Stamp prices rise for the third time in five years amid financial woes for Canada Post
Canada Post is increasing stamp prices for the third time since 2019, a move the Crown corporation says is a "reality" of its sales-based revenue structure.
The highlight of Game 1 for Jamal Murray came when he dribbled into the middle, planted his surgically repaired left knee in the paint, made a full clockwise turn, then faded away and swished a mid-range jumper.
His most important contribution to Denver's first win in the franchise's first appearance in the NBA Finals -- well, take your pick.
Murray's 26-point, 10-assist night in the 104-93 win over Miami on Thursday almost seemed incidental for a team that features a player averaging a triple-double in these playoffs in Nikola Jokic, who has the skills to make every player on the roster a threat.
And yet, anybody following the Nuggets for a while knows it has been Murray's return to full health -- and his return to the playoffs for the first time in three seasons -- that has been a catalyst in the run they're on.
"He's a three-level scorer. He can shoot the 3. He can pull up and get to the rim," said Heat guard Haywood Highsmith, describing the challenge of slowing Murray. "He's a crafty player, has a good handle. He's in good condition."
All those points and assists aside, it's arguable Murray's most important contribution in this game came during a 106-second stretch after Miami had cut a 24-point deficit to 10. It's somewhat remarkable -- and oh-so typical of the seventh-year guard out of Kentucky -- that during those 106 seconds that changed the game, Murray didn't record a single stat.
It started at the 9:02 mark of the fourth quarter when he made a snap throw to Jokic, which loosened the Heat defense and allowed Jokic to find Jeff Green for an uncontested layup.
A few empty possessions later, Murray found a sliver of open space in the middle to hit Jokic, who missed the easy layup but got fouled and made both free throws.
The possession after that, Murray scooped up the ball after Bruce Brown picked Highsmith's pocket. Murray wove down court, dribbled around his back, through his legs, then flipped it to Michael Porter Jr. who, with the court now wide open, found Jokic for a layup.
Denver's lead was back to 16.
"Loved his pace tonight, just the pace that he played all night long," Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said. "The tempo that he played at, controlling the game and controlling the flow of the game was great."
For the record, Murray's turnaround fadeaway over Highsmith -- the jumper of the night -- came with 3:27 left, raised the Denver lead to 14 after another mini-flurry from the Heat and put to rest any doubt about the outcome.
It also served as yet another reminder that if they Heat are going to have any chance of containing the Nuggets over the rest of this series, they'll have to account for the player who has never made an All-Star game and never received an MVP vote but is every bit as key to Denver's success as the player who has, Jokic.
"He's a dynamic scorer. He poses threats in different ways and he's relentless," said Miami guard Gabe Vincent. "It will be a tall task, and we'll continue to work at it."
Murray went down in a game at Golden State and tore up his knee late in the 2020-21 season, an injury that forced him to miss the `21 playoffs and all of last year. Even with Jokic winning the MVP in both of those seasons, the Nuggets got swept out of the '21 conference semifinals by the Suns and demolished by the Warriors in the first round in '22.
By then, the phrase "Bubble Murray" -- an homage to his breakthrough during the 2020 playoffs in the COVID bubble in Orlando -- was becoming popular. He has grown tired of that label, and of the question of whether "Bubble Murray" would ever show up again once he returned to full health.
Answer: Yes.
He has averaged 27.6 points and 6.2 assists over 16 playoff games this year, surpassing his regular-season numbers by 7.6 and 1.4. Counting 2019 and 2020, Murray increases his scoring by 33% and his assists by 13% in the postseason. He is, in short, building a reputation as one of those special players who come up biggest when the lights are brightest.
True to form, Murray was more than happy to spread the credit around after the Nuggets made it 1-0 as a franchise in the NBA Finals.
"It's hard to guard everybody, instead of just one or two guys," Murray said. "I think tonight was just a great example of how it could be anybody's night and anybody's quarter, maybe not your quarter. That's just Nuggets basketball."
Canada Post is increasing stamp prices for the third time since 2019, a move the Crown corporation says is a "reality" of its sales-based revenue structure.
Defence lawyers for Jeremy Skibicki have told the court the accused unlawfully caused the death of four women, but argue he is not criminally responsible due to mental disorder.
H5N1 or avian flu is decimating wildlife around the world and is now spreading among cattle in the United States, sparking concerns about 'pandemic potential' for humans. Now a health expert is urging Canada to scale up surveillance north of the border.
Italy's mafia rarely dirties its hands with blood these days. Extortion rackets have gone out of fashion and murders are largely frowned upon by the godfathers.
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
The judge presiding over Donald Trump's hush money trial fined him US$1,000 on Monday for violating his gag order once again and sternly warned the former president that additional violations could result in jail time.
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Researchers in Israel are turning to artificial intelligence to comb through piles of records to try to identify hundreds of thousands of Jewish people killed in the Holocaust whose names are missing from official memorials.
Russia plans to hold drills simulating the use of battlefield nuclear weapons, the Defense Ministry announced Monday, days after the Kremlin reacted angrily to comments by senior Western officials about the war in Ukraine and Moscow warned that tensions with the West are deepening.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.