Denver, CO
Denver Nuggets Film Friday: Third quarter merchants – Denver Stiffs
If you’re not familiar with Film Fridays, each Friday, I’ll be looking at some recent Denver Nuggets’ games, lineups or something else from a film aspect to try and bring you a piece of content that you’re not getting somewhere else. Feel free to give any feedback positive or negative in the comments or find me on Twitter.
Before I say anything else, I have got to say that it has to suck to root against Nikola Jokic. The dude will spend two hours of your life moving around at his pace and dragging you through the mud with him. Then, right when you think you have him at the brink, he’ll crush your hopes. He lets all of his emotions fly that had been sitting below the surface all game long. I’m glad to say that I get to root for him on a nightly basis.
CALLED GAME FROM 39 FEET OUT 🃏 pic.twitter.com/wi492XDao5
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) January 5, 2024
Now, with that out of the way, a belated Happy New Year to all, and thank you for being here. The Denver Nuggets are a third quarter evisceration machine. I’m not sure what they’re doing in the locker room at halftime, but they’re annihilating teams coming out of the break. Among 5-man lineups with at least 100 third-quarter minutes, Denver’s starting five leads the NBA with a net rating of 30.4, which is 14 points better than any other lineup.
Denver has consistently shown over the last few years that they’re one of the league’s best closing teams. Due in large part to their potent offense, they can afford to “slack” off a bit in the first half of games. That allows them to conserve energy for those big third quarter explosions. So, what exactly is this team doing in the third quarter that makes them just such a handful for other teams to deal with?
Get Shooters Going
One key thing for Denver’s offense is getting their shooters going early in the quarter. The spacing that is provided by Michael Porter Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Jamal Murray opens the floor up for Jokic and Aaron Gordon. When there’s space to move around, there’s space to make plays. Denver started their third period against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night in a tie game. On their first possession, they get into their offense early, with the ball getting swung to the corner. Murray drives in before kicking across the court to KCP, and he feeds MPJ in the corner for a triple.
Jokic is the straw that stirs the team’s drink. There’s no one that’s going to argue against that. However, you can argue that Murray is right up there in terms of importance for this team’s success. When he’s playing well, it adds an element to the offense that makes them so much more difficult to deal with. Instead of just dealing with Jokic as a primary ball handler that can create his own shot or set up the rest of the guys on the floor, now you have Murray too. Here, it’s early in the quarter, and Denver just wants to get him an easy look to see his shot go through. Murray uses the screen from Jokic to generate some space, and he knocks down the look. Now, the rest of the quarter the defense has to honor his shooting away from the rim because he can take over a game in an instant.
Use the Space
This play takes place less than two minutes after the first clip from this piece. The defense for the Hornets was swarming around on that first possession and collapsing on the ball at every spot. Now, after just one MPJ triple, they can’t do it. Due to Jokic’s passing ability, they have to stay on their man. One person collapsing a little too hard, and there’s going to be a triple raining in over their head. So, thanks to the one-on-one matchup, Jokic just calmly backs down his defender and flips in a little hook shot that looks like he was demonstrating it for a tutorial video.
This play takes place just a couple possessions after the second clip from the above section. Denver has gotten a couple of baskets on the board in the period, and they’ve slightly stretched their lead at the half from three to four. The defense is keyed in on Jokic looking for outside shooters, but they’re forgetting about the ability for those shooters to move. They all get caught watching their stationary targets that KCP’s leak to the basket doesn’t get read until it’s too late, and he gets the free layup.
Yet again, there will be no World Cup action in Denver.
Despite being considered a premier United States soccer market, Colorado’s capital city won’t host any matches in the sport’s biggest global event.
Denver was not selected as one of 16 North American cities (11 in the U.S.) to host games during the 2026 FIFA World Cup from June 11-July 19.
This is the fourth World Cup (two women’s, two men’s) with games held on U.S. soil. Colorado has still never hosted a World Cup match.
Denver put in a bid for the 2026 World Cup, with the Denver Broncos’ home of Empower Field at Mile High being the potential host site. FIFA ultimately did not select the Mile High City.
The 2022 announcement was disappointing for one of America’s premier soccer markets.
Colorado has hosted dozens of U.S. Women’s and Men’s National Team matches, many of them at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City. Empower Field has welcomed soccer events like the CONCACAF Gold Cup, League of Nations and international friendlys.
The state has also produced abundant high-level soccer talent, including impact players like Sophia Wilson (née Smith) and Mallory Swanson (née Pugh) for the USWNT.
However, FIFA chose Dallas; Houston; and Kansas City, Missouri; alongside Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara in Mexico as a Central Region cluster to minimize travel distance and logistics.
This is the first World Cup since the event expanded from 32 to 48 teams, meaning 104 total matches. Each site will host between four and nine matches during the tournament.
Why isn’t Denver hosting World Cup matches?
Former soccer writer Grant Wahl said Denver’s relative geographic isolation combined with an “underwhelming host committee” were factors working against the city’s host hopes.
Elevation was also floated as a negative factor by Denver’s bid committee back in 2022, according to 9News.
That explanation is unlikely, given that Mexico City (7,350 feet) and Guadalajara (5,138 feet) sit above or comparable to Denver’s famed 5,280 feet of elevation.
Another possible factor? Money.
Several states with host sites approved tax breaks, funding boosts or stadium improvements to match FIFA requests, the Associated Press reported.
Colorado did not. Per CPR, neither Gov. Jared Polis nor then-Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock approved funds or pushed for legislation to lure the World Cup.
Denver’s bid committee estimated a cost of $40-45 million to host matches with an aggressive potential local economic impact estimate of $360 million.
2026 World Cup host sites
Western Region
- Los Angeles
- San Francisco Bay Area
- Seattle
- Vancouver (Canada)
Central Region
- Dallas
- Guadalajara (Mexico)
- Houston
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Mexico City (Mexico)
- Monterrey (Mexico)
Eastern Region
- Atlanta
- Boston
- Miami
- New York/New Jersey
- Philadelphia
- Toronto (Canada)
Chris Abshire covers high school and community sports for the Coloradoan.
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Country bars are back—big time. Arguably, they never went away in the first place (Denver’s Grizzly Rose has been rootin’ and tootin’ since 1989), but if you want to understand the resurgence of Western watering holes, look to Gen Z businessman Colton Patterson, 19. Daydreaming in class at Columbine High School in Littleton, he started sketching cowboy-themed art—pearl snaps, mustangs mid-gallop, pickup trucks—in his notebook, then posting on an Instagram page that now has more than a million followers.
Last month, the young entrepreneur opened an-old fashioned watering hole, Broken Bow, in Five Points. It joins a slew of other new (and newish) spots where you can wear a ten-gallon hat, drink a cheap beer (or a fancy whiskey, if that’s more your style), and cue up some Johnny Cash.
Jump Ahead:
Read More: 10 of the Best Places to Go Dancing in Denver
- Where: 5450 Lincoln St., Denver
When one mechanical bull won’t cut it, head to the Grizzly Rose, where two of ’em buck nightly. Indisputably the king of Denver honky-tonks, the 40,000-square-foot, 37-year-old wonderland just off I-25 north of Globeville often hosts big-name acts. On June 26, Rodney Atkins, who’s had six country chart-toppers, swings by. Kids are free on Sunday family nights, when the 7 p.m. line dancing class is also gratis.
Read More: Step Inside Denver’s Last Honky-Tonk
- Where: 2201 Lawrence St., Unit B, Denver (Ballpark)
Colton Patterson isn’t old enough to drink the beer he sells, but the 19-year-old parlayed social media fame (his cowboy nostalgia page has a loyal following) into a brand-new, but decidedly old-school, Western bar and dance hall in Five Points. At Broken Bow, which opened in April, you can play pool, catch a concert, and grab a burger from Dalton’s. Stop by on Thursday nights for free swing dance lessons, and catch live shows from bands like Front Range Revival.
- Where: 1930 Blake St., Denver (LoDo)
If you’ve ever wanted to twirl beneath an enormous boot-shaped disco ball (made by local mirror-ball specialist Lauren Young), Belles & Boots is your spot. The 4,000-square-foot, year-old LoDo bar and restaurant has a cheeky, feminine vibe and is warmly lit by neon artwork. The line dancing scene attracts experienced boot-scooters and first-timers alike, and the event calendar is quirky (see: a platonic speed-dating mixer).
- Where: 2430 South Havana St., Aurora
Beloved for its Ladies Night on Wednesdays (gals get two free drinks after a $10 cover), this Aurora country music venue and dancehall welcomes all comers, genre-wise. Catch performances from touring conjunto, banda, norteño, and cumbia acts; take West Coast swing lessons; or even watch a Muay Thai fight, because why not?
- Where: 1665 N. Grant St., Denver (Uptown)
In October 2024, an 1880s-era red sandstone mansion in Capitol Hill was transformed into the fourth location of the Urban Cowboy hotel chain (also in Brooklyn, Nashville, and the Catskills). The designs in its 16 rooms exude eccentric Western heiress vibes, with boldly patterned custom wallpaper and ornate tile. Honeymooners can splurge on a suite with double copper soaking tubs, but you don’t need to be celebrating anything to knock back a cold one in the Public House where Little Johnny B’s serves wood-fired pizza.
- Where: 3965 Tennyson St., Denver (Berkeley)
At this new, upscale mashup of a saloon and a custom hat shop on Berkeley’s Tennyson Street, sip your choice of 23 varieties of whiskey or bourbon while a high-quality lid is molded to precisely fit your noggin. The zero-proof cocktail options are impressive, including an Old Fashioned with walnut bitters, tea, and cherry. Starting at $225 for wool and $525 for beaver, the hats ain’t cheap, but your grandkids will inherit them.
Read More: 16 of the Best Venues for Live Music in Denver
Denver, CO
One Invitation Can Change a Life: Called By Name Campaign Inspires Future Priests For a Second Year in Denver
The Archdiocese of Denver’s vocations initiative continues to bear fruit as more men explore a possible call to the priesthood.
Lean in close, dear reader. We’ve got a secret for you. God has a plan for your life.
While this might not be a tremendous surprise to most faithful Denver Catholic readers, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget to ask God what that plan is. We might even have our own ideas of what we want to do with our lives, neglecting input from the divine.
That’s where the Archdiocese of Denver’s Called By Name campaign comes in. In 2025, the inaugural year, over 900 names were submitted during the May campaign, which coincides with Good Shepherd Sunday. Nearly 100 of those men attended an August discernment retreat, and the Archdiocese saw 27 men enter priestly formation for the 2025-2026 academic year, with about another 20 expected to enter for the 2026-2027 year.
The campaign seeks to make vocational discernment more accessible for men, especially in response to a dire need for more priestly vocations in the Archdiocese of Denver. With only 14% of the archdiocesan presbyterate hailing from Colorado, a minority ordained for the Archdiocese and 4,054 Catholics per active archdiocesan priest, Jesus’ own words that “the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few” ring true (Matthew 9:37).
For the men nominated a year ago, Called By Name presented an opportunity to go deeper in faith and to ask the Lord what his will is for their lives.
“I feel like if I don’t go to seminary, I’m going to be asking the question if I’m called to be a priest for the rest of my life. That’s why I’m going to seminary, to try and get that question answered,” said Jeremy Gillett, an incoming seminarian from Longmont. “I feel like I’ve gone to a couple of discernment retreats at the seminary, and every time it just feels like this place is home. It very much feels like a good place to be.”
Building on the inaugural year’s tremendous results, the Archdiocese of Denver sponsored Called By Name for a second year in a row, identifying 405 men that local parishioners prayerfully think could make happy, holy, healthy priests.
“The Called by Name campaign continues to pave the path for Denver’s next generation of men discerning the priesthood,” said Chris Kreslins, senior client manager at Vianney Vocations, who facilitated the campaign. “Building on the momentum of last year’s 955 nominations, the 405 men nominated in the 2026 Called by Name campaign will be invited to a year full of discernment opportunities, beginning with a special event with Archbishop Golka and Father Jason Wallace in August.”
“I’m grateful that our archdiocesan family has put forward 405 young men they’ve discerned could make good and holy priests. It’s a great blessing, and a sign that God is moving in big ways across the Archdiocese of Denver, in the faithful witness of my brother priests especially,” Denver Archbishop James Golka said. “The priesthood is a wonderful, beautiful life and vocation, and I’m so grateful that God has called me to love and serve his people in this way.”
For the 405 men nominated in the 2026 campaign — and many others — the archbishop expressed his hope that God make known his will and give them the courage to follow him.
“God has a plan for each of our lives, and it’s a beautiful plan meant to bring us joy, fulfillment and grace. When we follow Jesus, when we give the Father everything, we are the happiest and holiest we can be because we’re living through him, with him and in him,” Archbishop Golka said. “I pray that these 405 men and many others hear the voice of God calling them to the full, free and fulfilled life he has in store for them as they love and serve his people.”
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