I guess they really did play hard in the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday. According to the L.A. Lakers medical and media relations staff, Kobe Bryant got a broken nose and experienced a concussion after a hard foul by Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat. During the third quarter of Sunday's game, Bryant playing for the West All-Stars was posting up Wade, who was on the East squad, in the low post.
Kobe made a quick spin move to the left baseline, blowing past DWade who hit him in the head trying to block the shot. Wade with two hands chopped down on Bryant's forehead all the way to his nose. It was a strange incident considering there was little to no intensity to that point. What was stranger was the changing diagnosis following examinations.
According to the Lakers, Kobe received a CT scan after the game on Sunday and it said he had a nasal fracture. On Monday, Bryant flew back to Los Angeles where he was examined by Dr, John Rehm, a physician whose expertise is the facial area. Rehm concluded that more tests needed to be done. He suggested an MRI told Kobe to see a neurologist for a better opinion. This was for a foul in an exhibition game. You couldn't make it up. Unfortunately for Lakers fans, it was a true nightmare not a sleepy dream.
Today, the team and fans finally got some news when the neurologist ruled Bryant clear of any concussion-like symptoms. According to team officials, Kobe passed three separate tests but still needs to pass two more by tonight's 7:30 PM Pacific Time tip-off against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
As for Dwyane Wade, he told reporters following the Heat's practice yesterday that he apologized to Bryant face-to-face and in writing. Wade stated he said sorry after the play where the foul happened. Additionally, he sent a text message to Bryant's phone on Sunday night following the game. However, DWade and his head coach had to open his mouth before we all could forget our bad feelings.
According to the Associated Press, he said one selfish statement saying "I don't care what I'm portrayed as...". Well, Dwyane, you're a crybaby. Heat coach Erik Spolestra had a dumber response to all the criticism.
Spolestra called it “a continuation of the theater of the absurd” and whined that "there's nothing we can do about it, about the extreme exaggeration about everything that happens with our team".
Erik, one of your superstars LeBron James, announced he was signing with your team two summers ago on a freaking TV show. You threw this garbage out into the street, now you have to pick it up and throw it back in the trash can.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Daytona 500 becomes a day(s) and night to remember
The NFL’s Super Bowl was played on Sunday, February 4th. Early this morning, NASCAR completed what many drivers, fans, and reporters call its Super Bowl, the Daytona 500. It was run for the fifty-fourth time in history and Matt Kenseth won it for the second time in third years. The fact it took three days and was delayed separately by rain and fire shows the great but dangerous unpredictability of auto racing. It’s incredible that these drivers steer their car in between each other at speeds close to 200 miles per hour. That’s three times more than the legal speed on most roads.
Unfortunately, one little bump from one car to another can cause dozens to crash due to a chain reaction. On the second lap of the race, five-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson was hit from the back by David Ragan and spun out of control hitting the outside wall. Uncontrollably, the car caromed back toward the middle of the track where David Ragan’s vehicle drilled Johnson. Ragan’s front bumper struck Johnson’s driver side door as Ragan was driving straight ahead while Johnson was coming back down the hill. Ragan started to twist around when rookie Cup driver Danica Patrick tapped Ragan’s back bumper in an attempt to slow down to avoid Johnson. There were several of these bumper car type incidents during the race but one really stood out.
With 40 laps to go, there was a yellow flag for debris on the race track. The yellow flag means drivers drive slower than normal race speed. Juan Pablo Montoya was driving along the bottom of the race track toward turn 3 trying to rejoin the rest of the racers. Montoya ‘s car somehow made a shaking motion and then jerked straight into a jet dryer truck. There was a huge explosion from the impact with flames torching up a portion of the third turn. The fuel from the truck leaked out of the gas tank and onto the race track.
Why was he driving so fast? Montoya did not want the leaders or the NASCAR pace control car to get in front of him or he would fall behind a lap. He just finished a pit stop before he went back on the course. According to radio communication replayed by Fox Sports, he had an electronic problem. The glitch created a bigger problem for the scope of the race. Was anybody injured? Could workers clean up the race track sufficiently? Would the other drivers drive okay through that for the final 40 laps? In addition, the weather radar showed green patches of rain heading toward Daytona Beach. The race was postponed on Sunday and pushed back from noon to 7:00 PM on Monday because of rain.
On Monday, the Daytona 500 was stopped at lap 160. The red flag flew due to the fire in turn 3 making it dangerous to drive. After two hours of cleanup, the green flag flew again around midnight. It was Tuesday, the third day for the race. Fortunately, the predicted rain seemingly missed Daytona International Speedway except for a few minuscule drops. Unfortunately, racing was yellow-flagged twice in the final laps. First, Jamie McMurray’s vehicle unexpectedly spun around without being hit by someone. According to Fox analyst Michael Waltrip, the back left tire punctured forcing McMurray to lose control. There was no driver fault. Several racers wrecked their cars as the action happened in the middle of the track.
With four laps to go, the racing became more intense but too reckless. Ricky Stenhouse was at the bottom of a three-pack with Joey Logano right above. According to replays, Stenhouse tried to cut in front of Logano when their bumpers met sending Stenhouse's car into the back of Tony Stewart's vehicle. The domino effect continued when Stewart's momentum took him into Kyle Busch who was in front of Stewart but behind Ryan Newman. All of this chaos happened around 10th place, drivers trailing were quickly trying to get to the front of the race.
At the front, Roush Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle ran first and second, respectively. 2004 race winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was in third place. In a final roadblock to the finish, the Daytona 500 would last more than 500 miles. Years ago, NASCAR smartly created a "Green-White-Checkered" finish to avoid races finishing under caution. Basically, it is a two-lap sprint at two hundred miles an hour. When the green flag waves, that means two more laps. After that lap, the white flag signaling the final lap is shown. Following the white flag, if there is a yellow flag for an accident, the race is over. If this sounds confusing, it is, it's better though than the NHL's regular season overtime format.
When the green flag flew to start NASCAR's version of OT, Kenseth, Biffle, and Earnhardt, Jr. were still the top three. Nobody made a big move on the first lap. On the final lap, it appeared Biffle moved to the outside a little while on the backstretch but then backed off. It was strange that he would not try to race his teammate side-by-side. Finally on turn 4, Earnhardt, Jr. whipped by Biffle to the outside of the track looking for a running lane. However, he did not have enough steam to pass Kenseth who won the race to the finish line. Kenseth was first, Earnhardt Jr., was second, and Biffle was third.
While there were plenty of negatives with the delays from rain and fire plus some poor driving, a number of positives came from the three-day event. The national network broadcast on Fox helped them win the ratings battle on Monday night. AcccordingDaytona 500, first time raced in weeknight primetime, bumped NBC's 4.4 mark out of the way at the finish line.
Also, Brad Keselowski turned into a social media star during the red flag delay. He texted comments and posted pictures from the race track through his phone. Apparently, he gained over 100,000 followers on Twitter in the two-hour period. Keselowski or @Keselowski now has nearly 212,000 followers. It was that sort of weekend, fans followed Keselowski to the Twitter finish line while Brad and his racing buddies followed Matt Kenseth to the Daytona 500 finish line.
Unfortunately, one little bump from one car to another can cause dozens to crash due to a chain reaction. On the second lap of the race, five-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson was hit from the back by David Ragan and spun out of control hitting the outside wall. Uncontrollably, the car caromed back toward the middle of the track where David Ragan’s vehicle drilled Johnson. Ragan’s front bumper struck Johnson’s driver side door as Ragan was driving straight ahead while Johnson was coming back down the hill. Ragan started to twist around when rookie Cup driver Danica Patrick tapped Ragan’s back bumper in an attempt to slow down to avoid Johnson. There were several of these bumper car type incidents during the race but one really stood out.
With 40 laps to go, there was a yellow flag for debris on the race track. The yellow flag means drivers drive slower than normal race speed. Juan Pablo Montoya was driving along the bottom of the race track toward turn 3 trying to rejoin the rest of the racers. Montoya ‘s car somehow made a shaking motion and then jerked straight into a jet dryer truck. There was a huge explosion from the impact with flames torching up a portion of the third turn. The fuel from the truck leaked out of the gas tank and onto the race track.
Why was he driving so fast? Montoya did not want the leaders or the NASCAR pace control car to get in front of him or he would fall behind a lap. He just finished a pit stop before he went back on the course. According to radio communication replayed by Fox Sports, he had an electronic problem. The glitch created a bigger problem for the scope of the race. Was anybody injured? Could workers clean up the race track sufficiently? Would the other drivers drive okay through that for the final 40 laps? In addition, the weather radar showed green patches of rain heading toward Daytona Beach. The race was postponed on Sunday and pushed back from noon to 7:00 PM on Monday because of rain.
On Monday, the Daytona 500 was stopped at lap 160. The red flag flew due to the fire in turn 3 making it dangerous to drive. After two hours of cleanup, the green flag flew again around midnight. It was Tuesday, the third day for the race. Fortunately, the predicted rain seemingly missed Daytona International Speedway except for a few minuscule drops. Unfortunately, racing was yellow-flagged twice in the final laps. First, Jamie McMurray’s vehicle unexpectedly spun around without being hit by someone. According to Fox analyst Michael Waltrip, the back left tire punctured forcing McMurray to lose control. There was no driver fault. Several racers wrecked their cars as the action happened in the middle of the track.
With four laps to go, the racing became more intense but too reckless. Ricky Stenhouse was at the bottom of a three-pack with Joey Logano right above. According to replays, Stenhouse tried to cut in front of Logano when their bumpers met sending Stenhouse's car into the back of Tony Stewart's vehicle. The domino effect continued when Stewart's momentum took him into Kyle Busch who was in front of Stewart but behind Ryan Newman. All of this chaos happened around 10th place, drivers trailing were quickly trying to get to the front of the race.
At the front, Roush Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle ran first and second, respectively. 2004 race winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was in third place. In a final roadblock to the finish, the Daytona 500 would last more than 500 miles. Years ago, NASCAR smartly created a "Green-White-Checkered" finish to avoid races finishing under caution. Basically, it is a two-lap sprint at two hundred miles an hour. When the green flag waves, that means two more laps. After that lap, the white flag signaling the final lap is shown. Following the white flag, if there is a yellow flag for an accident, the race is over. If this sounds confusing, it is, it's better though than the NHL's regular season overtime format.
When the green flag flew to start NASCAR's version of OT, Kenseth, Biffle, and Earnhardt, Jr. were still the top three. Nobody made a big move on the first lap. On the final lap, it appeared Biffle moved to the outside a little while on the backstretch but then backed off. It was strange that he would not try to race his teammate side-by-side. Finally on turn 4, Earnhardt, Jr. whipped by Biffle to the outside of the track looking for a running lane. However, he did not have enough steam to pass Kenseth who won the race to the finish line. Kenseth was first, Earnhardt Jr., was second, and Biffle was third.
While there were plenty of negatives with the delays from rain and fire plus some poor driving, a number of positives came from the three-day event. The national network broadcast on Fox helped them win the ratings battle on Monday night. AcccordingDaytona 500, first time raced in weeknight primetime, bumped NBC's 4.4 mark out of the way at the finish line.
Also, Brad Keselowski turned into a social media star during the red flag delay. He texted comments and posted pictures from the race track through his phone. Apparently, he gained over 100,000 followers on Twitter in the two-hour period. Keselowski or @Keselowski now has nearly 212,000 followers. It was that sort of weekend, fans followed Keselowski to the Twitter finish line while Brad and his racing buddies followed Matt Kenseth to the Daytona 500 finish line.
Monday, February 27, 2012
NBA All-Stars fail to put in all-star performance
The NBA All-Star Weekend ended last night. There were three big events over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. On Friday, first and second year players played in their mini all-star game, the Rising Stars game. On Saturday, a collection of those rookies and sophomores, invited dunkers along with three-point shooters, and All-Star Game players participated in the skills festival. On Sunday, the All-Stars finally hit the floor for the game. It was about 11 hours or so of programming and I watched probably 5 minutes total. I admit
I’m not a hardcore basketball fan. Hockey is my favorite sport, however, I spent about the same amount of time viewing their All-Star festivities. This weekend felt flat. After the season-opening rush from Christmas Day to near March, there was curiousness from myself about the NBA. They were playing a much limited schedule than most years meaning the games were more important. In early February, a unknown kid raised in California by Taiwanese parents named Jeremy Lin began starting games for the New York Knicks as their point guard.
Through his all-around excellence passing and scoring, he became an instant star in New York and across the world. Linsanity was born and you couldn’t escape it even if you were a non-basketball fan. All of a sudden, you saw and heard people talking about Lin and the NBA in a non-stop manner. I don’t’ know if I have Lin fatigue or NBA fatigue but I tried my hardest to get away during the All-Star celebration. I’ll probably watch pro hoops again tomorrow or the day after. One thing I know, the All-Star game and weekend celebration don’t excite me like they did when I was a kid even into my teenage years.
I think one of the biggest problems with All-Star games in general is it a celebration rather than a competition. There is no defense played in these games. The Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 152 to 149. There was no overtime. If a team scores over 100 in a regulation game, that is high-scoring. The two teams combined for 301 points. The losing team in the last three years has at least put up 139 points. There is no intensity, no effort, and no physical contact between offensive and defensive players.
For instance, the announcers during the National Hockey League’s showcase game told the viewing audience if a body check was thrown and when did it happen previously. In most hockey games, you can’t go seconds without a player hitting another player. With the NBA, there was a lot of buzz from people on ESPN and through social networking site Twitter when the East’s Dwyane Wade fouled the West’s Kobe Bryant hard in the face during the third quarter. Apparently from replays, Kobe had the ball in the low post, spun toward the left baseline, jumped up toward the rim, and Wade took his two hands knocked Kobe’s hands down to stop the shot. Kobe actually got a bloody nose from that job. Yes, there was some real intensity for about five seconds.
I understand that nobody wants to get hurt themselves or injure someone else but it devalues the game. I remember clicking over to the game and hearing Marv Albert say the Clippers’ Blake Griffin was 8 of 9 on field goal attempts and 7 of them were dunks or lay-ups. When I watched some of the highlights, I saw a lot of fancy crossover dribbles, passes off the backboard, and spectacular dunks with basically everybody on the defense standing still. There was a lot of one-on-one offensive plays with very passive defense. The Rising Stars game on Friday night had the same characteristics except the players were younger and not as good yet as the regular All-Stars.
I wanted to end with Saturday’s skills contest because it was something I would watch more than the game. I probably saw two minutes live and maybe five more in highlights. I should have probably watched the point guard skills challenge and the three-point contest since there is shooting and passing involved. I admit watching the Washington Capitals hockey game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. The most frustrating part of the night was watching the Slam-Dunk Contest highlights on ESPN.
First of all, the dunkers were players I never heard about before. Second, they had ridiculous gimmicks like jumping over people. Chase Budinger of the Houston Rockets jammed one ball while leaping by rapper P. Diddy. Later on, he dunked a ball blindfolded. Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz did two jams jumping past people. The first dunk was a double-dunk with two basketballs tossed by someone sitting down. His final round winning jam used celebrity Kevin Hart as a high jump bar. Finalist Paul George of the Indiana Pacers slammed a ball down in a glow-in-the-dark jersey arena darkened except for some flashing glow sticks Meanwhile, it took ten attempts for Derrick Williams of the Minnesota Timberwolves to successfully make a slam-dunk in the last round.
I feel sorry for Evans, George, Budinger, and Williams since they had the guts to go out and perform. Where was Lebron James? Where was Dwyane Wade? Where was Kobe Bryant? Most importantly, where was last year’s champ Blake Griffin? They all played in the All-Star Game the next night. At least, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder was a big-time superstar who competed in an event. He finished second in the three-point shooting contest.
I think some of these superstars (Lebron, Kobe, etc…) are afraid of getting embarrassed. The fan response on Twitter was pretty obvious, “That was okay but where are the big-time players?".
I’m not a hardcore basketball fan. Hockey is my favorite sport, however, I spent about the same amount of time viewing their All-Star festivities. This weekend felt flat. After the season-opening rush from Christmas Day to near March, there was curiousness from myself about the NBA. They were playing a much limited schedule than most years meaning the games were more important. In early February, a unknown kid raised in California by Taiwanese parents named Jeremy Lin began starting games for the New York Knicks as their point guard.
Through his all-around excellence passing and scoring, he became an instant star in New York and across the world. Linsanity was born and you couldn’t escape it even if you were a non-basketball fan. All of a sudden, you saw and heard people talking about Lin and the NBA in a non-stop manner. I don’t’ know if I have Lin fatigue or NBA fatigue but I tried my hardest to get away during the All-Star celebration. I’ll probably watch pro hoops again tomorrow or the day after. One thing I know, the All-Star game and weekend celebration don’t excite me like they did when I was a kid even into my teenage years.
I think one of the biggest problems with All-Star games in general is it a celebration rather than a competition. There is no defense played in these games. The Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 152 to 149. There was no overtime. If a team scores over 100 in a regulation game, that is high-scoring. The two teams combined for 301 points. The losing team in the last three years has at least put up 139 points. There is no intensity, no effort, and no physical contact between offensive and defensive players.
For instance, the announcers during the National Hockey League’s showcase game told the viewing audience if a body check was thrown and when did it happen previously. In most hockey games, you can’t go seconds without a player hitting another player. With the NBA, there was a lot of buzz from people on ESPN and through social networking site Twitter when the East’s Dwyane Wade fouled the West’s Kobe Bryant hard in the face during the third quarter. Apparently from replays, Kobe had the ball in the low post, spun toward the left baseline, jumped up toward the rim, and Wade took his two hands knocked Kobe’s hands down to stop the shot. Kobe actually got a bloody nose from that job. Yes, there was some real intensity for about five seconds.
I understand that nobody wants to get hurt themselves or injure someone else but it devalues the game. I remember clicking over to the game and hearing Marv Albert say the Clippers’ Blake Griffin was 8 of 9 on field goal attempts and 7 of them were dunks or lay-ups. When I watched some of the highlights, I saw a lot of fancy crossover dribbles, passes off the backboard, and spectacular dunks with basically everybody on the defense standing still. There was a lot of one-on-one offensive plays with very passive defense. The Rising Stars game on Friday night had the same characteristics except the players were younger and not as good yet as the regular All-Stars.
I wanted to end with Saturday’s skills contest because it was something I would watch more than the game. I probably saw two minutes live and maybe five more in highlights. I should have probably watched the point guard skills challenge and the three-point contest since there is shooting and passing involved. I admit watching the Washington Capitals hockey game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. The most frustrating part of the night was watching the Slam-Dunk Contest highlights on ESPN.
First of all, the dunkers were players I never heard about before. Second, they had ridiculous gimmicks like jumping over people. Chase Budinger of the Houston Rockets jammed one ball while leaping by rapper P. Diddy. Later on, he dunked a ball blindfolded. Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz did two jams jumping past people. The first dunk was a double-dunk with two basketballs tossed by someone sitting down. His final round winning jam used celebrity Kevin Hart as a high jump bar. Finalist Paul George of the Indiana Pacers slammed a ball down in a glow-in-the-dark jersey arena darkened except for some flashing glow sticks Meanwhile, it took ten attempts for Derrick Williams of the Minnesota Timberwolves to successfully make a slam-dunk in the last round.
I feel sorry for Evans, George, Budinger, and Williams since they had the guts to go out and perform. Where was Lebron James? Where was Dwyane Wade? Where was Kobe Bryant? Most importantly, where was last year’s champ Blake Griffin? They all played in the All-Star Game the next night. At least, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder was a big-time superstar who competed in an event. He finished second in the three-point shooting contest.
I think some of these superstars (Lebron, Kobe, etc…) are afraid of getting embarrassed. The fan response on Twitter was pretty obvious, “That was okay but where are the big-time players?".
Friday, February 24, 2012
Marquee NBA Thursday post-game report
So I went 1 for 2 on my predictions. The Heat again showed why they’re the best team in the NBA while the Thunder answered some of my criticism of their defense. Miami and Oklahoma City are tied for the top record in the league at 27-7 as the All-Star break starts today and lasts until Tuesday. The Heat have won eight straight games, all by at least 10 or more points. Meanwhile, the Thunder enter the midseason mark with a five-game winning streak.
What was supposed to be a showdown versus Linsanity and the New York turned into a showcase for the Miami Heat’s overall team play. Miami allowed only 88 points to New York while scoring 102 themselves in another Heat rout. On defense, they bump and hit Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin a lot early in the game whenever he dribbled the ball. We think if players from other teams make contact with a player dribbling, then it is a foul. It seems Miami receives some help from the officials making and not making calls toward their favor. On one play, Lin’s arm was knocked from behind causing the ball to squirt out of bounds. Most times, a foul is called on the defense. Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole primarily defended Lin and caused him to have his worst game of the season. In 34 minutes, Lin scored only eight points and shot a woeful 1 for 11 on field goal attempts. In addition, he had eight turnovers compared to only 3 assists.
Meanwhile, the Heat got contributions from everybody. Chris Bosh had his best performance of the season and career. He is a tall but skinny dude who looks like he is afraid of contact. He collected 25 points on 11 of 17 field goals and grabbed eight rebounds. Dwyane Wade added 22 points and dished out 5 assists. Lebron James played an all-around game putting up added 20 points, nine boards, and five steals. Miami made 12 steals while also forcing 19 New York turnovers. The Heat even blocked 10 shots with Joel Anthony’s left hand swatting away five. The Heat looked like a team that won the title in 2006 but more importantly a squad that lost in last year’s Finals and wants the championship this year. On the other hand, the Knicks appeared as if they were a group trying to win but don’t have the fluidity and confidence of Miami right now.
In Oklahoma City, the Thunder played a surprisingly good defensive game to defeat the Lakers 100-85. Yes, Oklahoma City allowed only 85 points. I did not type that wrong. They did an excellent job of guarding the Lakers inside scorers, Pao Gasol and Andrrew Bynum. The Thunder would double-team Gasol, Bynum, Metta World Peace (what kind of name is that?), or even Kobe Bryant when he posted up. Oklahoma City showed great athleticism to run whenever the ball was passed outside which was often.
Serge Ibaka is not talked about enough when people analyze the Thunder. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are the two-All-Stars on the OKC roster. Durant’s 33 points seemed an afterthought considering he scores around that every night. Westbrook added 19 from his point guard spot. However they need guys like Ibaka to rebound and defend the other team’s post players. Ibaka had a quiet but effective double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds. He also blocked three shots. Kendrick Perkins used his big body to set screens on offense and move Bynum and Gasol out of the paint on defense. Nonetheless, he needs to add some more inside scoring. Perkins got only 3 points and 9 rebounds while playing 31 minutes. The combo of Ibaka, Perkins, and currently injured Nick Collison need to give Oklahoma City a balance of inside and outside scoring.
The Los Angeles Lakers are a confusing team this season. They have a lot of age on their squad. Kobe and Derek Fisher are in their fifteenth NBA seasons. Bryant, who jumped straight high-school to pro ball, is 33 years old while Fisher, who spent four years in college, is 37. Metta World Peace, aka Ron Artest, is 32 in his eleventh campaign while Pao Gasol, 31 from Barcelona, is a ten-year pro in the NBA along with a few years playing in the Spanish professional leagues. Those are four of their five starters. Maybe I assumed their age work in terms of experience. Right now, L.A.‘s best players are too old to keep pace with teams like the Thunder while their younger guys are not good enough .
I think the All-Star break comes as a good time for the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers. For the Knicks, the time off can represent a period of relaxation. Since Jeremy Lin was put into the starting lineup, the media attention has multiplied by millions. As far as the Lakers, they should use it to decide if they’re going to trade Gasol and regain their energy. The Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder don’t really need a stop to their season but players like James, Wade, Bosh, Durant, and Westbrook can enjoy their All-Star Game experience.
What was supposed to be a showdown versus Linsanity and the New York turned into a showcase for the Miami Heat’s overall team play. Miami allowed only 88 points to New York while scoring 102 themselves in another Heat rout. On defense, they bump and hit Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin a lot early in the game whenever he dribbled the ball. We think if players from other teams make contact with a player dribbling, then it is a foul. It seems Miami receives some help from the officials making and not making calls toward their favor. On one play, Lin’s arm was knocked from behind causing the ball to squirt out of bounds. Most times, a foul is called on the defense. Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole primarily defended Lin and caused him to have his worst game of the season. In 34 minutes, Lin scored only eight points and shot a woeful 1 for 11 on field goal attempts. In addition, he had eight turnovers compared to only 3 assists.
Meanwhile, the Heat got contributions from everybody. Chris Bosh had his best performance of the season and career. He is a tall but skinny dude who looks like he is afraid of contact. He collected 25 points on 11 of 17 field goals and grabbed eight rebounds. Dwyane Wade added 22 points and dished out 5 assists. Lebron James played an all-around game putting up added 20 points, nine boards, and five steals. Miami made 12 steals while also forcing 19 New York turnovers. The Heat even blocked 10 shots with Joel Anthony’s left hand swatting away five. The Heat looked like a team that won the title in 2006 but more importantly a squad that lost in last year’s Finals and wants the championship this year. On the other hand, the Knicks appeared as if they were a group trying to win but don’t have the fluidity and confidence of Miami right now.
In Oklahoma City, the Thunder played a surprisingly good defensive game to defeat the Lakers 100-85. Yes, Oklahoma City allowed only 85 points. I did not type that wrong. They did an excellent job of guarding the Lakers inside scorers, Pao Gasol and Andrrew Bynum. The Thunder would double-team Gasol, Bynum, Metta World Peace (what kind of name is that?), or even Kobe Bryant when he posted up. Oklahoma City showed great athleticism to run whenever the ball was passed outside which was often.
Serge Ibaka is not talked about enough when people analyze the Thunder. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are the two-All-Stars on the OKC roster. Durant’s 33 points seemed an afterthought considering he scores around that every night. Westbrook added 19 from his point guard spot. However they need guys like Ibaka to rebound and defend the other team’s post players. Ibaka had a quiet but effective double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds. He also blocked three shots. Kendrick Perkins used his big body to set screens on offense and move Bynum and Gasol out of the paint on defense. Nonetheless, he needs to add some more inside scoring. Perkins got only 3 points and 9 rebounds while playing 31 minutes. The combo of Ibaka, Perkins, and currently injured Nick Collison need to give Oklahoma City a balance of inside and outside scoring.
The Los Angeles Lakers are a confusing team this season. They have a lot of age on their squad. Kobe and Derek Fisher are in their fifteenth NBA seasons. Bryant, who jumped straight high-school to pro ball, is 33 years old while Fisher, who spent four years in college, is 37. Metta World Peace, aka Ron Artest, is 32 in his eleventh campaign while Pao Gasol, 31 from Barcelona, is a ten-year pro in the NBA along with a few years playing in the Spanish professional leagues. Those are four of their five starters. Maybe I assumed their age work in terms of experience. Right now, L.A.‘s best players are too old to keep pace with teams like the Thunder while their younger guys are not good enough .
I think the All-Star break comes as a good time for the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers. For the Knicks, the time off can represent a period of relaxation. Since Jeremy Lin was put into the starting lineup, the media attention has multiplied by millions. As far as the Lakers, they should use it to decide if they’re going to trade Gasol and regain their energy. The Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder don’t really need a stop to their season but players like James, Wade, Bosh, Durant, and Westbrook can enjoy their All-Star Game experience.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Marquee NBA Thursday pre-game report
The National Basketball Association has center stage tonight in the sports world with two intriguing games. First, the New York Knicks try to beat the Heat in Miami. Second, the Los Angeles Lakers attempt to silence the Thunder in Oklahoma City. Thankfully, TNT will show both games since it’s their night of the week to broadcast.
As far as New York-Miami, the Knicks are a nice, young team led by newcomer Jeremy Lin but remain inconsistent. New York gets up for national TV showdowns versus the defending champion Mavericks and Lakers, 2009 and 2010 champs, while losing at home to terrible teams such as Charlotte (pre-Linsanity), New Orleans, and New Jersey. New York started 8-15, won 7 straight to get to .500, and then alternated losses and wins for last four games. .
Miami is a basketball team this year and not a bunch of rock stars playing basketball like last year. The Heat are on a seven-game winning streak. They are tied with Oklahoma City for the best record in the NBA at 26-7. They are the top scoring team in the league while New York is in the middle of the pack. Lebron James and Dwyane Wade are playing well together. I don’t believe the Knicks will cool off the Heat, Miami should win going away in the fourth quarter.
It’s remarkable that the Los Angeles Lakers are a decent team out west. If you look at their roster, Kobe Bryant is the only all-star player they have. Lamar Odom was traded to Dallas right before the season started. In fact, forward Pao Gasol is rumored to be traded. Kobe went off after a loss in Phoenix on Sunday complaining the team’s management was messing with the players’ chemistry and his teammates need to play harder. Maybe he was angry that the Clippers have a better record and lead the Pacific Division. Yes, the Clippers have two fewer losses than the Lakers right now, 20 wins and 11 losses to 20 wins and 13 losses. The Lakers seemed to fix their problems after a Monday team meeting. That night, they blew out Portland and last night they knocked off the Mavericks in Dallas. Before Wednesday, the Lakers last played a game in Dallas back in May 2011 when they were swept in the second round of the playoffs.
The Oklahoma City Thunder contain a lot of thunder and lightning in their offense. On Sunday, Kevin Durant reached the 50-point mark for the first time in his career scoring 51 in a overtime win over Denver. That wasn’t all. Russell Westbrook put in 40 points while Serge Ibaka collected 14 points, 15 rebounds, and 11 blocks. These three players accounted for 105 of the Thunder’s 124 points against the Nuggets. Last night, Westbrook pumped in 31 while Durant added 28 in a victory over Boston.
The Thunder had 72 points in the first half against the Celtics, some teams don’t get 72 in an entire four-quarter game. However, Oklahoma City gives up as many points to their opponents as they pick up themselves. Last night versus and Boston and Monday against New Orleans, they almost blew leads of 25+ points. Boston trailed 83-56 (27 point deficit) with 7:07 left in the third quarter. The Celtics chipped away and with 3:31 remaining in the game, they cut the lead to six points at 108-102. Monday night, the Thunder led the Hornets by 26 points at 68-42 with eight and a half minutes to go in the third quarter. From that point until a minute remained in regulation, they were outscored 49 to 29. Oklahoma City did hang on to win 101 to 93.
The Thunder’s attempt as a team to play defense is like TNT NBA analyst Charles Barkley’s effort to play good golf. Both of them try but miserably fail. Oklahoma City should win tonight since they are the home team in their matchup with the Lakers. Nevertheless, I would pick L.A to win a best-of seven series in the postseason. I will go with Kobe, Andrew Bynum, and the Lakers with or without Pao Gasol versus Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and the Thunder. At least Los Angeles can some play defense.
In short, I predict the Heat over Linsanity and the Thunder over the Lakers tonight because they’re playing at home. However, there is a long way to go. The All-Star break is this weekend. This is the end of the first half of the NBA season, they still have to play the second half.
As far as New York-Miami, the Knicks are a nice, young team led by newcomer Jeremy Lin but remain inconsistent. New York gets up for national TV showdowns versus the defending champion Mavericks and Lakers, 2009 and 2010 champs, while losing at home to terrible teams such as Charlotte (pre-Linsanity), New Orleans, and New Jersey. New York started 8-15, won 7 straight to get to .500, and then alternated losses and wins for last four games. .
Miami is a basketball team this year and not a bunch of rock stars playing basketball like last year. The Heat are on a seven-game winning streak. They are tied with Oklahoma City for the best record in the NBA at 26-7. They are the top scoring team in the league while New York is in the middle of the pack. Lebron James and Dwyane Wade are playing well together. I don’t believe the Knicks will cool off the Heat, Miami should win going away in the fourth quarter.
It’s remarkable that the Los Angeles Lakers are a decent team out west. If you look at their roster, Kobe Bryant is the only all-star player they have. Lamar Odom was traded to Dallas right before the season started. In fact, forward Pao Gasol is rumored to be traded. Kobe went off after a loss in Phoenix on Sunday complaining the team’s management was messing with the players’ chemistry and his teammates need to play harder. Maybe he was angry that the Clippers have a better record and lead the Pacific Division. Yes, the Clippers have two fewer losses than the Lakers right now, 20 wins and 11 losses to 20 wins and 13 losses. The Lakers seemed to fix their problems after a Monday team meeting. That night, they blew out Portland and last night they knocked off the Mavericks in Dallas. Before Wednesday, the Lakers last played a game in Dallas back in May 2011 when they were swept in the second round of the playoffs.
The Oklahoma City Thunder contain a lot of thunder and lightning in their offense. On Sunday, Kevin Durant reached the 50-point mark for the first time in his career scoring 51 in a overtime win over Denver. That wasn’t all. Russell Westbrook put in 40 points while Serge Ibaka collected 14 points, 15 rebounds, and 11 blocks. These three players accounted for 105 of the Thunder’s 124 points against the Nuggets. Last night, Westbrook pumped in 31 while Durant added 28 in a victory over Boston.
The Thunder had 72 points in the first half against the Celtics, some teams don’t get 72 in an entire four-quarter game. However, Oklahoma City gives up as many points to their opponents as they pick up themselves. Last night versus and Boston and Monday against New Orleans, they almost blew leads of 25+ points. Boston trailed 83-56 (27 point deficit) with 7:07 left in the third quarter. The Celtics chipped away and with 3:31 remaining in the game, they cut the lead to six points at 108-102. Monday night, the Thunder led the Hornets by 26 points at 68-42 with eight and a half minutes to go in the third quarter. From that point until a minute remained in regulation, they were outscored 49 to 29. Oklahoma City did hang on to win 101 to 93.
The Thunder’s attempt as a team to play defense is like TNT NBA analyst Charles Barkley’s effort to play good golf. Both of them try but miserably fail. Oklahoma City should win tonight since they are the home team in their matchup with the Lakers. Nevertheless, I would pick L.A to win a best-of seven series in the postseason. I will go with Kobe, Andrew Bynum, and the Lakers with or without Pao Gasol versus Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and the Thunder. At least Los Angeles can some play defense.
In short, I predict the Heat over Linsanity and the Thunder over the Lakers tonight because they’re playing at home. However, there is a long way to go. The All-Star break is this weekend. This is the end of the first half of the NBA season, they still have to play the second half.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The Best of the Worst, The NHL's Southeast Division
Does anyone want to win the National Hockey League’s Southeast division? Four teams are separated by five points for first place while the fifth and last place team is only seven points back entering Wednesday night.
The Florida Panthers and Winnipeg Jets are the co-leaders with 65 points, The Washington Capitals, four-time defending champions, are in third, two points back at 63 . The Tampa Bay Lightning are in fourth, five markers behind at 60. The Carolina Hurricanes are in last place in the division and Eastern Conference but only trail by eight markers at 58. Amongst this group, you have two former Stanley Cup Champions (Tampa Bay in '04 and Carolina in '06) and another team that had the best regular season record two years ago.
So, what is the problem? They are inconsistent. Tampa Bay was one win away from the Stanley Cup Final championship series last year. Today, they're one game above .500 at 27-26-6. The Lighning have given up 31 more goals to opposition, 197, than they have scored, 166. Washington has lost two straight and four of five overall.
On Monday, the Capitals were shutout 5-0 by Carolina. The Hurricanes out shot Washington 40-17. The Caps' best player was called out last week by ex-teammate Olaf Kolzig and a few days later got into a fight during practice with current teammate Dennis Wideman. Earlier this season, the Capitals fired their head coach Bruce Boudreau and replaced with Dale Hunter. The change hasn't made a difference.
As far as the division leaders, the Winnipeg Jets and Florida Panthers are both doing surprisingly well. Last summer, the Jets franchise moved from Atlanta, Georgia up north to Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada. They are feast and famine when it comes to offense. They scored 9 goals in win over Philadelphia in October yet have been held scoreless for the entire game seven times this season. The Jets have played great at home for a city which lost a NHL team in 1996. Winnipeg has a 18-9-3 record on home ice but has a 11-17-4 record away from Manitoba.
Florida, located in Sunrise near Miami (Don't ask why, I have no clue) can thank the NHL's clueless overtime rules for having a share of the division lead. From 1983-84, to 1998-99, if nobody scored in the 5-minute period, the game was a tie and one point was given to the home and visiting squads. If a team scored a goal in sudden-death, they got two points for a win and the other team received nothing. In 1999-2000, the NHL decided to go to a 4-on-4 format instead of the regular 5-on-5 for regular season overtime periods only.
In exchange for this radical idea, each team was awarded a point if the game went into overtime no matter if they won or lost. That's right, the NHL decided to give a point to the losing team in overtime. And they wonder why nobody watches hockey. Thanks to the 2000 rule changes and the penalty shot shootout in 2005-06, the Panthers have 11 points from overtime/shootout losses. Winnipeg and Washington have two more wins than Florida but only 4 and 6 overtime loss points. Tampa Bay has 27 wins, the same as Florida, and 6 OTL points. The difference of 5 points from overtime losses is why Florida leads Tampa Bay by 5 in the standings.
Last but not least, well maybe in this division, are the Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina has 57 points, 11 from games lost in overtime. No sport rewards trying but failing more than the National Hockey League. These are grown men not children. Anyway, the Hurricanes have won six of their last 10 games which is the best record over the past few weeks. They even have a .500 record at home if OT losses are not counted toward the standings. Carolina has 16 wins, 12 regulation losses, and 3 overtime losses. In the NBA, The Hurricanes would have a 16-15 home record meaning one game above the .500 mark. However, they have 7 wins, 14 regulation losses, and 8 overtime losses away from Carolina.
It's a division that some team has to win at the end of the season. The southeast champion gets the third seed in the playoffs. We are not sure if the National Hockey League will give out special runner-up awards to the losers. Okay, that was harsh. The other four teams could still get a playoff birth if they are one of the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference. Instead of "beast of the east" or "beauty and the beast", it is "best of the worst" in the Southeast division.
The Florida Panthers and Winnipeg Jets are the co-leaders with 65 points, The Washington Capitals, four-time defending champions, are in third, two points back at 63 . The Tampa Bay Lightning are in fourth, five markers behind at 60. The Carolina Hurricanes are in last place in the division and Eastern Conference but only trail by eight markers at 58. Amongst this group, you have two former Stanley Cup Champions (Tampa Bay in '04 and Carolina in '06) and another team that had the best regular season record two years ago.
So, what is the problem? They are inconsistent. Tampa Bay was one win away from the Stanley Cup Final championship series last year. Today, they're one game above .500 at 27-26-6. The Lighning have given up 31 more goals to opposition, 197, than they have scored, 166. Washington has lost two straight and four of five overall.
On Monday, the Capitals were shutout 5-0 by Carolina. The Hurricanes out shot Washington 40-17. The Caps' best player was called out last week by ex-teammate Olaf Kolzig and a few days later got into a fight during practice with current teammate Dennis Wideman. Earlier this season, the Capitals fired their head coach Bruce Boudreau and replaced with Dale Hunter. The change hasn't made a difference.
As far as the division leaders, the Winnipeg Jets and Florida Panthers are both doing surprisingly well. Last summer, the Jets franchise moved from Atlanta, Georgia up north to Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada. They are feast and famine when it comes to offense. They scored 9 goals in win over Philadelphia in October yet have been held scoreless for the entire game seven times this season. The Jets have played great at home for a city which lost a NHL team in 1996. Winnipeg has a 18-9-3 record on home ice but has a 11-17-4 record away from Manitoba.
Florida, located in Sunrise near Miami (Don't ask why, I have no clue) can thank the NHL's clueless overtime rules for having a share of the division lead. From 1983-84, to 1998-99, if nobody scored in the 5-minute period, the game was a tie and one point was given to the home and visiting squads. If a team scored a goal in sudden-death, they got two points for a win and the other team received nothing. In 1999-2000, the NHL decided to go to a 4-on-4 format instead of the regular 5-on-5 for regular season overtime periods only.
In exchange for this radical idea, each team was awarded a point if the game went into overtime no matter if they won or lost. That's right, the NHL decided to give a point to the losing team in overtime. And they wonder why nobody watches hockey. Thanks to the 2000 rule changes and the penalty shot shootout in 2005-06, the Panthers have 11 points from overtime/shootout losses. Winnipeg and Washington have two more wins than Florida but only 4 and 6 overtime loss points. Tampa Bay has 27 wins, the same as Florida, and 6 OTL points. The difference of 5 points from overtime losses is why Florida leads Tampa Bay by 5 in the standings.
Last but not least, well maybe in this division, are the Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina has 57 points, 11 from games lost in overtime. No sport rewards trying but failing more than the National Hockey League. These are grown men not children. Anyway, the Hurricanes have won six of their last 10 games which is the best record over the past few weeks. They even have a .500 record at home if OT losses are not counted toward the standings. Carolina has 16 wins, 12 regulation losses, and 3 overtime losses. In the NBA, The Hurricanes would have a 16-15 home record meaning one game above the .500 mark. However, they have 7 wins, 14 regulation losses, and 8 overtime losses away from Carolina.
It's a division that some team has to win at the end of the season. The southeast champion gets the third seed in the playoffs. We are not sure if the National Hockey League will give out special runner-up awards to the losers. Okay, that was harsh. The other four teams could still get a playoff birth if they are one of the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference. Instead of "beast of the east" or "beauty and the beast", it is "best of the worst" in the Southeast division.
Williams, Nets bring some saneness to Linsanity
The last time the New Jersey Nets faced the New York Knicks, both New York metropolitan area NBA teams were terrible. It was Saturday, February 4th., the day before the Super Bowl. New York City was full of football fanatics anticipating the Giants match up against the New England Patriots. The Nets had a 8-16 record while the Knicks were 8-15 and fans wanted coach Mike D’Antoni fired. Few people really cared about the Knicks outside New York. Fewer people cared or even heard of Knicks backup guard Jeremy Lin.
The Knicks won that night 99-92 thanks to Lin’s surprising effort off the bench. In nearly 36 minutes, Lin scored then a career-high 25 points and 7 assists in New York’s win. Since then, Lin, born in America but of Taiwanese heritage, has become an international superstar as he’s led the New York Knicks on a run of 8 wins in 9 games. TV ratings locally in New York and nationally for Knicks national TV games have skyrocketed to astronomical numbers.
You can’t watch television or go outside without not hearing about Lin. While Jeremy speaks in a quiet manner just happy to help his team win, fans and news reporters have gone wild and over-the-top in their excitement and disappointment. At ESPN, one anchor was suspended a month while a headline editor was fired for using the term “Chink in the Armor”. “Chink” is known as a racial slur used toward Asians. A Fox Sports writer had to issue a public apology after sending out a tweet on Twitter asking if Lin’s increased popularity was due to his race. Meanwhile, sports media critics are encouraging more coverage of Lin using his story as an unknown guy’s rise to stardom as a reason. Linsanity filled millions of people’s brains.
On Monday night, the Nets finally put some sanity back into the Jeremy Lin phenomenon. New Jersey sent New York to its second loss in the last three games. While Lin did not have a bad game with 21 points and 9 assists, he was severely outplayed by Deron Williams. Williams lit up Lin and the Knicks for 38 points on 10 of 22 field goals including eight three-pointers . It seemed Williams took it as a personal challenge. He was dominated by Lin in their first matchup and wanted to prove everybody wrong this time.
The Nets won 100-92, they were the New York-New Jersey metropolitan NBA team everybody was talking about. The Knicks shared the spotlight. Jeremy Lin wasn’t the point guard who was trending on Twitter. Deron Williams owned the night. This time, reporters asked Lin why he couldn’t stop Williams. The Knicks were looked as an ordinary team which has setbacks though a long season. The Nets were viewed as a talented group which has underachieved for most of this shortened NBA campaign. New Jersey beat Chicago, one of the top teams in the East on Saturday. However, they did that without facing Derrick Rose, last year’s NBA MVP. Monday, the Nets brought sanity back to the basketball world when they beat the Knicks and Jeremy Lin.
The Knicks won that night 99-92 thanks to Lin’s surprising effort off the bench. In nearly 36 minutes, Lin scored then a career-high 25 points and 7 assists in New York’s win. Since then, Lin, born in America but of Taiwanese heritage, has become an international superstar as he’s led the New York Knicks on a run of 8 wins in 9 games. TV ratings locally in New York and nationally for Knicks national TV games have skyrocketed to astronomical numbers.
You can’t watch television or go outside without not hearing about Lin. While Jeremy speaks in a quiet manner just happy to help his team win, fans and news reporters have gone wild and over-the-top in their excitement and disappointment. At ESPN, one anchor was suspended a month while a headline editor was fired for using the term “Chink in the Armor”. “Chink” is known as a racial slur used toward Asians. A Fox Sports writer had to issue a public apology after sending out a tweet on Twitter asking if Lin’s increased popularity was due to his race. Meanwhile, sports media critics are encouraging more coverage of Lin using his story as an unknown guy’s rise to stardom as a reason. Linsanity filled millions of people’s brains.
On Monday night, the Nets finally put some sanity back into the Jeremy Lin phenomenon. New Jersey sent New York to its second loss in the last three games. While Lin did not have a bad game with 21 points and 9 assists, he was severely outplayed by Deron Williams. Williams lit up Lin and the Knicks for 38 points on 10 of 22 field goals including eight three-pointers . It seemed Williams took it as a personal challenge. He was dominated by Lin in their first matchup and wanted to prove everybody wrong this time.
The Nets won 100-92, they were the New York-New Jersey metropolitan NBA team everybody was talking about. The Knicks shared the spotlight. Jeremy Lin wasn’t the point guard who was trending on Twitter. Deron Williams owned the night. This time, reporters asked Lin why he couldn’t stop Williams. The Knicks were looked as an ordinary team which has setbacks though a long season. The Nets were viewed as a talented group which has underachieved for most of this shortened NBA campaign. New Jersey beat Chicago, one of the top teams in the East on Saturday. However, they did that without facing Derrick Rose, last year’s NBA MVP. Monday, the Nets brought sanity back to the basketball world when they beat the Knicks and Jeremy Lin.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Is Linsanity real or a media-created phenomenon?
I woke up just after nine o’clock yesterday morning and turned my TV onto ESPN as any sports fan would. I tuned into Sportscenter, ESPN’s sports news and highlights program. I saw one of the anchors talking to Ric Bucher, an NBA reporter, about New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin. I watched for a couple of minutes before dozing off to sleep. I opened my eyes a few minutes later and saw a different anchor introduce a preview of a one-on-one interview with Lin. They played some of the conversation and I started to get annoyed. I wanted to hear about other players on other teams in other sports.
I was hearing endless talk about a guy who was starting his eighth game for a team that had a losing record for the season. His team lost to the New Orleans Hornets at home on Friday night. The Hornets have only nine wins this entire NBA season. It wasn’t making any sense. Why was this kid getting so much hype by ESPN? What was so special about New York?
They had 15 wins and 16 losses overall and were in 8th place in the Eastern Conference, the last playoff spot available. On Sunday, the Knicks were playing the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks. Dallas had a six-game winning streak and a 20-11 record for the season. The Mavericks seemed to play second fiddle in ESPN’s eyes. Dallas was mentioned only when the story turned to how they were going to defend Lin.
From 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (tip time), ESPN’S Sportscenter turned into a four-hour pre-game show for the Mavericks vs. Knicks game. They showed a panel discussion with its NBA studio analysts reviewing Lin’s past success and predicting future situations. In addition, there was an on-court demonstration illustrating how to defend Lin, led by former defensive star now turned analyst Bruce Bowen. In fact, the network used one of its baseball reporters, Tim Kurkjian, as a double for Lin in the demo. On the left side of the screen, a list showing upcoming stories was displayed constantly which is normal for Sportscenter. However, the time-of-day clock was replaced by a timer counting down to the beginning of the Knicks-Mavericks game. There were numerous shots, too many to count, of Lin practicing before the game.
The game was televised by ABC, which along with by ESPN, is owned by Disney. ABC’s weekly NBA pre-game show, NBA Countdown, should have been titled “The Jeremy Lin Show”. The first five minutes included another discussion about Lin’s play and how will teams like Dallas defend him. At the end of the segment, host Michael Wilbon read an apology issued by ESPN over a headline for an ESPN.com story following Friday’s Knicks game. The story of the Knicks loss was head lined, “A Chink in the Armor”. The word “chink” is a used as a racial slur toward Asians. The editor was fired later in the day.
Seven minutes into the show, the league’s best team, the Miami Heat were mentioned in response to a Twitter question asking if were the team to beat in the NBA. Later, ABC switched to a live preview at Madison Square Garden with play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico. Tirico gave a quick summary of the two teams and then interviewed filmmaker and longtime Knicks fan Spike Lee.
At 12:50, twenty minutes into the thirty-minute program, The Dallas Mavericks were finally featured by themselves as the reigning champions and not Lin or the Knicks opponent. After about a minute of talking about last year’s Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki, it was back to more shots of Lin. To provide one last insulting touch, the live player introductions of both teams were shown. Except for the NBA Finals, the live announcement of the starting lineups to the crowd are never shown. Usually, the play-by-play announcer will read over the starters to the TV audience long after they are told to the fans in the arena. ABC admit tingly told viewers they would show the player introductions live to show the crowd reaction for New York, especially Lin.
The game had not started, I had no rooting interest beforehand but wanted to root so badly for Dallas. As a fan of the NFL’s Washington Redskins whose biggest rival is the Dallas Cowboys, this was insane. However, that’s what Linsanity was doing. It wasn’t Lin or the Knicks fault. I actually enjoy watching Lin succeed when many people said he would not. I love that the Knicks, one of the NBA’s most historical franchises, are becoming a decent team after years of losing basketball. All I ask is to have this stuff jammed down my throat constantly.
The Dallas-New York game featured fantastic action, incredible unpredictability, terrific game strategy, and a great crowd atmosphere. Lin dribbled to the basket on many occasions where at least two Mavericks defenders stood there like 20-foot high trees hiding the basket. He did a much better job of passing to teammates for open shots. Through the first two quarters, he had six assists and only one turnover. Unfortunately, he had three turnovers in each of the two quarters. Lin made up for it by scoring 28 points and handing out a personal best 14 assists. Meanwhile, Nowitzki put in 34 points for the day showing his unique outside game to compliment his inside presence as a forward.
New York‘s bench, helped by newly-signed J.R. Smith scoring 15 points in his first game of the season and Steve Novak’s four 3-pointers and 14 points, played a huge role in why the Knicks snapped the Mavericks six-game winning streak. It was a great basketball game to watch. There was no need for extra hype just because of one player or one team. The New York Knicks are talked about more now because they have improved a lot in 2 weeks. Their new point guard Jeremy Lin is a big reason for their success. Yes, Lin played college hoops at Ivy-League Harvard even though he had big-time talent. Yes, he was undrafted, and is the first Taiwanese player in NBA history. Should he be treated by the media differently because he is Asian? The answer is no. Lin is one player on one of 30 National Basketball Association teams. The Knicks are the NBA’s representative in New York City and the state of New York. Sports media needs to implore equality by not reporting on certain players and their performances more often due to their race. Everybody is the same.
I was hearing endless talk about a guy who was starting his eighth game for a team that had a losing record for the season. His team lost to the New Orleans Hornets at home on Friday night. The Hornets have only nine wins this entire NBA season. It wasn’t making any sense. Why was this kid getting so much hype by ESPN? What was so special about New York?
They had 15 wins and 16 losses overall and were in 8th place in the Eastern Conference, the last playoff spot available. On Sunday, the Knicks were playing the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks. Dallas had a six-game winning streak and a 20-11 record for the season. The Mavericks seemed to play second fiddle in ESPN’s eyes. Dallas was mentioned only when the story turned to how they were going to defend Lin.
From 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (tip time), ESPN’S Sportscenter turned into a four-hour pre-game show for the Mavericks vs. Knicks game. They showed a panel discussion with its NBA studio analysts reviewing Lin’s past success and predicting future situations. In addition, there was an on-court demonstration illustrating how to defend Lin, led by former defensive star now turned analyst Bruce Bowen. In fact, the network used one of its baseball reporters, Tim Kurkjian, as a double for Lin in the demo. On the left side of the screen, a list showing upcoming stories was displayed constantly which is normal for Sportscenter. However, the time-of-day clock was replaced by a timer counting down to the beginning of the Knicks-Mavericks game. There were numerous shots, too many to count, of Lin practicing before the game.
The game was televised by ABC, which along with by ESPN, is owned by Disney. ABC’s weekly NBA pre-game show, NBA Countdown, should have been titled “The Jeremy Lin Show”. The first five minutes included another discussion about Lin’s play and how will teams like Dallas defend him. At the end of the segment, host Michael Wilbon read an apology issued by ESPN over a headline for an ESPN.com story following Friday’s Knicks game. The story of the Knicks loss was head lined, “A Chink in the Armor”. The word “chink” is a used as a racial slur toward Asians. The editor was fired later in the day.
Seven minutes into the show, the league’s best team, the Miami Heat were mentioned in response to a Twitter question asking if were the team to beat in the NBA. Later, ABC switched to a live preview at Madison Square Garden with play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico. Tirico gave a quick summary of the two teams and then interviewed filmmaker and longtime Knicks fan Spike Lee.
At 12:50, twenty minutes into the thirty-minute program, The Dallas Mavericks were finally featured by themselves as the reigning champions and not Lin or the Knicks opponent. After about a minute of talking about last year’s Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki, it was back to more shots of Lin. To provide one last insulting touch, the live player introductions of both teams were shown. Except for the NBA Finals, the live announcement of the starting lineups to the crowd are never shown. Usually, the play-by-play announcer will read over the starters to the TV audience long after they are told to the fans in the arena. ABC admit tingly told viewers they would show the player introductions live to show the crowd reaction for New York, especially Lin.
The game had not started, I had no rooting interest beforehand but wanted to root so badly for Dallas. As a fan of the NFL’s Washington Redskins whose biggest rival is the Dallas Cowboys, this was insane. However, that’s what Linsanity was doing. It wasn’t Lin or the Knicks fault. I actually enjoy watching Lin succeed when many people said he would not. I love that the Knicks, one of the NBA’s most historical franchises, are becoming a decent team after years of losing basketball. All I ask is to have this stuff jammed down my throat constantly.
The Dallas-New York game featured fantastic action, incredible unpredictability, terrific game strategy, and a great crowd atmosphere. Lin dribbled to the basket on many occasions where at least two Mavericks defenders stood there like 20-foot high trees hiding the basket. He did a much better job of passing to teammates for open shots. Through the first two quarters, he had six assists and only one turnover. Unfortunately, he had three turnovers in each of the two quarters. Lin made up for it by scoring 28 points and handing out a personal best 14 assists. Meanwhile, Nowitzki put in 34 points for the day showing his unique outside game to compliment his inside presence as a forward.
New York‘s bench, helped by newly-signed J.R. Smith scoring 15 points in his first game of the season and Steve Novak’s four 3-pointers and 14 points, played a huge role in why the Knicks snapped the Mavericks six-game winning streak. It was a great basketball game to watch. There was no need for extra hype just because of one player or one team. The New York Knicks are talked about more now because they have improved a lot in 2 weeks. Their new point guard Jeremy Lin is a big reason for their success. Yes, Lin played college hoops at Ivy-League Harvard even though he had big-time talent. Yes, he was undrafted, and is the first Taiwanese player in NBA history. Should he be treated by the media differently because he is Asian? The answer is no. Lin is one player on one of 30 National Basketball Association teams. The Knicks are the NBA’s representative in New York City and the state of New York. Sports media needs to implore equality by not reporting on certain players and their performances more often due to their race. Everybody is the same.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Linsanity
Who is Jeremy Lin and what is Linsanity? Well, Jeremy Lin is an undrafted point guard out of Harvard University who is now playing for the New York Knicks. Since he was inserted at point guard, the Knicks have won six straight games and have gone from a team floundering below .500 to a group one win away from an even win-loss record. A little over a week ago, that seemed impossible Lin was sitting on the bench earlier in the season hoping he could get a chance. With New York struggling for a decent point guard, Lin was picked by head coach Mike D’Antoni to play a bigger role. Lin had barely seen any action, playing less than ten minutes a night in 8 games and only 20 minutes in another contest against Houston. That changed on February 4th.
The Knicks were 8-15 and fans were yelling for D’Antoni’s firing as coach. In a home game versus New Jersey, Lin scored 25 points and dished out 7 assists in 36 minutes of action in a 99-92 victory. Two nights later on February 6th, D’Antoni moved Lin into the starting lineup against Utah. Lin played an astonishing 45 of 48 minutes in his start while scoring 28 points and handing out 8 assists. New York won their second straight game, 99-88. On Wednesday, February 8th, the Knicks travel to Washington, D.C. to face one of the NBA’s worst teams, the Wizards. With Kobe Bryant and the Lakers coming to New York on Friday, it looked like a potential letdown in Washington. However, Lin had his first career double-digit points and assists game in the NBA. The double-double included 23 points and 10 assists.
The Knicks had won three in a row with Lin as the point guard but they faced the L.A. Lakers. Comparisons were made between Lin and Lakers star Kobe Bryant. Bryant flashed out on the NBA scene as a high-school basketball whiz in 1996-97. The hype was incredible for a regular-season game featuring two teams with average records. The Knicks were 11-15 at this point while the Lakers were 15-11. The Lakers are a good but not an elite championship team. Nevertheless, with two of the Knicks starters out of the lineup in Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, Los Angeles had an advantage. With his teammates struggling to score, Lin asserted himself more offensively. He collected 38 of New York’s 92 points in the game. Lin hit 13 of 23 field goal attempts and 10 of 13 free throws. The Knicks won again despite only having two players besides Lin score more than 10 points. New York had won four consecutive games with a two-game road trip coming up in Minnesota and Toronto.
In Minnesota, Lin had his worst game statically but his teammates stepped up instead. Steve Novak had 15 points including a three-point shot which tied the score at 98 with under a minute to go. Iman Shumpert pumped in 20 points while Landry Fields added 19 and Tyson Chandler pitched in with 12. Lin scored at least 20 points for the fifth straight game but shot an awful 8 for 24 including making only 1 of 13 attempts in the second half. He even missed the first of two free throws with five seconds left before making the second to give New York the lead.
Last night in Toronto, Lin again played reckless and out of control for most of the game. He committed a career-high eight turnovers while his team fell behind by 17 points. His opposing guard, Jose Calderon was lighting him up offensively and defensively. Calderon had 12 of his 25 points in the first quarter . Lin turned the ball over on three straight Knick possessions in the second.
After the third period and with the Knicks trailing by 9, D’Antoni switched defenders on Calderon selecting Iman Shumpert to guard him. Shumpert shut down Calderon allowing Lin, a weaker defender, to concentrate on offense. Shumpert stole the ball away from Calderon with the Raptors leading by 5 in the final two minutes and dunked at the other end to make it 87-84. The Raptors missed on their next possession thanks to a Tyson Chandler block. Lin led New York down the floor trailing by 3 points. He dribbled fearlessly into traffic, got fouled by Toronto big man Amir Johnson, and flipped the ball in while falling.
Like in Minnesota, Lin swished the free throw when he needed to tie the game. The Raptors again failed at getting a basket and the Knicks had the ball with 43 seconds left in regulation. Shumpert tried banking a shot off the rim as the 24 second shot clock ticked down. It clanged off the rim but Chandler grabbed the ball and passed back to Lin with 20 seconds. Lin held the ball twenty-five feet away from the basket as he setup the last shot. He started to dribbled forward while Calderon backed away fearing Lin would move past him. Instead he stopped and shot a long three-pointer over him and straight into the hoop with less than a second to go. Lin finished with 27 points and 11 assists and the Knicks continued their winning streak at six games.
The crowd in Toronto erupted like it was Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Raptors held a special Asian Heritage Night in honor of Lin, American-born but raised by Taiwanese parents. Thousands of Asian men and women screamed gleefully for one of their own excelling in a sport of basketball born in North America. Thousands of Knicks fans cheered back in New York as their team which looked down and out a week ago is now a contender for a playoff spot.
This is Linsanity, if that is an actual word. He was a high-school standout in Palo Alto, California near the University of Stanford. He was not offered a scholarship even though he was two-time Most Valuable Player in his school’s district league. He was named the scholar athlete of the year in Northern California and the player of the year by two local San Francisco newspapers. Somehow, he had to leave not only the Bay Area but the west coast to get noticed academically and athletically by Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Boston.
Lin scored 1,483 points in 4 years at Harvard ranking him fifth in school history. Lin was an all-around player with more than 450 rebounds, 406 assists, and 225 steals, a combination never achieved before in Ivy League play. No NBA team, including the Knicks, bothered to draft Lin out of college. The Dallas Mavericks signed him for five games of summer league action in 2010.. His hometown team, the Golden State Warriors, released him after 29 regular season games of limited playing time in 2010-11. Lin never gave up, got an opportunity, and proved that stereotypes are just labels and do not represent a whole group. Every person is unique and so is Jeremy Lin.
The Knicks were 8-15 and fans were yelling for D’Antoni’s firing as coach. In a home game versus New Jersey, Lin scored 25 points and dished out 7 assists in 36 minutes of action in a 99-92 victory. Two nights later on February 6th, D’Antoni moved Lin into the starting lineup against Utah. Lin played an astonishing 45 of 48 minutes in his start while scoring 28 points and handing out 8 assists. New York won their second straight game, 99-88. On Wednesday, February 8th, the Knicks travel to Washington, D.C. to face one of the NBA’s worst teams, the Wizards. With Kobe Bryant and the Lakers coming to New York on Friday, it looked like a potential letdown in Washington. However, Lin had his first career double-digit points and assists game in the NBA. The double-double included 23 points and 10 assists.
The Knicks had won three in a row with Lin as the point guard but they faced the L.A. Lakers. Comparisons were made between Lin and Lakers star Kobe Bryant. Bryant flashed out on the NBA scene as a high-school basketball whiz in 1996-97. The hype was incredible for a regular-season game featuring two teams with average records. The Knicks were 11-15 at this point while the Lakers were 15-11. The Lakers are a good but not an elite championship team. Nevertheless, with two of the Knicks starters out of the lineup in Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, Los Angeles had an advantage. With his teammates struggling to score, Lin asserted himself more offensively. He collected 38 of New York’s 92 points in the game. Lin hit 13 of 23 field goal attempts and 10 of 13 free throws. The Knicks won again despite only having two players besides Lin score more than 10 points. New York had won four consecutive games with a two-game road trip coming up in Minnesota and Toronto.
In Minnesota, Lin had his worst game statically but his teammates stepped up instead. Steve Novak had 15 points including a three-point shot which tied the score at 98 with under a minute to go. Iman Shumpert pumped in 20 points while Landry Fields added 19 and Tyson Chandler pitched in with 12. Lin scored at least 20 points for the fifth straight game but shot an awful 8 for 24 including making only 1 of 13 attempts in the second half. He even missed the first of two free throws with five seconds left before making the second to give New York the lead.
Last night in Toronto, Lin again played reckless and out of control for most of the game. He committed a career-high eight turnovers while his team fell behind by 17 points. His opposing guard, Jose Calderon was lighting him up offensively and defensively. Calderon had 12 of his 25 points in the first quarter . Lin turned the ball over on three straight Knick possessions in the second.
After the third period and with the Knicks trailing by 9, D’Antoni switched defenders on Calderon selecting Iman Shumpert to guard him. Shumpert shut down Calderon allowing Lin, a weaker defender, to concentrate on offense. Shumpert stole the ball away from Calderon with the Raptors leading by 5 in the final two minutes and dunked at the other end to make it 87-84. The Raptors missed on their next possession thanks to a Tyson Chandler block. Lin led New York down the floor trailing by 3 points. He dribbled fearlessly into traffic, got fouled by Toronto big man Amir Johnson, and flipped the ball in while falling.
Like in Minnesota, Lin swished the free throw when he needed to tie the game. The Raptors again failed at getting a basket and the Knicks had the ball with 43 seconds left in regulation. Shumpert tried banking a shot off the rim as the 24 second shot clock ticked down. It clanged off the rim but Chandler grabbed the ball and passed back to Lin with 20 seconds. Lin held the ball twenty-five feet away from the basket as he setup the last shot. He started to dribbled forward while Calderon backed away fearing Lin would move past him. Instead he stopped and shot a long three-pointer over him and straight into the hoop with less than a second to go. Lin finished with 27 points and 11 assists and the Knicks continued their winning streak at six games.
The crowd in Toronto erupted like it was Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Raptors held a special Asian Heritage Night in honor of Lin, American-born but raised by Taiwanese parents. Thousands of Asian men and women screamed gleefully for one of their own excelling in a sport of basketball born in North America. Thousands of Knicks fans cheered back in New York as their team which looked down and out a week ago is now a contender for a playoff spot.
This is Linsanity, if that is an actual word. He was a high-school standout in Palo Alto, California near the University of Stanford. He was not offered a scholarship even though he was two-time Most Valuable Player in his school’s district league. He was named the scholar athlete of the year in Northern California and the player of the year by two local San Francisco newspapers. Somehow, he had to leave not only the Bay Area but the west coast to get noticed academically and athletically by Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Boston.
Lin scored 1,483 points in 4 years at Harvard ranking him fifth in school history. Lin was an all-around player with more than 450 rebounds, 406 assists, and 225 steals, a combination never achieved before in Ivy League play. No NBA team, including the Knicks, bothered to draft Lin out of college. The Dallas Mavericks signed him for five games of summer league action in 2010.. His hometown team, the Golden State Warriors, released him after 29 regular season games of limited playing time in 2010-11. Lin never gave up, got an opportunity, and proved that stereotypes are just labels and do not represent a whole group. Every person is unique and so is Jeremy Lin.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Back-to-back losses by Caps maybe bye-bye to playoff chances
The Washington Capitals faced a gut check the last two days. They played back-to-back games in two different cities against two of the best teams in the NHL this season. They were coming off a bewildering 3-2 shootout loss to division rival Winnipeg. The Capitals needed to come up, however, they came up small in two nationally-televised games.
Hockey fans across America saw what people in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia have seen all year, a group with a lot of talent but disappointing results. They watched a team without any confidence. The Caps seemingly can not score any goals and can not stop other teams from scoring on them. On Sunday, Washington lost 3-2 to the Eastern Conference leading New York Rangers on the road. On Monday, they were defeated by the San Jose Sharks, currently in 1st place in the Pacific Division, 5-3. At one point in the third period, they trailed 5-1, in a home game.
Monday’s blowout loss was inexcusable. The Capitals trailed 3-0 in the second period before trying to make a comeback which was futile. Dmitry Orlov scored on a long shot with one second left in the period to get them on the board. However, the Caps could not generate any momentum to the third period. They looked like they were sleepwalking as the Sharks out muscled the puck away from them along the boards throughout the game. Brent Burns released a near 60-foot shot from just inside the blue line that got by goaltender Braden Holtby.
Holtby was starting for regular goalie Tomas Vokoun who had the flu. The Burns goal was not even the strangest one San Jose scored in the game. In the first period, Dan Boyle took a slap shot from behind the center ice red line that Joe Pavelski deflected from nearly 70 feet off Holtby‘s glove and into the net. Pavelski, who had 2 goals and 2 assets in the game, accidentally was standing outside the Capitals zone when the puck hit his stick. It was similar to Dustin Byfuglien’s game-tying goal Thursday. This one gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead. Late in the second period, Pavelski shot the puck toward Holtby but it was tipped in front by Logan Couture. The puck hit Holtby, rolled up his right shoulder and arm, and dropped down behind him before Patrick Marleau tap the puck over the goal line for a 3-0 lead.
Meanwhile, head coach Dale Hunter tried to make some lineup changes for the Sharks game and those backfired. Against a big and physical San Jose team, 6-foot-3, 229 pound Mike Knuble was scratched from the lineup for the third straight game. Knuble has struggled offensively this season scoring only three goals in 53 games. He has scored 20 goals in a season for eight straight years including the past two with Washington coming into this season. Joel Rechlicz was chosen instead of Knuble. Rechlicz, 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, had played only 25 games in seven pro seasons entering Monday. He played for only 90 seconds in the entire game. Rechlicz committed a reckless penalty nearly four minutes into the second period when he received a 10-minute misconduct for arguing from the bench. The strangeness did not exist only on Monday night.
On Sunday afternoon in New York, regular goaltender Tomas Vokoun was the first Capitals player onto the ice as Washington came out for warm-ups. However, Vokoun was under the weather with the flu. He could not start so backup goalie Michal Neuvirth did instead. Neuvirth gave up three goals on 28 shots but the scoring plays were due to excellent New York Rangers passing and poor Capitals defense.
Neuvirth was in line to start on Monday against the Sharks if Vokoun was still ill. Instead, Dale Hunter chose to use Holtby, who was called-up with Rechlicz from the team’s American Hockey League affiliated Hershey Bears. Holtby, Rechlicz, and defenseman Keith Aucoin were sent back down to Hershey, Pa. after Monday’s loss to the Sharks.
On Friday, the Capitals began a four-game road trip in Sunrise, Florida nearby Miami versus the Southeast Division leading Panthers. 24 hours later, Washington travels north up the state to Tampa to play the Lightning. Next week begins with a contest in Raleigh, North Carolina against the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday, the 20th, before traveling to Canada for a meeting with the Ottawa Senators , next Wednesday, the 22nd. The Caps will face three of their division rivals and a playoff contender in Ottawa within in six days.
In addition, they will come home for only one game versus Montreal on Friday, February 24th before another back-to-back in Toronto the next night. The second game of that two-day segment is against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are one point ahead of Washington for the last playoff spot. This is just the beginning of the scheduling troubles for the Capitals.
In March, the Caps are going to be marching in to work more than half of the time. Washington will play 16 games in 31 days with several on the road against strong opponents. They include two games against Eastern 3rd place Philadelphia, a home game against 8th place Toronto, along with two games versus division rival Winnipeg.
Finally, a five-game road trip over ten days March 13th to March 22nd will likely determine if they make the playoffs. The journey includes games at the New York Islanders, Winnipeg, Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia.
Hockey fans across America saw what people in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia have seen all year, a group with a lot of talent but disappointing results. They watched a team without any confidence. The Caps seemingly can not score any goals and can not stop other teams from scoring on them. On Sunday, Washington lost 3-2 to the Eastern Conference leading New York Rangers on the road. On Monday, they were defeated by the San Jose Sharks, currently in 1st place in the Pacific Division, 5-3. At one point in the third period, they trailed 5-1, in a home game.
Monday’s blowout loss was inexcusable. The Capitals trailed 3-0 in the second period before trying to make a comeback which was futile. Dmitry Orlov scored on a long shot with one second left in the period to get them on the board. However, the Caps could not generate any momentum to the third period. They looked like they were sleepwalking as the Sharks out muscled the puck away from them along the boards throughout the game. Brent Burns released a near 60-foot shot from just inside the blue line that got by goaltender Braden Holtby.
Holtby was starting for regular goalie Tomas Vokoun who had the flu. The Burns goal was not even the strangest one San Jose scored in the game. In the first period, Dan Boyle took a slap shot from behind the center ice red line that Joe Pavelski deflected from nearly 70 feet off Holtby‘s glove and into the net. Pavelski, who had 2 goals and 2 assets in the game, accidentally was standing outside the Capitals zone when the puck hit his stick. It was similar to Dustin Byfuglien’s game-tying goal Thursday. This one gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead. Late in the second period, Pavelski shot the puck toward Holtby but it was tipped in front by Logan Couture. The puck hit Holtby, rolled up his right shoulder and arm, and dropped down behind him before Patrick Marleau tap the puck over the goal line for a 3-0 lead.
Meanwhile, head coach Dale Hunter tried to make some lineup changes for the Sharks game and those backfired. Against a big and physical San Jose team, 6-foot-3, 229 pound Mike Knuble was scratched from the lineup for the third straight game. Knuble has struggled offensively this season scoring only three goals in 53 games. He has scored 20 goals in a season for eight straight years including the past two with Washington coming into this season. Joel Rechlicz was chosen instead of Knuble. Rechlicz, 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, had played only 25 games in seven pro seasons entering Monday. He played for only 90 seconds in the entire game. Rechlicz committed a reckless penalty nearly four minutes into the second period when he received a 10-minute misconduct for arguing from the bench. The strangeness did not exist only on Monday night.
On Sunday afternoon in New York, regular goaltender Tomas Vokoun was the first Capitals player onto the ice as Washington came out for warm-ups. However, Vokoun was under the weather with the flu. He could not start so backup goalie Michal Neuvirth did instead. Neuvirth gave up three goals on 28 shots but the scoring plays were due to excellent New York Rangers passing and poor Capitals defense.
Neuvirth was in line to start on Monday against the Sharks if Vokoun was still ill. Instead, Dale Hunter chose to use Holtby, who was called-up with Rechlicz from the team’s American Hockey League affiliated Hershey Bears. Holtby, Rechlicz, and defenseman Keith Aucoin were sent back down to Hershey, Pa. after Monday’s loss to the Sharks.
On Friday, the Capitals began a four-game road trip in Sunrise, Florida nearby Miami versus the Southeast Division leading Panthers. 24 hours later, Washington travels north up the state to Tampa to play the Lightning. Next week begins with a contest in Raleigh, North Carolina against the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday, the 20th, before traveling to Canada for a meeting with the Ottawa Senators , next Wednesday, the 22nd. The Caps will face three of their division rivals and a playoff contender in Ottawa within in six days.
In addition, they will come home for only one game versus Montreal on Friday, February 24th before another back-to-back in Toronto the next night. The second game of that two-day segment is against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are one point ahead of Washington for the last playoff spot. This is just the beginning of the scheduling troubles for the Capitals.
In March, the Caps are going to be marching in to work more than half of the time. Washington will play 16 games in 31 days with several on the road against strong opponents. They include two games against Eastern 3rd place Philadelphia, a home game against 8th place Toronto, along with two games versus division rival Winnipeg.
Finally, a five-game road trip over ten days March 13th to March 22nd will likely determine if they make the playoffs. The journey includes games at the New York Islanders, Winnipeg, Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia.
Friday, February 10, 2012
A Capital collapse of a game and maybe season
The Capitals played with fire on Tuesday night allowing 32 shots on goal in the final 40 minutes without giving up a goal to Florida. On Thursday night, they were burned by the Winnipeg Jets. Winnipeg scored 2 goals in 12 seconds during the final three minutes of regulation before winning in a shootout 3-2. With the loss, Washington dropped into a tie for first place in the Southeast Division with Florida at 61 points. However, the Panthers hold the first tiebreaker over the Caps in points percentage due to playing one less game. Winnipeg is three points behind with 58.
The Jets looked down and out but came up with a stirring rally thanks to some help from the officials and lady luck. With 4:05 left, Roman Hamrlik was called for slashing and 69 seconds later Brooks Laich was whistled for playing with a broken stick. Laich cleared the puck out of the Capitals’ defensive zone but did not realize his stick was busted at the time. It is a infraction rarely committed or called by referees. The back-to-back penalties gave Winnipeg a two-man advantage.
Then, they pulled their goalie to add an extra player on offense to make it a 6-on-3. After several chances and saves by Tomas Vokoun, the Jets scored on a scramble in front with 2:15 to play. Dustin Byfuglien shot the puck from near the offensive blue line where it hit some players’ legs and stopped a couple of feet from the goal. Evander Kane raced in and poked the rebound high over Vokoun to make it 2-1.
The crowd was irate, they booed loudly toward the officials after the goal. Their reaction turned from vocal anger to stunned silence after the next face-off. Byfuglien collected the puck in his own zone, skated to the center ice face-off circle, and took a long slap shot. It crossed the Capitals blue line, ticked off the stick of Karl Alzner, and bounced by Vokoun to tie the game.
Neither team was able to score in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime. In the shootout, each team scored on its first shot, Ovechkin for Washington and Blake Wheeler for Winnipeg. Semin was next for the Capitals, he shot high but Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelic caught it in his glove. Bryan Little followed for Winnipeg looking to make up for his costly penalty early in the 3rd period. He redeemed himself with a well-placed wrist shot between Vokoun’s leg pads and left arm to make it 2-1 Jets after 2 rounds.
With the Capitals shooting first in each round, it was sudden death for Mathieu Perreault. He skated all the way to the top of the goal crease, moved the puck to his back hand, and shot the puck into Pavelic’s pads. Perreault seemed to skate too close to the goalie leaving him no space for an adequate shot. Head coach Dale Hunter’s selection of him was also strange since Perreault had only tried in three other shootouts without scoring.
Washington seemed to have control of what was a scoreless game for two periods. Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin scored power play goals less three minutes apart midway through the third. It appeared as if the Capitals cooled off the Jets. Ovechkin scored at 9:46 whacking a rebound at the side of the goal crease into the net. Semin took a slap shot from the left wing which was blocked by Winnipeg defenseman Ron Hainsey. It deflected behind the net, hit the boards, and caromed straight to Ovechkin.
The Caps played billiards for their first goal but used terrific passing for their second. With Bryan Little off for high sticking, Ovechkin took a pass from Dennis Wideman in the left face-off circle and then rifled the puck across to Semin for an easy tap-in. It was 2-0 with 7:30 remaining but Washington could not score even though they had two more minutes of power play time. Little was penalized four minutes, a double-minor, for cutting a Caps player in the face while trying to make a stick-check.
That was one of many opportunities lost by the Capitals on the night. They outshot Winnipeg 12-4 in the first period but could only muster a 0-0 draw. They led 2-0 with three minutes left in the final period. They scored first in the shootout. It was the most frustrating loss of the season so far in what was the biggest game of the year so far.
The Capitals have changed coaches, switched goalies, mixed up top scoring units, used injuries as a reason for failure but there are no excuses. They are in 2nd place in their division and more importantly in 9th place in the Eastern Conference. The top eight teams in each conference after the 82-game season is finished make the playoffs. The Caps would be out if the season ended at this point. It doesn’t get easier on Sunday when they face the East-leading Rangers in New York.
The Jets looked down and out but came up with a stirring rally thanks to some help from the officials and lady luck. With 4:05 left, Roman Hamrlik was called for slashing and 69 seconds later Brooks Laich was whistled for playing with a broken stick. Laich cleared the puck out of the Capitals’ defensive zone but did not realize his stick was busted at the time. It is a infraction rarely committed or called by referees. The back-to-back penalties gave Winnipeg a two-man advantage.
Then, they pulled their goalie to add an extra player on offense to make it a 6-on-3. After several chances and saves by Tomas Vokoun, the Jets scored on a scramble in front with 2:15 to play. Dustin Byfuglien shot the puck from near the offensive blue line where it hit some players’ legs and stopped a couple of feet from the goal. Evander Kane raced in and poked the rebound high over Vokoun to make it 2-1.
The crowd was irate, they booed loudly toward the officials after the goal. Their reaction turned from vocal anger to stunned silence after the next face-off. Byfuglien collected the puck in his own zone, skated to the center ice face-off circle, and took a long slap shot. It crossed the Capitals blue line, ticked off the stick of Karl Alzner, and bounced by Vokoun to tie the game.
Neither team was able to score in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime. In the shootout, each team scored on its first shot, Ovechkin for Washington and Blake Wheeler for Winnipeg. Semin was next for the Capitals, he shot high but Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelic caught it in his glove. Bryan Little followed for Winnipeg looking to make up for his costly penalty early in the 3rd period. He redeemed himself with a well-placed wrist shot between Vokoun’s leg pads and left arm to make it 2-1 Jets after 2 rounds.
With the Capitals shooting first in each round, it was sudden death for Mathieu Perreault. He skated all the way to the top of the goal crease, moved the puck to his back hand, and shot the puck into Pavelic’s pads. Perreault seemed to skate too close to the goalie leaving him no space for an adequate shot. Head coach Dale Hunter’s selection of him was also strange since Perreault had only tried in three other shootouts without scoring.
Washington seemed to have control of what was a scoreless game for two periods. Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin scored power play goals less three minutes apart midway through the third. It appeared as if the Capitals cooled off the Jets. Ovechkin scored at 9:46 whacking a rebound at the side of the goal crease into the net. Semin took a slap shot from the left wing which was blocked by Winnipeg defenseman Ron Hainsey. It deflected behind the net, hit the boards, and caromed straight to Ovechkin.
The Caps played billiards for their first goal but used terrific passing for their second. With Bryan Little off for high sticking, Ovechkin took a pass from Dennis Wideman in the left face-off circle and then rifled the puck across to Semin for an easy tap-in. It was 2-0 with 7:30 remaining but Washington could not score even though they had two more minutes of power play time. Little was penalized four minutes, a double-minor, for cutting a Caps player in the face while trying to make a stick-check.
That was one of many opportunities lost by the Capitals on the night. They outshot Winnipeg 12-4 in the first period but could only muster a 0-0 draw. They led 2-0 with three minutes left in the final period. They scored first in the shootout. It was the most frustrating loss of the season so far in what was the biggest game of the year so far.
The Capitals have changed coaches, switched goalies, mixed up top scoring units, used injuries as a reason for failure but there are no excuses. They are in 2nd place in their division and more importantly in 9th place in the Eastern Conference. The top eight teams in each conference after the 82-game season is finished make the playoffs. The Caps would be out if the season ended at this point. It doesn’t get easier on Sunday when they face the East-leading Rangers in New York.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Rivers rains on Carolina's parade with buzzer-beater
The clock was running down, his team was trailing by 2 points, he had a 7-foot shot blocker standing in front of him, all of that did not matter to Duke freshman guard Austin Rivers . Rivers made a 3-pointer with no time remaining to give the Blue Devils a 85-84 win over rival North Carolina and a share of first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference with the Tar Heels and Florida State. The Blue Devils got a break earlier in the evening when Florida State lost to Boston College 64-60. Austin , son of former NBA player and current Celtics Doc Rivers, scored a season high 29 points.
Tyler Zeller led North Carolina with 23 points and 11 rebounds but made two critical mistakes in the final 15 seconds. He tipped a Duke shot into his own defensive basket. With Duke trailing by 3, Ryan Kelly attempted a three-point shot from the right sideline which was short. Zeller attempted to grab the ball as it was coming down but knocked it into the basket. Officials ruled the Zeller mistake putback was good for only 2 points meaning North Carolina still had a one-point advantage. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Zeller was fouled by Tyler Thornton to stop the clock and get possession again. Zeller made the first free throw to make the score 84-82 Tar Heels. Then, he missed the second one and Duke rebounded. Rivers took a pass from Mason Plumlee, dribbled across half court, moved to his right, and launched a shot from behind the three-point line. It was a gutsy play by the first year star to go for the win instead of trying a safer two-pointer from close range to tie. The ball swished through the basket as time expired. Rivers ran down to the other end of the court to celebrate with his teammates while his parents jumped up and down in the stands behind the Duke bench.
With 15:08 left to play, North Carolina led 57-44 after a three-pointer by Harrison Barnes. It was their biggest lead of the game, 13 points. The Tar Heels remained in control throughout the second half surviving several challenges by Duke. They still led by 10 points at 82-72 with two and a half minutes left following a made shot by Barnes. Then, the wheels fell off the Carolina wagon as they were outscored 13-2 to end the game. The Tar Heels committed two turnovers, an offensive foul, and made only 2 of 4 free throws in the final 2 minutes and 38 seconds of the game.
Duke and North Carolina share identical conference and overall records, 7 wins and 2 losses in ACC play, 20 wins and 4 losses for the regular season. Florida State has the same win-loss total (7-2) in league play but a poorer total overall (16-7).
Tyler Zeller led North Carolina with 23 points and 11 rebounds but made two critical mistakes in the final 15 seconds. He tipped a Duke shot into his own defensive basket. With Duke trailing by 3, Ryan Kelly attempted a three-point shot from the right sideline which was short. Zeller attempted to grab the ball as it was coming down but knocked it into the basket. Officials ruled the Zeller mistake putback was good for only 2 points meaning North Carolina still had a one-point advantage. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Zeller was fouled by Tyler Thornton to stop the clock and get possession again. Zeller made the first free throw to make the score 84-82 Tar Heels. Then, he missed the second one and Duke rebounded. Rivers took a pass from Mason Plumlee, dribbled across half court, moved to his right, and launched a shot from behind the three-point line. It was a gutsy play by the first year star to go for the win instead of trying a safer two-pointer from close range to tie. The ball swished through the basket as time expired. Rivers ran down to the other end of the court to celebrate with his teammates while his parents jumped up and down in the stands behind the Duke bench.
With 15:08 left to play, North Carolina led 57-44 after a three-pointer by Harrison Barnes. It was their biggest lead of the game, 13 points. The Tar Heels remained in control throughout the second half surviving several challenges by Duke. They still led by 10 points at 82-72 with two and a half minutes left following a made shot by Barnes. Then, the wheels fell off the Carolina wagon as they were outscored 13-2 to end the game. The Tar Heels committed two turnovers, an offensive foul, and made only 2 of 4 free throws in the final 2 minutes and 38 seconds of the game.
Duke and North Carolina share identical conference and overall records, 7 wins and 2 losses in ACC play, 20 wins and 4 losses for the regular season. Florida State has the same win-loss total (7-2) in league play but a poorer total overall (16-7).
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Capitals claw past Cats for division lead
The Washington Capitals’ 2011-12 season could be characterized as a roller coaster ride with tons of ups and downs. After a downer on Super Bowl Sunday, losing 4-1 to the defending champion Boston Bruins, the Capitals responded with a 4-0 win last night over the Florida Panthers. The victory gave Washington a 1-point lead over Florida in the Southeast Division and 3rd place in the NHL’s Eastern Conference.
The Capitals re-energized their high-powered offense to win for only the fourth time in their last ten games. Alexander Ovechkin was the offensive star as he scored two goals to improve his total to a team-leading 22 for the season. Mathieu Perreault and Jason Chimera added goals for the Capitals. Perreault scored the first goal (9th of season) only 13 seconds into the game. After the puck was shot into the Panthers defensive zone, Alexander Semin cutoff a clearing pass to the far side and passed the puck to Chimera. Chimera skated behind the net and whipped a pass in front to Perreault for the goal. Nearly nine minutes into the 1st period, the Caps’ got awarded a power play when Marcel Goc was called for a holding-the-stick penalty. 34seconds later, Ovechkin took a short pass from Dennis Wideman just inside the Panthers’ blue line, moved down the left wing and fired a wrist shot between the legs of Florida goalie Scott Clemmensen for a 2-0 lead at 9:21.
Washington led 2-0 after the 1st period thanks also to the goaltending of Tomas Vokoun. Vokoun stopped 10 Florida shots in the period on the way to 42 saves in the game. He stopped Mike Santorelli on a low shot from the right wing just over 3 minutes into the game. However, Vokoun gave up a rebound to a few feet to his right but Shawn Matthias whiffed on the shot.. It was that kind of night. Everything went well for the Capitals while the Panthers couldn’t get any breaks. 36 seconds later, Vokoun make a sliding stop on a shot by Stephen Weiss from 5 feet right in front of the goal. Matthias was snake bit again on two other chances later in the 1st as Vokoun dropped down to his right to deny a solo effort through two defenders at 11:43. With 20 seconds left in the period, Matthias took a pass from Mikael Samuelsson, faked to his backhand, fired a forehand shot, and was robbed by Vokoun. He did draw a penalty on the Capitals as Wideman was called for slashing.
Starting the second period, the Panthers had the power play but the Capitals would score not Florida. Chimera collected his second point of the game with a shorthanded goal (15th of season) at 1:01 for a 3-0 lead. He used his excellent speed by skating the puck on left wing into the Panthers’ zone before flipping a high pass across to Matt Hendricks. Hendricks moved down the right side and then passed back to John Carlson who sent the puck to Chimera in front of Clemmensen who scored after a couple of whacks at the puck. Vokoun kept the Panthers off the board with key saves on Krys Barch from 15 feet at 2:42 and later Samuelsson on a long wrist shot at 3:52 and on Marcel Goc on a slap shot at 5:02 while Florida was on another power play. Vokoun’s best save of his 17 total in the 2nd came midway through the period on a high shot from Tomas Kopecky following a cross ice pass from Matthias at 9:25. Ovechkin scored his second goal of the game 2:22 later at 11:47 firing a rocket past Clemmensen from the top of the far face-off circle. Ovechkin picked up a loose puck, cut to his right toward the middle and found an opening between Clemmensen’s arm and the crossbar.
In the third period, the Capitals stopped attacking on offense which led to more chances for Florida. The Panthers pumped 15 more shots at Vokoun who saw his teammates lay back too much on defense in the final 40 minutes. Vokoun stopped Kris Versteeg six and half minutes into the third on a low shot. Versteeg dragged puck around Carlson on defense with the Panthers on another power play. Florida had 32 shots on goal in the last two periods (42 for the game) while the Capitals only fired 24 shots on goal for the entire game. The Panthers were 0 for 4 on the power play while the Capitals were 1 for 1. The Caps played a very physical game outhitting Florida 31-19. The 4-0 win was the second shutout for Vokoun against his former team and fourth this season.
Washington leads the Southeast Division with 60 points, one ahead of Florida at 59, and four ahead of Winnipeg at 56. The Jets defeated Toronto 2-1 last night and play at Washington on Thursday. The Panthers return to Florida also that night to host Los Angeles.
The Capitals re-energized their high-powered offense to win for only the fourth time in their last ten games. Alexander Ovechkin was the offensive star as he scored two goals to improve his total to a team-leading 22 for the season. Mathieu Perreault and Jason Chimera added goals for the Capitals. Perreault scored the first goal (9th of season) only 13 seconds into the game. After the puck was shot into the Panthers defensive zone, Alexander Semin cutoff a clearing pass to the far side and passed the puck to Chimera. Chimera skated behind the net and whipped a pass in front to Perreault for the goal. Nearly nine minutes into the 1st period, the Caps’ got awarded a power play when Marcel Goc was called for a holding-the-stick penalty. 34seconds later, Ovechkin took a short pass from Dennis Wideman just inside the Panthers’ blue line, moved down the left wing and fired a wrist shot between the legs of Florida goalie Scott Clemmensen for a 2-0 lead at 9:21.
Washington led 2-0 after the 1st period thanks also to the goaltending of Tomas Vokoun. Vokoun stopped 10 Florida shots in the period on the way to 42 saves in the game. He stopped Mike Santorelli on a low shot from the right wing just over 3 minutes into the game. However, Vokoun gave up a rebound to a few feet to his right but Shawn Matthias whiffed on the shot.. It was that kind of night. Everything went well for the Capitals while the Panthers couldn’t get any breaks. 36 seconds later, Vokoun make a sliding stop on a shot by Stephen Weiss from 5 feet right in front of the goal. Matthias was snake bit again on two other chances later in the 1st as Vokoun dropped down to his right to deny a solo effort through two defenders at 11:43. With 20 seconds left in the period, Matthias took a pass from Mikael Samuelsson, faked to his backhand, fired a forehand shot, and was robbed by Vokoun. He did draw a penalty on the Capitals as Wideman was called for slashing.
Starting the second period, the Panthers had the power play but the Capitals would score not Florida. Chimera collected his second point of the game with a shorthanded goal (15th of season) at 1:01 for a 3-0 lead. He used his excellent speed by skating the puck on left wing into the Panthers’ zone before flipping a high pass across to Matt Hendricks. Hendricks moved down the right side and then passed back to John Carlson who sent the puck to Chimera in front of Clemmensen who scored after a couple of whacks at the puck. Vokoun kept the Panthers off the board with key saves on Krys Barch from 15 feet at 2:42 and later Samuelsson on a long wrist shot at 3:52 and on Marcel Goc on a slap shot at 5:02 while Florida was on another power play. Vokoun’s best save of his 17 total in the 2nd came midway through the period on a high shot from Tomas Kopecky following a cross ice pass from Matthias at 9:25. Ovechkin scored his second goal of the game 2:22 later at 11:47 firing a rocket past Clemmensen from the top of the far face-off circle. Ovechkin picked up a loose puck, cut to his right toward the middle and found an opening between Clemmensen’s arm and the crossbar.
In the third period, the Capitals stopped attacking on offense which led to more chances for Florida. The Panthers pumped 15 more shots at Vokoun who saw his teammates lay back too much on defense in the final 40 minutes. Vokoun stopped Kris Versteeg six and half minutes into the third on a low shot. Versteeg dragged puck around Carlson on defense with the Panthers on another power play. Florida had 32 shots on goal in the last two periods (42 for the game) while the Capitals only fired 24 shots on goal for the entire game. The Panthers were 0 for 4 on the power play while the Capitals were 1 for 1. The Caps played a very physical game outhitting Florida 31-19. The 4-0 win was the second shutout for Vokoun against his former team and fourth this season.
Washington leads the Southeast Division with 60 points, one ahead of Florida at 59, and four ahead of Winnipeg at 56. The Jets defeated Toronto 2-1 last night and play at Washington on Thursday. The Panthers return to Florida also that night to host Los Angeles.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Super Bowl XLVI Recap
The Giants trailed the Patriots late in the 4th quarter. Eli Manning led New York to a go-ahead touchdown drive which included a spectacular catch by a wide receiver. New England’s Tom Brady tried to bring his team back but fell short. It was déjà vu in Super Bowl XLVI.
The New York Giants became the first team in NFL history to win the Super Bowl with 7 or more losses with a 21-17 victory over New England, last night. Ahmad Bradshaw’s 6-yard touchdown run with 1:04 left gave New York and they held on, knocking down a Hail Mary pass by Brady in the end zone as the clock ran out. Bradshaw seemed to try to stop short of the end zone but fell across the goal line. The Patriots defense backed away from Bradshaw in an attempt to get the ball back to their offense with as much time possible.
The touchdown was set up by a 36-yard pass from Manning to Mario Manningham on 1st and 10 for the Giants from their own 12-yard line with 3:46 remaining.. Manningham caught the ball along the Patriots sideline and between two defenders . It was redemption for Manningham as he could not stay inbounds on a long catch on the Giants previous drive. Two plays later, Manning and Manningham connected again for 16 yards to the New England 34. Then, on 2nd and 8, from the 32 Manning threw to Hakeem Nicks for 14 yards to the 18-yard line at the 2:00 warning. After the officials timeout, Bradshaw roared straight ahead for 7 yards and Nicks caught a short 4-yard pass but was pushed out of bounds stopping the clock at 1:15 and leaving New England with over a minute left and a timeout to try to score.
The Patriots started at their own 20-yard line with :57 left. Brady threw his first pass deep downfield for Deion Branch but it appeared to be barely tipped away by Kenny Phillips. On 2nd down with :52 left, Brady delivered a short pass that was dropped by Aaron Hernandez. The Patriots needed a big play on offense but the Giants got it on defense as Justin Tuck sacked Brady back at the 14-yard line setting up 4th and 16. After the Patriots last timeout, Brady dropped back on 4th down and looked downfield, he ducked away from a rusher and fired a pass to Branch for 19 yards along the far sideline with :39 left. Then, Brady completed an 11-yard pass to Hernandez and spiked the football to stop the clock thereafter at 17 seconds. From his own 44-yard line, Brady heaved a long pass down the sideline which fell incomplete. The Giants were called for having 12 men on the field giving New England 5 yards but only 9 seconds remained. After a sideline pass to Branch was out of bounds, one play was left. Brady threw a long, high pass into a crowd of Patriots and Giants players before it was knocked to the ground to end the game.
Giants quarterback Eli Manning won his second Most Valuable Player award, going along with February, 2008. It was fitting for Eli as the game was played in Indianapolis where his brother Peyton has starred for many years. Eli completed 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown to Victor Cruz in the 1st quarter. Cruz, who had a big game against San Francisco in the NFC Championship, was very quiet in the game as he was double-covered by the Patriots on most plays. This meant Nicks and Manningham would have to catch more passes and they did with Nicks catching 10 for 109 yards and Manningham catching 5 for 73 yards.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady played well despite playing with a injured left shoulder for most of the 2nd half. In addition, one of his favorite receivers, tight end Rob Gronkowski was ineffective with a high left ankle sprain limiting his movement. Gronkowski only caught 2 passes for 26 yards in the game. Brady, however, had a terrific performance as he completed 27 of 41 passes for 276 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. The touchdowns came on back-to-back drives ending the 1st half and starting the 2nd half.
With New England trailing 9-3 and at their 4 -yard line, they went on a 14-play, 96-yard drive taking up the final four minutes of the 1st half. In fact, the Patriots had to go 98 yards overall after a false start penalty pushed them back to the 2-yard line. After moderate gains to Wes Welker and Danny Woodhead, Brady found Rob Gronkowski over the middle for 20 yards to the 35. After the 2:00 warning, Brady passed to Hernandez twice for a total of 18 yards. Another penalty, holding, forced the Patriots into 2nd and 12 where Brady connected again with Hernandez for 8 and 12 yards, respectively to the New York 33 with 1:05 left. Two plays later, Brady hit Welker for 10 yards and followed with passes to Woodhead for 11 and then 8 yards to the Giants 3 -yard line. After a running play lost yardage, the Patriots faced 3rd and 3 from the 4 . Brady dropped back and could not find a receiver until Woodhead broke open again and caught the touchdown with :15 left.
The Patriots led 10-9 at halftime and appeared to have all of the momentum. They received the 2nd half kickoff, after choosing to defer to New York to start the game. New England drove 79 yards in 8 plays taking only 3:40 off the clock and had a commanding 17-9 lead. Chad Ochocinco, the previously flamboyant, now quiet wide receiver, caught his only pass of the game for 21 yards on the first play. Ochocinco has played on a limited basis this season after many Pro Bowl seasons in Cincinnati. Two plays later, Benjarvus Green-Ellis ran for 17 yards to the New York 33, the best Patriots running play of the night. On 1st down from the 20, Brady hit Welker for 8 yards and then threw a short pass to Hernandez who ran into the end zone from 12 yards away. Hernandez led Patriot receivers with 8 catches for 67 yards and a touchdown. New England’s second straight touchdown gave them an eight-point lead with 11:20 left in the 3rd.
The Giants responded with two separate drives inside the Patriots 20-yard line but only produced Lawrence Tynes field goals of 38 and 33 yards. The two three-pointers cut the lead to 17-15. Continuously, New York would get into New England territory and either kick field goals or punt. It looked like it would hurt the Giants later on. Between the two New York drives, the Patriots got the ball midway through the 3rd quarter looking to score points again.
However, the Giants defense forced New England off the field in only three plays forcing a punt. On 2nd down, Brady’s Super Bowl record streak of completed passes ended at 16 on a pass to Green-Ellis. On the next play, Brady was sacked by Justin Tuck and landed hard on his left shoulder. Brady tried to return feeling into his shoulder by rotating it while on the sideline.
When Brady returned for the Patriots next offensive series, they moved the ball quickly from their 20 to the 43 using a mix of passes and runs as the game moved into the 4th quarter. On the second play of the period, Brady while under pressure threw a deep pass that was intercepted by Chase Blackburn at the Giants 8-yard line. The play was similar to the David Tyree catch in Super Bowl XLII. This time the defense won, making the pick and the Giants were the beneficiaries in both instances. Gronkowski was in front of Blackburn when the pass was thrown, it was a tad short and Blackburn jumped higher than Gronkowski.
The Giants moved the ball from their 8 to the Patriots 38 before facing a 3rd and 5. The play clock was ticking down to zero forcing Manning to call the second Giants timeout of the drive. They used one prior to a 3rd and 7 from their 11 at the beginning of the drive. After the second TO, the Giants committed a false start penalty pushing them back 5 yards. It made the timeout worse because it was called to avoid a 5-yard penalty which they committed later on. Facing 3rd and 10, Manning threw a pass to the right side for Manningham but he was hit from behind by Sterling Moore. Giants head coach Tom Coughlin yelled for pass interference flag but there was no flag and the Giants punted.
The Patriots started their next-to-last drive of the game at their own 8-yard line. On 3rd down and 5, Brady make a key completion to Woodhead for 19 yards to the 32. A couple of plays followed before they ran a reverse to Welker gaining 11 yards. With 5:22 left, New England faced a 3rd and 3 at the Giants 47 and again converted through the air on a short 4-yard pass to Hernandez. The Patriots then tried a run with Green-Ellis up the middle but he was stopped by Chris Canty after 1 yard.
At that point, New England faced 2nd and 11 but had a 2-point lead and only four and a half minutes left on the clock. In addition, New York only had one timeout remaining so the Patriots could run the ball at least twice and take 1-2 minutes before punting at the worst. Instead they threw a long pass for Welker near the Giants 20-yard line which was barely incomplete. Welker had his hands on the ball but was turning his body at the same time and could not hang on to the ball. Although Welker caught 7 passes for 60 yards, his missed pass gave the Giants another chance. The clock stopped on the incompletion at 4:00 saving the Giants from possibly using their last timeout. Then on 3rd down, Brady went deep again for Branch, the pass was short and behind Branch forcing a punt. It also stopped the clock once more at 3:53 allowing the Giants nearly four minutes to score either a field goal or touchdown. Following the shoulder injury, Brady completed only 7 of 18 passes.
The Giants lead 9-0 after the 1st quarter. It was thanks to the punting of Steve Weatherford and the Giants coverage team. New York took the opening kickoff and drove from their 23 to the New England 33. The biggest play was a throw from Manning to Nicks for 19 yards. Then, the Patriots sacked Manning, Brandon Deaderick and Mark Anderson, on two of the next three plays. Weatherford punted from the Patriots 42 to the 6 before long snapper Zach DeOssie stopped the ball.
New England’s first offensive play was a deep pass by Brady which fell incomplete 40 yards from where the ball was snapped with no receiver nearby. Brady launched the ball from the end zone and was called for intentional grounding resulting in a safety for two points for the Giants and a 2-0 New York lead. After the safety, the sixth in Super Bowl history and third involving the Giants, New York got possession on a free kick at their 22-yard line. They drove 78 yards in 9 plays for a touchdown, Manning to Cruz from 2 yards. Cruz juggled the ball momentarily before securing the catch. Two plays before, Cruz fumbled after a catch which was recovered by the Patriots. The turnover did not stand as New England was penalized for playing with 12 men on the field. The Patriots offense ran 1 play compared to the Giants 20 to that point. New England switched momentum with a 10-play, 60-yard drive ending in a Stephen Gostkowski 29-yard field goal early in the 2nd quarter.
The New York Giants became the first team in NFL history to win the Super Bowl with 7 or more losses with a 21-17 victory over New England, last night. Ahmad Bradshaw’s 6-yard touchdown run with 1:04 left gave New York and they held on, knocking down a Hail Mary pass by Brady in the end zone as the clock ran out. Bradshaw seemed to try to stop short of the end zone but fell across the goal line. The Patriots defense backed away from Bradshaw in an attempt to get the ball back to their offense with as much time possible.
The touchdown was set up by a 36-yard pass from Manning to Mario Manningham on 1st and 10 for the Giants from their own 12-yard line with 3:46 remaining.. Manningham caught the ball along the Patriots sideline and between two defenders . It was redemption for Manningham as he could not stay inbounds on a long catch on the Giants previous drive. Two plays later, Manning and Manningham connected again for 16 yards to the New England 34. Then, on 2nd and 8, from the 32 Manning threw to Hakeem Nicks for 14 yards to the 18-yard line at the 2:00 warning. After the officials timeout, Bradshaw roared straight ahead for 7 yards and Nicks caught a short 4-yard pass but was pushed out of bounds stopping the clock at 1:15 and leaving New England with over a minute left and a timeout to try to score.
The Patriots started at their own 20-yard line with :57 left. Brady threw his first pass deep downfield for Deion Branch but it appeared to be barely tipped away by Kenny Phillips. On 2nd down with :52 left, Brady delivered a short pass that was dropped by Aaron Hernandez. The Patriots needed a big play on offense but the Giants got it on defense as Justin Tuck sacked Brady back at the 14-yard line setting up 4th and 16. After the Patriots last timeout, Brady dropped back on 4th down and looked downfield, he ducked away from a rusher and fired a pass to Branch for 19 yards along the far sideline with :39 left. Then, Brady completed an 11-yard pass to Hernandez and spiked the football to stop the clock thereafter at 17 seconds. From his own 44-yard line, Brady heaved a long pass down the sideline which fell incomplete. The Giants were called for having 12 men on the field giving New England 5 yards but only 9 seconds remained. After a sideline pass to Branch was out of bounds, one play was left. Brady threw a long, high pass into a crowd of Patriots and Giants players before it was knocked to the ground to end the game.
Giants quarterback Eli Manning won his second Most Valuable Player award, going along with February, 2008. It was fitting for Eli as the game was played in Indianapolis where his brother Peyton has starred for many years. Eli completed 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown to Victor Cruz in the 1st quarter. Cruz, who had a big game against San Francisco in the NFC Championship, was very quiet in the game as he was double-covered by the Patriots on most plays. This meant Nicks and Manningham would have to catch more passes and they did with Nicks catching 10 for 109 yards and Manningham catching 5 for 73 yards.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady played well despite playing with a injured left shoulder for most of the 2nd half. In addition, one of his favorite receivers, tight end Rob Gronkowski was ineffective with a high left ankle sprain limiting his movement. Gronkowski only caught 2 passes for 26 yards in the game. Brady, however, had a terrific performance as he completed 27 of 41 passes for 276 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. The touchdowns came on back-to-back drives ending the 1st half and starting the 2nd half.
With New England trailing 9-3 and at their 4 -yard line, they went on a 14-play, 96-yard drive taking up the final four minutes of the 1st half. In fact, the Patriots had to go 98 yards overall after a false start penalty pushed them back to the 2-yard line. After moderate gains to Wes Welker and Danny Woodhead, Brady found Rob Gronkowski over the middle for 20 yards to the 35. After the 2:00 warning, Brady passed to Hernandez twice for a total of 18 yards. Another penalty, holding, forced the Patriots into 2nd and 12 where Brady connected again with Hernandez for 8 and 12 yards, respectively to the New York 33 with 1:05 left. Two plays later, Brady hit Welker for 10 yards and followed with passes to Woodhead for 11 and then 8 yards to the Giants 3 -yard line. After a running play lost yardage, the Patriots faced 3rd and 3 from the 4 . Brady dropped back and could not find a receiver until Woodhead broke open again and caught the touchdown with :15 left.
The Patriots led 10-9 at halftime and appeared to have all of the momentum. They received the 2nd half kickoff, after choosing to defer to New York to start the game. New England drove 79 yards in 8 plays taking only 3:40 off the clock and had a commanding 17-9 lead. Chad Ochocinco, the previously flamboyant, now quiet wide receiver, caught his only pass of the game for 21 yards on the first play. Ochocinco has played on a limited basis this season after many Pro Bowl seasons in Cincinnati. Two plays later, Benjarvus Green-Ellis ran for 17 yards to the New York 33, the best Patriots running play of the night. On 1st down from the 20, Brady hit Welker for 8 yards and then threw a short pass to Hernandez who ran into the end zone from 12 yards away. Hernandez led Patriot receivers with 8 catches for 67 yards and a touchdown. New England’s second straight touchdown gave them an eight-point lead with 11:20 left in the 3rd.
The Giants responded with two separate drives inside the Patriots 20-yard line but only produced Lawrence Tynes field goals of 38 and 33 yards. The two three-pointers cut the lead to 17-15. Continuously, New York would get into New England territory and either kick field goals or punt. It looked like it would hurt the Giants later on. Between the two New York drives, the Patriots got the ball midway through the 3rd quarter looking to score points again.
However, the Giants defense forced New England off the field in only three plays forcing a punt. On 2nd down, Brady’s Super Bowl record streak of completed passes ended at 16 on a pass to Green-Ellis. On the next play, Brady was sacked by Justin Tuck and landed hard on his left shoulder. Brady tried to return feeling into his shoulder by rotating it while on the sideline.
When Brady returned for the Patriots next offensive series, they moved the ball quickly from their 20 to the 43 using a mix of passes and runs as the game moved into the 4th quarter. On the second play of the period, Brady while under pressure threw a deep pass that was intercepted by Chase Blackburn at the Giants 8-yard line. The play was similar to the David Tyree catch in Super Bowl XLII. This time the defense won, making the pick and the Giants were the beneficiaries in both instances. Gronkowski was in front of Blackburn when the pass was thrown, it was a tad short and Blackburn jumped higher than Gronkowski.
The Giants moved the ball from their 8 to the Patriots 38 before facing a 3rd and 5. The play clock was ticking down to zero forcing Manning to call the second Giants timeout of the drive. They used one prior to a 3rd and 7 from their 11 at the beginning of the drive. After the second TO, the Giants committed a false start penalty pushing them back 5 yards. It made the timeout worse because it was called to avoid a 5-yard penalty which they committed later on. Facing 3rd and 10, Manning threw a pass to the right side for Manningham but he was hit from behind by Sterling Moore. Giants head coach Tom Coughlin yelled for pass interference flag but there was no flag and the Giants punted.
The Patriots started their next-to-last drive of the game at their own 8-yard line. On 3rd down and 5, Brady make a key completion to Woodhead for 19 yards to the 32. A couple of plays followed before they ran a reverse to Welker gaining 11 yards. With 5:22 left, New England faced a 3rd and 3 at the Giants 47 and again converted through the air on a short 4-yard pass to Hernandez. The Patriots then tried a run with Green-Ellis up the middle but he was stopped by Chris Canty after 1 yard.
At that point, New England faced 2nd and 11 but had a 2-point lead and only four and a half minutes left on the clock. In addition, New York only had one timeout remaining so the Patriots could run the ball at least twice and take 1-2 minutes before punting at the worst. Instead they threw a long pass for Welker near the Giants 20-yard line which was barely incomplete. Welker had his hands on the ball but was turning his body at the same time and could not hang on to the ball. Although Welker caught 7 passes for 60 yards, his missed pass gave the Giants another chance. The clock stopped on the incompletion at 4:00 saving the Giants from possibly using their last timeout. Then on 3rd down, Brady went deep again for Branch, the pass was short and behind Branch forcing a punt. It also stopped the clock once more at 3:53 allowing the Giants nearly four minutes to score either a field goal or touchdown. Following the shoulder injury, Brady completed only 7 of 18 passes.
The Giants lead 9-0 after the 1st quarter. It was thanks to the punting of Steve Weatherford and the Giants coverage team. New York took the opening kickoff and drove from their 23 to the New England 33. The biggest play was a throw from Manning to Nicks for 19 yards. Then, the Patriots sacked Manning, Brandon Deaderick and Mark Anderson, on two of the next three plays. Weatherford punted from the Patriots 42 to the 6 before long snapper Zach DeOssie stopped the ball.
New England’s first offensive play was a deep pass by Brady which fell incomplete 40 yards from where the ball was snapped with no receiver nearby. Brady launched the ball from the end zone and was called for intentional grounding resulting in a safety for two points for the Giants and a 2-0 New York lead. After the safety, the sixth in Super Bowl history and third involving the Giants, New York got possession on a free kick at their 22-yard line. They drove 78 yards in 9 plays for a touchdown, Manning to Cruz from 2 yards. Cruz juggled the ball momentarily before securing the catch. Two plays before, Cruz fumbled after a catch which was recovered by the Patriots. The turnover did not stand as New England was penalized for playing with 12 men on the field. The Patriots offense ran 1 play compared to the Giants 20 to that point. New England switched momentum with a 10-play, 60-yard drive ending in a Stephen Gostkowski 29-yard field goal early in the 2nd quarter.
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