Fair warning to the rest of the league: As fast and young as the Colorado Avalanche were this season Mitch Unrein Jersey , general manager Joe Sakic vows to make them even faster and younger.
It’s become a full-speed-ahead priority.
That blend of quickness, youth and skill boosted the Avalanche from the bottom of the league a year ago to a playoff contender this season. Having an MVP candidate like Nathan MacKinnon leading the charge certainly didn’t hurt, either.
”We love the way we play the game,” Sakic said a day after the Avs were eliminated from the first round of the postseason by top-seeded Nashville in six games. ”It’s fast. It’s entertaining. It’s exciting.”
Few expected this kind of run from a Colorado team that had just 48 points in 2016-17. But youthful energy kept the Avalanche in the playoff chase until the end, where they earned the final postseason spot on the last day of the regular season. Their 47-point turnaround from a season ago matches the fourth-highest year-to-year improvement over a full season in NHL history, according to the team.
That bodes well. That is, once the sting of losing to the Predators fades.
”We’re going to stay the course and let this team grow because they deserve it,” said Sakic, whose squad was one of the league’s youngest with an average age of 25.8. ”We’re going to stay young and in the next couple of years may even get younger. If we can, even try to get a little bit quicker and faster out there.”
The Avalanche fully bought into the message of even-keeled coach Jared Bednar, who will be around two more seasons after Sakic announced Monday he recently agreed to a one-year extension with the former American Hockey League coach.
”It’s a cool story that we went from last to the playoffs, but we’re trying to win a Cup,” said the 22-year-old MacKinnon, who had 39 goals and 58 assists in the regular season. ”We showed a lot of fight this season. … Hopefully we can use some of that next season.”
Things to know about a season in which the Avalanche returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2014:
HOME COOKIN’
The Avalanche returned the aura back to the Pepsi Center. They won 28 games at home in the regular season, which tied the franchise record held by the 2000-01 squad that captured the Stanley Cup crown.
”To see the way this Colorado crowd and the city responded to us was great,” defenseman Erik Johnson said.
YOUTHFUL SPIRIT
The future is certainly bright with a total of 11 rookies dressing this season. Even more, nine players got their first taste of the postseason.
”It was great to get into the playoffs just to feel the different level Shane Ray Jersey , where you’ve got to go emotionally and intensity goes up,” Sakic said. ”We can’t take it for granted.”
MAC’S OFFENSIVE ATTACK
MacKinnon had a season worthy of consideration for the Hart Trophy as league MVP. He led the league in home scoring this season with 67 points (27 goals, 40 assists). That’s tied with Sakic (2000-01) for most in Avalanche history.
In addition, MacKinnon’s 284 shots were also the most by an Avalanche player since Sakic (332, `00-01).
He was frequently paired with captain Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, giving them one of the league’s most potent lines.
”If you want to bring someone to their first hockey game, you want to bring them to watch Nathan MacKinnon,” Sakic said.
HANGIN’ TEN
Colorado had a 10-game winning streak that began with an overtime win over Toronto on Dec. 29 and ended Jan. 23 with a loss at Montreal. It was the second-longest streak in team history.
”Great group, fun to coach,” Bednar said. ”It was a good season, a fun season – especially for a lot of our guys who went through probably their worst season, myself included, last year to respond and have a season like this.”
INJURIES
Colorado dealt with its fair share of injuries, including the loss of starting goaltender Semyon Varlamov and Johnson to knee injuries before the playoffs. In the postseason, backup Jonathan Bernier went down. The Avs had to rely on third-stringer Andrew Hammond, who was acquired as part of the three-team trade in November that sent Matt Duchene to Ottawa.
”I know we’ll come back stronger,” Landeskog said. ”I’m proud of this team.”
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LeBron James breaks hearts Karl Mecklenburg Jersey , shatters dreams and delivers joy all in one breath. He carries one city, crushes the other.
With mind-blowing ease, James can take over a quarter, a game, a series, a season and make it his own. His terms.
After being criticized earlier in his career – it seems laughable now – for not being clutch or taking the big shot, James has become the NBA’s pre-eminent closer, the player best equipped to handle pressure and produce excellence when everything is on the line.
Crunch time? He’s captain crunch. Tom Brady in the two-minute drill. Muhammad Ali in the 15th round. Mariano Rivera in the ninth. The fat lady.
It’s over when James says so.
James added to his growing legacy for breathtaking finishes on Saturday night by banking in a shot high off the backboard at the buzzer to give the Cleveland Cavaliers a 105-103 win in Game 3 of their semifinal series against the Toronto Raptors, who had the closest view of a moment that all but ended their season.
Dribbling the length of the floor while outmaneuvering a Toronto defense designed to stop him, James got to a spot where he felt comfortable, rose off his left foot and with his right hand softly dropped a shot he’s practiced hundreds of times for this kind of moment.
”That’s just who he is,” said Cavs center Kevin Love.
On the official play-by-play sheet, James’ shot was listed as: ”L.James 10′ Driving Bank Shot.”
It was so much more. It was the 33-year-old’s second game-winner of these playoffs, coming 10 days after he hit a fadeaway 3-pointer in Game 5 in a first-round series to down an Indiana Pacers team that had him on the ropes but couldn’t knock him out.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, James has made five go-ahead shots in the final five seconds of regulation or overtime in the playoffs – two more than Michael Jordan – and he might not be done.
His late-game heroics have become so common that coach Tyronn Lue’s only instructions during late timeouts is to pick which player is going to pass it to James.
”You just get the ball to `Bron at the end of the game, he has been producing for us all season, his whole career Andre Reed Jersey ,” Lue said Sunday as the Cavaliers got ready for Monday’s Game 4. ”If the game is tied or the game is on the line, we got a great person to go to down the stretch.”
Before the playoffs began, the Cavaliers, who are finally meshing after months of upheaval, were 38-0 when leading after three quarters. Following practice last month, James was asked if there was a reason for the team’s ability to preserve fourth-quarter leads.
”’Cause we got a closer,” he said, with zero hesitation.
Big shots. Timely blocks. Perfect passes.
James has done it at both ends in the waning moments of games all season for a team that has only four holdovers from its 2016 title squad. Like he does every year, James has elevated his game in the postseason. He’s averaging 34.8 points, his highest in the playoffs since 2009, with 9.5 rebounds and a career-best 8.8 assists.
The statistics, though, are only part of it.
In his last three home games, James has made two last-second shots and scored 45 points in a win-or-else Game 7.
”Right now, he’s just relishing these moments,” forward Kyle Korver said. ”He’s been amazing. I think we are expecting him to win the game in the end when it’s close. We feel like he’s going to make the plays. He’s just done it so many times this year. He makes the right read, he makes the right play Bradley Roby Jersey , he makes the shot. It’s been impressive to watch.”
Lue has seen another player like James: He was Kobe Bryant’s teammate in Los Angeles. James and Bryant share plenty of physical traits with other players, but it’s the intangibles that separate the scorers and playmakers from the difference makers.
”They want the ball,” Lue said. ”They’re always able to will their team to a win, a victory, making the right pass or play or making the big shot. It’s their will to win and making everyone better.”
And while it’s true that James has carried the Cavaliers for most of his 11 seasons with them, he’s had to shoulder a heavier burden over the past 92 games. When Cleveland relented to All-Star guard Kyrie Irving’s trade demand and shipped him to Boston, it left the team without another proven scorer capable of closing.
It’s not that Love or Korver or J.R. Smith can’t make a big shot in a tough spot when called upon, it’s that James relishes the responsibility of being the one to take it – or defer if the situation demands.
In Miami, James turned to Dwyane Wade down the stretch for help. He doesn’t have that same luxury in Cleveland, but it’s not stopping him.
As he powered up the floor in the final seconds of Game 3, there was no doubt by the Raptors, the Cavaliers or the 20,000 fans at Quicken Loans Arena who was going to take the last shot.
The closer.
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