody’s passing the baton, and good things are happening when you’re not afraid to pass it to the next guy,” Kiner-Falefa said. 

Judge hit a towering fly ball on the first pitch of the seventh inning from reliever Darren McCaughan that carried just enough to clear the fence in left-center field, even if it would not have been a homer at Yankee Stadium.

While Judge hitting another homer will get the headlines, it was Volpe’s long ball that broke open the game. With two outs in the third inning, Seattle starter Logan Gilbert caught too much of the plate with a 1-2 slider and Volpe drove the pitch 413 feet for a three-run shot and a 6-0 lead. It was Volpe’s eighth homer of the season and snapped a 2-for-22 slide for the rookie.

A couple of weeks ago, Mets manager Buck Showalter asked a few veterans to step into a meeting. The team had just called up Mark Vientos, a big-swinging righty without a true position, and there surely would be fewer at-bats to go around.

The group did not include any complainers. Mark Canha told his manager he just wanted to win.

A couple of weeks later, Canha — whose playing time has dipped, if not dived, amid a slow start and a crowded clubhouse — ensured a Mets victory.

The previously struggling outfielder blasted his first home run since May 3 and drove in all of the Mets’ runs in a 4-1 win over the Phillies at Citi Field.

The Mets (29-27) assured themselves of winning the series over their division rival before the finale Thursday and have bounced back after a  2-4 road trip.

They only needed two hits Tuesday — a home run from Francisco Lindor and an RBI single from Eduardo Escobar — to win the series opener, and they only needed one lively bat a night later.

The Florida Panthers had the opportunity to make history Wednesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. They did not squander it.

The Panthers, a team which made the playoffs by a single point, are headed to the Stanley Cup Final for only the second time in franchise history after beating the Hurricanes 4-3 at FLA Live Arena in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Matthew Tkachuk — the hero of this postseason not named ‘Bobrovsky’ — scored with 4.9 seconds left for the game-winner.

It was his second goal of the night and third game-winning goal of this four-game sweep.

Florida, which has not been to the Cup Final since the 1996 campaign.

The Miami Heat are marching on to the NBA Finals, where they will face the Denver Nuggets, after a 103-84 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game  7 of the Eastern Conference finals. 

With the win, Miami avoids the dubious distinction of being the first team in NBA history to blow a 3-0 lead in a playoff series. Teams that go up 3-0 are now 151-0 all-time. It wasn’t easy. It didn’t look good after the way Game 6 was ripped from their hands with a miraculous Derrick White buzzer-beating tip-in. But Miami got it done. 

“I think a lot of people can relate to this team,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Sometimes you have to suffer for the things you really want.”

Credit the Celtics for fighting back to force a Game 7. They are just the fourth of those 151 teams to even do that much after going down 3-0, but they couldn’t get over the hump as Jayson Tatum rolled his ankle early and clearly wasn’t right the whole night, Jaylen Brown (eight turnovers, 8-of-23 shooting) was awful, and Boston’s 3-point shooting (21%), yet again, was atrocious. 

Quiznos takes its popular lobster and seafood sub game to a new level with the introduction of the new Lemon-Herb Lobster Sub, alongside the returning Classic Lobster Sub.

The new Lemon-Herb Lobster Sub features the brand’s lobster and seafood salad with lemon-herb dressing, lettuce, and tomato on butter-toasted Italian white bread.

Meanwhile, the returning Classic Lobster Sub includes the lobster and seafood salad and shredded lettuce on butter-toasted Italian white bread.

With prices starting at $9, you can find both the Classic and new Lemon-Herb Lobster Sub at participating locations nationwide.

Popeyes looks to make your day a little sweeter with the introduction of new Strawberry Biscuits.

The new Strawberry Biscuits feature the buttery, flaky dough of the brand’s signature biscuits filled with fruity strawberry bits and topped with creamy icing.

Strawberry Biscuits can be enjoyed on their own for a suggested price of $1.79 each or you can opt for a deal with two biscuits for $2.99 or four biscuits for $5.39.

You can find Strawberry Biscuits at participating locations nationwide.