STREAK SNAPPED

Rockets fall to Nuggets as nine-game streak comes to an end

Rockets Ime Udoka
Nuggets defeat the Rockets, 116-111. Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images.

Jamal Murray had 39 points, Michael Porter Jr. added 17 points and nine rebounds and the Denver Nuggets beat Houston 116-111 on Sunday night to snap the Rockets' nine-game win streak.

Murray, who scored 17 in the first half, had 17 in the third quarter as Denver outscored the Rockets 39-22 in the quarter to take a 96-79 lead.

Russell Westbrook had 14 points off the bench, Aaron Gordon scored 13 points with eight assists and DeAndre Jordan had 11 points and 15 rebounds for the Nuggets, which shot 51% and were 10 of 21 on 3-pointers.

Jalen Green scored 30 points, and Dillon Brooks added 21 points for Houston. Alperen Sengun had 17 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, and Steven Adams finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Rockets, which shot 44% and were 11 of 34 from behind the arc.

Trailing 109-100 with 1 ½ minutes left, Houston used a 7-1 run to cut the lead to three on a Sengun layup with 21 seconds left, but Christian Braun made two free throws with 19 seconds remaining to push the lead back to five.

Takeaways

Nuggets: Nikola Jokic missed his fourth straight game with left ankle impingement, and Denver improved to 2-2 with him out of the lineup.

Rockets: Houston remains in second place in the Western Conference with 10 games left, but the Nuggets closed to within a game of Houston.

Key moment

Sengun made one of two free throws with 14 seconds remaining, and Murray made two free throws two seconds later to push the lead to 114-108.

Key stat

Houston finished 22 of 34 from the free throw line, while Denver made 18 of 26.

Up next

Denver hosts the Chicago Bulls on Monday night, while Houston hosts the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.

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Framber Valdez expects to hit free agency after the season. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images.

There almost certainly won't be a $700 million deal for any player in the baseball's next free agency class, nothing like the record contracts for two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani and four-time All-Star slugger Juan Soto the past two winters.

Still, plenty of talented players are going into their final seasons before potentially becoming free agents for the first time.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., five-tool player Kyle Tucker and starting pitchers Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez and Zac Gallen could all become available to other teams after this season. Three-time batting champion Luis Arráez and Bo Bichette, who twice led the American League in hits, could also be first-time free agents.

Guerrero, like Soto already a four-time All-Star and Home Run Derby champion at age 26, had set a self-imposed deadline for negotiating a long-term agreement with Toronto. That passed at the start of spring training without a new deal, when he said he wanted to stay but would listen to other teams in free agency.

Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro remained optimistic going into the season that the team would eventually sign the first baseman to a contract extension.

Soto’s $765 million, 15-year contract with the New York Mets in December came after Ohtani got a $700 million, 10-year deal from the Los Angeles Dodgers the previous offseason. Guerrero told ESPN in an interview after his deadline passed that he was seeking a similar contract length as Soto but noted that his last offer was for less than $600 million.

Here are some of the players eligible for free agency after this year’s World Series:

1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays

Guerrero, who will make $28.5 million this season, hit a career-best .323 last year with a .940 OPS, 30 homers and 103 RBIs in his fourth consecutive All-Star season. Over six seasons with the Blue Jays, he has a .288 average with 160 homers and 507 RBIs in 819 games. He finished second in the 2021 AL MVP voting behind unanimous choice Ohtani.

OF Kyle Tucker, Cubs

Houston clearly wasn't planning to pay the price to keep Tucker in free agency, so the Astros traded the three-time All-Star and Gold Glove-winning right fielder to Chicago in December for a third baseman, starting pitcher and top prospect outfielder that are all under team control for multiple seasons. The 28-year-old Tucker was limited to 78 games last year because of a fractured right shin, and still hit 23 homers. He had a combined 59 homers, 219 RBIs and 55 stolen bases in 2022-23.

RHP Dylan Cease, Padres

The 29-year-old Cease has 130 starts over the last four seasons, twice finishing in the top four in Cy Young Award voting. He was the AL runner-up behind unanimous winner Justin Verlander while with White Sox in 2022, and fourth in the NL last year when 14-11 with a 3.47 ERA in 33 starts after being traded to the playoff-bound Padres during spring training from a Chicago team that went on to lose 121 games. Cease has 1,016 career strikeouts in 847 1/3 innings.

LHP Framber Valdez, Astros

One of the game's best left-handed starters, the 31-year-old Valdez has a 68-41 career record and is Houston's opening-day starter for the fourth year in a row. He was 15-7 with a 2.91 ERA in 28 games last season, his fifth in a row to finish with a winning record. The workhorse threw a no-hitter in 2023 and averaged more than 191 innings the past three years.

RHP Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks

The 29-year-old Gallen, 14-6 last year, is 43-19 with a 3.20 ERA in 93 starts the past three seasons. Arizona got him his rookie season in 2019 when it traded Jazz Chisholm Jr. to Miami. The Diamondbacks just gave 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner and four-time All-Star right-hander Corbin Burnes a $210 million, six-year deal, the richest in franchise history. That could significantly impact whether they will also be able to keep Gallen, twice a top-five finisher in Cy Young voting.

1B Luis Arráez, Padres

Arráez has back-to-back 200-hit seasons, part of three batting titles in a row while finishing each of those seasons with a different team. The Padres acquired him last year in a midseason trade from Miami, which got him from Minnesota after his first batting title with the Twins in 2022. He goes into this season with a .323 career average and only 194 strikeouts in 2,858 career plate appearances.

SS Bo Bichette, Blue Jays

A calf injury and then a broken right middle finger limited Bichette to 81 games last season, and the 27-year-old two-time All-Star hit a career-low .225 with only four homers. Before that, he led the AL in hits in 2021 and 2022, and batted .306 in 2023 during his third consecutive 20-homer season.

DH Marcell Ozuna, Braves

Ozuna, who turns 35 next November, played in all 162 games for the first time last year and was an All-Star for the third time — first since 2016. He has 79 homers and 204 RBIs over the past two years.

RHP Shane Bieber, Guardians

Bieber had 20 strikeouts in 12 scoreless innings last season before Tommy John surgery and becoming a free agent for the first time. Cleveland re-signed the 2020 AL Cy Young winner even though he won’t pitch until later this season, during which the pitcher with a 62-32 career record turns 30. He does have a $16 million player option for 2026.

A few Phillies

34-year-old catcher J.T. Realmuto, 32-year-old slugger Kyle Schwarber and 29-year-old left-handed starter Ranger Suárez are going into the final seasons of their contracts with the Phillies after being key figures for three consecutive playoff seasons. That began with that 2022 NL pennant that ended a decade-long postseason drought. Schwarber has 131 homers and 302 RBIs in that three-season span, along with 318 walks and 612 strikeouts.

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