NFL: WEEK 14---BRONCOS, SEAHAWKS, OTHERS AT BASE OF THE SUMMIT // NBA: AROUND THE HORN; NUGGETS & BREAKING "GOOD."

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . // . . . NFL: WEEK 14---BRONCOS, SEAHAWKS, OTHERS AT THE SUMMIT // NBA: AROUND THE HORN; NUGGETS & BREAKING “GOOD.” . . . NFL---WERE NFL-2013 to end with Week 14, win/loss records alone would place the National Conference West’s 10-1 Seattle Seahawks against the American Conference West’s 10-2 Denver Broncos, and that could very well be an outcome for the February 5, 2014 Super Bowl. But which of the two is best? Going by win/loss numbers only, the two franchises are roughly equal, though the Seahawks have one less loss from the Seahawks having played 11 instead of the 12 contests that the Broncos have endured. From these games played Weeks 1 through 13, the Broncos have put 429 points on the board, while the Seahawks have accrued 306. When adding the 35 points that the Broncos gained vs. the AC West’s 9-3 Kansas City Chiefs during Week 13 to the Seahawks total number of 2013-earned points, the Broncos still have a much greater number of combined touchdown + field goal data. Moreover, in two of the Broncos games this year, the Denver team has finished with more than 50 points, in three others with more than 40. The highest number of points achieved by the Seahawks in any of their 11 games remains the 45 taken from now AC third place team, the 3-9 Jacksonville Jaguars, all other Seahawks wins being of much loweer figures. In addition, within the Broncos two losses are opposing teams that today are NFL division leaders and candidates for the post-season, the AC South’s 8-4 Indianapolis Colts and AC East’s 9-3 New England Patriots. And, there are no Broncos near-losses, while though the Seahawks also lost to the Colts, they have allowed two of NFL-2013’s worst teams to push them into Overtime, the now AC South’s last place 2-10 Houston Texans, and the NC South’s 3-9 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, these franchises losing to the Seahawks by only three points respectively. Furthermore, the Broncos have accumulated more yards throughout NFL-2013’s Weeks 1 through 13, than the Seahawks have, 4,135 passing yards and 1,463 rushing yards, total: 5,598, vs. the Seahawks 2,807 passing yards and 1,954 rushing yards, total: 4,561 yards gained. With regard to rushing, the Broncos have fewer total yards gained during Weeks 1 through 13, than the Seahawks have, yet the Broncos rushing stat has evolved into 14 TD’s, the Seahawks, 11. Also, the most yards gained to date by a Broncos receiver totals more than 1,060, the best from a Seahawks receiver being 663. From rushing, the top three Broncos running backs have gone for a total of 1,403 yards, the Seahawks top three having accrued 1,631, which seems an advantage for the Seahawks until noted is that the Broncos top RB’s have rushed for 12 TD’s vs. the Seahawks top two going for 11 TD’s. As to a quarterback match-up, the Broncos QB Peyton Manning has it all over Seahawks QB, Russell Wilson. Manning has passed for 4,125 yards since the start of NFL-2013, Wilson for 2,672. Manning’s pass completion rate is 68.1 percent from 327 completions of 480 attempts; Russell’s pass completion rate is 64.9 from a much lower attempt/completion reading---198 from 305 attempts. However, in Manning’s NFL-2013 pass corner are 41 TD’s, compared to Russell’s 22. But there’s a category of play that is troubling for the Broncos re. a Broncos/Seahawks match-up---“Defense.” Since early September, the Broncos defense has given up more than 20 points in 10 of 12 matches and allowed 17 and 19 in others, for a total of 317 points. The Seahawks have allowed 20 and more in only three of 11 games, totaling but 186 given away. . . This Sunday (Week 14) will likely be an easier go for the Broncos than for the Seahawks, the former being up against a much weaker franchise, the AC South’s 5-7 Tennessee Titan. The Seahawks will be facing a more formidable opponent, the NC West’s 8-4 San Francisco 49ers. . . Other leading NFL teams that can from Week 14 continue claiming division supremacy/playoff candidacy almost couched in guarantees, that’s the AC West’s 9-3 Chiefs facing the NC East’s 3-9 Washington Redskins on Sunday, the AC East’s 9-3 Patriots to be challenged on Sunday by the AC North’s 4-8 Cleveland Browns, also the AC North’s 8-4 Cincinnati Bengals and the AC South’s 8-4 Colts as a Week 14 match-up same day, plus the NC East’s 7-5 Dallas Cowboys being on for Monday night vs. the NC North’s 6-6 Chicago Bears. Also on Sunday, the NC East’s 7-5 Philadelphia Eagles will go against the NC North’s 7-5 Detroit Lions, and the NC South’s 9-2 New Orleans Saints and 9-3 Carolina Panthers will face off. And, it’s still “heartbreak country” for the NC South’s last place 3-9 Atlanta Falcons and the AC South’s 2-10 Houston Texans, which finished the 2012 season high-end and valiantly. . . // NBA---THE deepest division lead within the NBA today belongs to the Eastern Conference’s Central Division number one franchise, the Indiana Pacers, 17-2 over second place team, the Detroit Pistons, now 9-10. Next are the East’s Southeast Division’s Miami Heat, 14-5, ahead of second place team, the 9-9 Washington Wizards. Within the Western Conference’s Northwest Division, the 16-3 Portland Trail Blazers are above second place franchise, the 13-4 Oklahoma City Thunder. The remaining division leading franchises---WC Southwest’s 15-3 San Antonio Spurs, WC Pacific’s 13-7 Los Angeles Clippers and the EC Atlantic’s 8-12 Boston Celtics—they have but two and one game leads over second place teams. . . The unexpected poor performances in today’s NBA appear to be within the EC Atlantic, where not one of the division’s five teams has reached .500. The EC East’s division leader, the Boston Celtics, has the lowest record among all six NBA division number ones---8-12/.400. Too, the EC East’s Toronto Raptors dropped from first to third position since December 2, and the 5-14 Brooklyn Nets and the 4-13 New York Knicks are still the only two franchises below .300 within the EC-entire except for the EC Central’s 3-5/.167 Milwaukee Bucks. Presently, only three WC teams are below .500, the WC Northwest’s 9-10/.474 Minnesota Timberwolves and 4-16/.200 Utah Jazz, and the Pacific Division’s 4-12/.250 Sacramento Kings. Inside the EC, 11 franchises are below .500, highest the Central’s 9-10/.474 Pistons, lowest the Central’s Bucks. . . NUGGETS---THE end of a winning streak before half of an NBA season is over isn’t the end of opportunity, it’s essentially the possibility of it being a pause before the next victory sweep. The currently 11-7 Western Conference Northwest Division third place Denver Nuggets just went down after seven straight wins, to the Eastern Conference Central’s now 6-12 Cleveland Cavaliers, 98-88, with a chance that the Nuggets can topple the EC Atlantic’s 8-12 Boston Celtics tonight, a team that’s essentially new and still working on coordination since the seasoned Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce left for other pastures. Noteworthy is that the Nuggets have won 10 of the team’s last 13 games and is above .500 on the road. Too, 10 of the Nuggets 18 NBA-2013/14 games played so far have been wins from more than 100 points each, and two of the team’s winning streaks above the recent run of seven have been of three and four wins. Also, the Nuggets worst loss to date re. points accrued has been 88, but just two digits below the 90 points gained by winning team, the WC Pacific's now 4-12 Sacramento Kings. And, not since November 5 have the Nuggets lost more than three games in a row. In addition, four of the Nuggets players have been averaging double digit ppg, Ty Lawson leading with 20.9 ppg. Too, the Nuggets began December holding leads vs. all opposing teams in successful field goals, 3-pointers, defense rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. END/ml