DENVER -- Nuggets coach Michael Malone dismissed the notion that a shoving match between Denver's Will Barton and Portland's Seth Curry in Game 6 might carry over into Game 7 on Sunday at Pepsi Center, especially after the Trail Blazers guard called the Nuggets "sassy."

"To me, that's weak," Malone said Saturday, addressing the fourth-quarter incident that led to technical fouls being called on four players. "If that's chippiness, I mean ... I grew up in a much different time in the NBA. If that's chippiness and you want to call it 'sassy,' go ahead. But to me, it's a joke."

Curry said Barton poked him in the eye Thursday as the two were being separated following some back-and-forth shoving. After the game, the Trail Blazers guard said the Nuggets "got a few sassy dudes over there," adding that they are "front-runners".

Curry took exception to Barton standing above Portland's Zach Collins, who had just fallen toward Barton's knees after an offensive foul on Denver's Nikola Jokic. Curry nudged Barton away and Barton shoved Curry. The two were separated before Barton pointed into Curry's face. Collins and Denver's Torrey Craig then got into it, and all four were assessed offsetting technical fouls.

"It's Will Barton protecting himself from a guy falling into his knees," said Malone, whose father was an assistant during the Detroit Pistons' "Bad Boys" days. "It's Seth Curry taking offense to it. They get into a little minor skirmish -- move on. Game 7 will be hard-fought. It will be emotional because of what's at stake. I don't think it's going to be a carry-over from what happened in last game. It's playoff basketball. It should be a hard-fought game. It should be physical. It should be teams protecting each other.

"Again, that's a different era when you think about my father when he was with the 'Bad Boys' and all that. That [incident in Game 6] was nothing in my opinion."

Denver forward Paul Millsap does expect emotions to be high in Game 7 with a spot in the Western Conference finals on the line.

"I expect it to be an all-out brawl," Millsap said. "They're fighting for their lives. We're fighting for our lives. I expected it to be pretty heated. Emotions will flare here and there. The team that's the most poised and the most calm is going to be the team that's victorious. Hopefully it's us."

NBA coaching hires typically fit into two categories of power profile: strong or weak.

There are also generally two kinds of general managers working in the league: those who make decisions aimed at keeping their jobs and those who are determined to do things their way, even if it comes with the risk of failure.

Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka made it clear which type of executive he wants to be in hiring head coach Frank Vogel, who made it clear where he falls on the coaching power spectrum.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Pelinka got Vogel to take a three-year deal, and Vogel agreed to take on Jason Kidd as lead assistant coach. In the wake of Magic Johnson's exit from the team, this move establishes Pelinka as a powerful voice in the Lakers' organization. How long he'll keep that spot will perhaps be shaped by this choice. Vogel wanted the Lakers' job more than he wanted the power. Ty Lue, who rejected Pelinka's terms earlier this week, valued control more than he wanted this gig.

This very well could be a sliding doors moment. There are big names, a big job and a legacy franchise involved. This result could go any direction. It could be the basis of a turnaround. It could be a disaster. Lue's passing on the job could end up being prudent. Or it could end up being a mistake.

Let's get four things out of the way here:

• Anyone who erroneously believed LeBron James was influencing the coach hire can drop that notion.

• Pelinka's process has put Vogel in a challenging position.

• Vogel has excelled in a challenging position before.

• Until we see how the lottery and NBA draft play out -- and then see what the Lakers do with their $35 million in salary-cap space -- it's hard to know how strongly the Lakers will enter next season.

The coaching hire was a huge step for Pelinka. No matter how it might be spun, Vogel was at least the third choice. But retrofitting the roster around James is far and away Pelinka's bigger job this offseason. James can work with various coaches. What he really wants is to have a winning team constructed.

This wasn't the cleanest process, and it didn't exactly inspire confidence. Vogel has allies in the league, but he is not a classic free-agent draw. For Pelinka to give Vogel any chance, he's going to need major lottery luck or a much more executable plan for free agency than he had for the coaching hire.

The history of coaches with powerful assistants succeeding is spotty. For example, this is similar to the position in which the Cleveland Cavaliers put David Blatt in 2014.

The Cavs made Blatt, a coach with success on his résumé but limited power because he didn't have NBA experience, take Lue as his lead assistant. Lue had interviewed for the Cavs' job. The team liked him and wanted to pair the two together. There were some other dynamics also at play, including ownership and the front office disagreeing on the hire.

Blatt didn't walk in with James' respect. James felt more of a connection to the former player who sat next to Blatt. Within weeks, it was clear James preferred to deal with Lue over Blatt, and it set the stage for Lue to eventually replace Blatt.

Vogel has a real track record as a head coach in the NBA, especially his five seasons as head coach of the Indiana Pacers. Nonetheless, James and his Miami Heat team repeatedly beat Indiana in the playoffs. Although Vogel and the Pacers played James and the Heat tough, Miami never really feared them. In Orlando, Vogel had a disappointing and forgettable two years and was fired.

Vogel will come into the season with Kidd, one of the runners-up for the job, on his hip. James has long respected Kidd, and they won a gold medal together at the 2008 Olympics. Kidd was a veteran presence on the "Redeem Team" that year, and that experience largely shaped James as he was learning to be a leader. He won his first Most Valuable Player Award the next season.

Regardless of how James feels about his head coach, there is no way his respect for Vogel will match the level of his respect for Kidd -- at least not right away. How could it? James will naturally be connected to Kidd because of their relationship and Kidd's success in the league playing both against and with James.

But Vogel has been here before. He was in as weak of a position as any coach when he was named a midseason interim in Indiana in 2011. Few believed Vogel was more than a substitute teacher put in place to finish that season.

But he took over for Jim O'Brien and stunned the league with his confidence and leadership. His ability to corral and inspire a headstrong group of players that included David West, Paul George, Roy Hibbert and George Hill was commendable. When the Pacers let him go, he was hired by the Magic within days.

There is no question that Vogel can impress in an interview. He's one of the refugees of the video room, where great coaches such as Erik Spoelstra and Mike Budenholzer started their careers, and that has earned him a reputation for being a good tactician.

But being a success in this job would probably be the greatest accomplishment of his career.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The New York Yankees were frustrated by their play, and by slugger Luke Voit getting hit yet again.

Willy Adames and Ji-Man Choi had run-scoring infield singles in the sixth after tempers flared during the top of the inning when reliever Yonny Chirinos hit Voit on the left shoulder, and the American League East-leading Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees on 7-2 Saturday night.

Yandy Diaz homered twice and drove in four runs for the Rays, who reopened a 1½-game lead over the Yankees.

Voit was hit by Chirinos (5-1) one batter after DJ LeMahieu's tying solo homer.

"It's frustrating," said Voit, who didn't speculate on whether he was thrown at intentionally. "He can hit me anywhere else. This one is up and in. It's a situation that can be career-ending. He's a sinkerballer. and that was pretty straight."

Although there were no on-field incidents after Voit was hit, Yankees starter CC Sabathia went to the top of the Yankees dugout and yelled toward Tampa Bay players.

In his final start last season, Sabathia was ejected at Tropicana Field and given a five-game suspension for hitting Jesus Sucre with a pitch after Rays pitcher Andrew Kittredge threw a pitch behind Austin Romine.

"It's just the same thing, you hit a home run and then they throw up and in," Sabathia said. "It's stupid."

Voit has been hit five times; only Kansas City's Alex Gordon with eight has more among AL players.

Jonathan Holder (2-1) was warming up in the Yankees bullpen during the top of the sixth preparing to come in for Sabathia, who gave up two runs, three hits and four walks in five innings.

Avisail Garcia greeted Holder with a single and advanced to third on a stolen base and a throwing error by Gary Sanchez, whose seven errors are the most among big league catchers. LeMahieu, a Gold Glove infielder, could not get his glove down to receive the throw.

"I should have had Gary's ball," LeMahieu said.

Guillermo Heredia walked, and Garcia scored on Adames' single to LeMahieu, who was shifted and gloved the ball on the shortstop side of second base. LeMahieu made a sliding backhand stop on the outfield grass, but the ball popped into the air as he tried to throw. The left-handed-hitting Choi followed with a bouncer to LeMahieu in short right field and beat the second baseman's one-hop throw. Heredia kept running and scored from second on the hit as the ball bounced away from Voit at first.

Sanchez was hit hard on his catching helmet by Heredia's backswing in the eighth. Sanchez stayed in the game and underwent postgame tests.

"Feel good right now," Sanchez said through an interpreter. "Got to wait and see how I feel tomorrow."

With the Yankees' bullpen short after being used extensively the previous two days, manager Aaron Boone brought in Nestor Cortes Jr. in the seventh, the 36th player and 17th pitcher used by New York this season. The 24-year-old left-hander gave up a three-run homer to Diaz in the eighth.

Cortes was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the game, an indication right-hander Chad Green could be recalled after three appearances for the International League club to regain his mechanics.

Garcia homered in the second and Diaz added a third-inning shot off Sabathia, who has allowed eight homers over 30⅓ innings in six starts.

Diaz has nine homers. In parts of two previous seasons, he went deep one time.

"I've actually surprised myself," Diaz said through an interpreter. "I've never had those numbers in the past, but I'm swinging hard and I've been getting good results."

Clint Frazier hit an RBI double in the fifth, when Mike Tauchman into an inning-ending double play with runners at the corners.

DOUBLE CATCH

Tommy Pham made two catches on one play in the fourth inning. The Rays left fielder caught Brett Gardner's fly ball and then used his bare hand soon after to grab a contact lens that popped out. Pham, who went 0-for-4, was on the field postgame hitting balls at home plate off a tee.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Yankees: Center fielder Aaron Hicks (back strain), expected back Monday, went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a homer for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. ... Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (strained left calf) is scheduled to resume hitting and defensive drills during the upcoming week. ... Designated hitter/outfielder Giancarlo Stanton (left biceps/shoulder) is doing limited baseball activities. ... Sanchez was hit by Heredia's backswing in the eighth.

Rays: Right-hander Tyler Glasnow (6-1), who left his start Friday night in the sixth inning, is expected to miss four to six weeks with a right forearm strain. Glasnow will not throw for seven to 10 days.

UP NEXT

Yankees RHP: Masahiro Tanaka (2-3) will start Sunday's series finale against Rays LHP Blake Snell (3-3).

SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants pitcher Derek Holland has criticized San Francisco's front office and says he faked an injury that led to a recent stint on the injured list.

Holland was demoted to the bullpen following a 5-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday night then said he has "no idea what they're doing" in the front office.

The veteran left-hander gave up seven runs in 2⅔ innings Thursday during a 12-11 loss to Colorado, his first outing after going on the IL because of a left index finger bone bruise.

Holland said he "did a fake injury" and that he's "not happy about that." He specified that his frustration is with the front office and not manager Bruce Bochy. He said "they keep changing a lot of the things'' and "at the end of the day, I'm going to do whatever they ask me to do."

Farhan Zaidi, the team's president of baseball operations, told the San Francisco Chronicle later Saturday that the injury was legitimate.

"His use of the word 'fake' probably comes from him feeling he could continue to pitch with it," Zaidi said.

CHICAGO -- Everyone loves a redemption story, and the Chicago Cubs have two of them going on right now. Both showed up Saturday, with catcher Willson Contreras hitting a 15th-inning walk-off home run against the Milwaukee Brewers to make a winner out of formerly much-maligned pitcher Tyler Chatwood.

Let's start with the right-hander, who came out of the bullpen to pitch four innings, keeping the Brewers off the scoreboard from the 12th through the 15th. Chatwood led the majors in walks last year, with 95 in 103 innings. The Cubs banished him to the pen, where he has reemerged and thrived this season. His walk percentage has gone from a whopping 20 percent to under 15, as he has been filling up the zone with some nastiness.

"Last year I knew I didn't lose my stuff," Chatwood said after the Cubs' 2-1 win Saturday. "I didn't have a good year, but my stuff was still there. I had some of the best stuff but wasn't able to throw it over the plate."

It's true. Chatwood can spin the ball with the best of them while firing up a 97 mph fastball. Finally, that has come into play for him in a Cubs uniform, and the team is reaping the unexpected rewards.

The same can be said of Willson Contreras, who hit just 10 home runs last season. Guess what? Saturday's walk-off long ball was already his 10th of 2019.

Where Chatwood has done a good job of making a bad number get smaller, Contreras is doing the opposite, making a small number get really big. His home run rate has jumped from 1.8 percent to more than 7 percent.

"To be honest, I didn't think about having a great start like this one," Contreras said. "I did put my focus and work into [a better] mindset. That took me out of my game plan last year. I put a lot of pressure on myself to match the homers or RBIs from the year before. It didn't work out, but I was glad I was able to fail that way and learn from it."

Entering the season, both Contreras and Chatwood were considered X factors on the Cubs' roster. Fans had some faith that the catcher could return to form, but there was little hope for Chatwood. He worked hard in the winter to turn his career back around.

"I'm seeing the benefits," Chatwood said. "I just have to keep going."

The same can be said for the Cubs, who snapped Milwaukee's seven-game win streak on Saturday. The NL Central race is so tight that no team can afford a tilted season series against one opponent. The Brewers had been trending in the right direction against the Cubs, winning three of four games to begin this season after taking the division title in Game 163 last year. If Saturday is a good indication, though, the final 14 games between these two teams should be plenty of fun.

On this day, the guy who had to crouch for 15 innings said, "Enough is enough." Through a drizzling rain -- and to the delight of his starting pitcher on the day -- Contreras continued to make his comeback tour epic.

"I know the type of power that he has and the threat that he is," Cole Hamels said, still cold from a long, freezing spring day. "We were all talking about. I don't think he wanted to go out there for a 16th inning."

Romania's Simona Halep missed out on regaining the world number one ranking as she lost the Madrid Open final to Kiki Bertens.

A win would have seen Halep overtake world number one Naomi Osaka but she lost 6-4 6-4.

The title is the biggest of Bertens' career and she will climb to fourth in the rankings on Monday, making her the highest-ranked Dutchwoman in history.

She also becomes the first woman to win in Madrid without dropping a set.

Halep is the fourth Grand Slam champion Bertens has beaten during the tournament and will now been seen as one of the favourites for the French Open, which begins in two weeks.

Both players struggled to hold serve with eight breaks across the two sets - three to Halep and five to Bertens - but the Dutchwoman was the more dominant.

Last year's runner-up hit 25 winners and four aces with her forehand in particular causing problems.

Rafael Nadal's bid for a sixth Madrid Open is over after he was beaten by Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-final.

Greek 20-year-old Tsitsipas, the eighth seed, came through 6-4 2-6 6-3 in a thrilling encounter.

He will play top seed Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final after the Serb earlier overcame Austrian Dominic Thiem 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4).

Nadal's defeat on the Madrid clay comes just two weeks before he bids for a 12th French Open title in Paris.

Tsitsipas, one of the most exciting young players in the game, beat Roger Federer at this year's Australian Open and, though he had never beaten Nadal, produced a brilliant performance to see off the Spaniard on his favourite surface.

Nadal's defeat was his third straight semi-final exit on clay after losing to Fabio Fognini in the Monte Carlo Masters and Thiem in the Barcelona Open.

Tsitsipas said: "It means the world, it's really nice to be able to play this way, it's an unbelievable feeling.

"I had to show mental discipline, and being tough and decisive in those crucial moments was key, I had to take all opportunities because Rafa is a fighter, he doesn't give you many points."

Tsitsipas, who beat Djokovic in the Rogers Cup in Toronto last August, said he was looking forward to another match with the Serbian.

"I'll have to be mentally prepared for Djokovic, I'm sure he wants the title as badly as me."

The Greek made a fine start against Nadal, breaking the Spaniard's serve three times in the opening set, but the 17-time Grand Slam champion looked to have swung the match in his favour by winning four straight games at the end of the second.

Tsitsipas saved break points early in the third and then earned a break of his own to move to move 3-2 in front before another soon after took him 5-2 ahead.

Nadal then denied Tsitsipas when his opponent was serving for the match before the contest ended with a thrilling final game.

Nadal saved Tsitsipas' first match point at 30-40 before hitting a sensational pick-up winner and a fine drop shot to see off two more, leaving his home crowd gasping in disbelief.

But when the Spaniard hit a volley into the net on the following point to give Tsitsipas a fourth match point, the Greek closed out the match.

Djokovic finding form before Paris

World number one Djokovic reached his third Madrid final earlier on Saturday with a gruelling win over Thiem.

The match lasted two hours and 24 minutes and secured Djokovic a first clay-court final of the season.

Thiem, the runner-up in the previous two Madrid finals, led by a break in both sets but Djokovic fought back to win.

Elsewhere, Roger Federer has confirmed he will play in next week's Italian Open as he continues to build-up to his first French Open for four years.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion played his first clay-court event in three years in Madrid, reaching the quarter-finals before losing to Thiem.

Federer has never won in Rome and will receive a first-round bye for the tournament which begins on Monday.