Author: clay

Categories
San Antonio Spurs

Around the Rim: Double-double trouble


1. Spurs win in battle of big men
The Spurs appear to be completely over their mini slump. On Monday, they took care of the Magic in Orlando, winning by 10 points, 107-97, behind a game-high 28 points from Manu Ginobili off the bench. Michael Finley chipped in 24 while Tony Parker posted 11 points and nine assists as the Spurs connected on 54 percent of their shots. Of course, as usual, Tim Duncan was the one who made everything come together, finishing with 19 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks to lead SA to its fourth consecutive win, bringing his team to within one game of the West’s top record. Orlando dropped its second in a row despite a 24-point, 21-rebound performance from Dwight Howard. The 20/20 game was the eighth of the season for Howard, but it wasn’t enough to keep his club from becoming the only team to have never won a season series against the Spurs.

2. Who needs Dirk when you’re playing the Clips?

You’d think the Mavericks would miss having the league’s current MVP in their lineup, but, then again, they were playing the Clippers. Jason Kidd still hasn’t beaten a team with a winning record since joining Dallas, but with a 103-90 win over the Clips yesterday, the Mavericks improved to 10-0 against losing teams since the trade. The formula might be keeping Dallas in the playoff chase (just barely), but it certainly doesn’t bode well for its postseason chances. However, with Dirk Nowitzki nursing a lower leg injury for the next couple of weeks, it’s good to see other players are able to fill the void. Josh Howard had an awful shooting performance (8-22 FG), but managed to tally a game-high 32 points to compliment three other double-digit scorers for Dallas, including Erick Dampier who accounted for 19 points and 17 rebounds. But the Mavericks are now facing a seriously difficult stretch, going against five playoff-bound clubs in their next six games.

3. Hornets take their show on the road
New Orleans is currently sitting atop the Western Conference with a 48-21 record after heading into Indianapolis and beating the Pacers 114-106 last night. The game was the first of a six-game road trip for the Hornets that includes visits to Cleveland, Boston, Toronto, Orlando and Miami. If Nawlins is planning on holding onto the No. 1 seed then its needs to keep getting monstrous production from its superstars like David West and MVP candidate Chris Paul. Both starters posted double-doubles in Indy as West finished with 35 points and 16 rebounds and Paul recorded 31 points and 14 assists in the team’s fourth consecutive win. The loss dropped Indiana 1 ½ games behind Atlanta for the final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Tuesday’s Player of the Day: David West @ Indiana 42 min, 35 pts (FG: 14-24, FT: 7-7), 16 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl, 2 blk

Wednesday’s Game to Watch: Phoenix (47-23) @ Boston (55-15)
There will be plenty of star power on the court tonight when the Suns and the Celtics hook it up in Beantown, but the matchup that stands out is between a pair of guys straight from high school. Kevin Garnett and Amare Stoudemire are two of the best big men in the game today and they will each be instrumental to their team’s success in a game that could be a preview of the NBA Finals. Of course, almost anytime a team from the West plays either Detroit or Boston you could say that. Both teams are currently on losing skids with Phoenix coming off a loss in Detroit and Boston dropping a pair to New Orleans and Philadelphia. The good news for Celtics fans is Boston owns a 23-5 record against the West.

Buzzer Beater: Chris Webber is set to retire at the ripe age of 35 due to knee problems that he just can’t seem to shake. While Webber will be most remembered for calling the timeout heard round the world and dunking on Charles Barkley as a rookie, his career can be defined by more than just that. Over his 15 seasons, Webber averaged 20.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, putting him on an elite list with Kevin Garnett, Larry Bird, Billy Cunningham, Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor as the only players to pull off 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists over their career.

Categories
Video Games

WNBA Live 08 hits the shelves and stays there

What could be more exciting than virtually controlling your favorite WNBA superstarlets? Geez, where do we start? There’s going to the dentist, doing your taxes, watching your clothes tumble dry, counting cracks in the sidewalk, brushing your dog, alphabetizing your CD collection…

Links:

[The700Level.com]: Finally, a Hoops Video Game That Emphasizes the Fundamentals

Categories
MLB General

Jose Canseco says Alex Rodriguez is an attempted home wrecker


Jose Canseco has a new book coming out which can mean only one thing: more major leaguers are about to get thrown under the bus. First up, Alex Rodriguez.

According to writer Joe Lavin who got his hands on a copy of “Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball” prior to it drop date on April 1, Canseco claims to have introduced A-Rod to a steroids distributor. At this point, we’re willing to believe just about anybody is or has been juiced, but considering Canseco apparently freely admits to not actually sticking a needle into Rodriguez’s ass and pumping him up, we’re going to leave it at that. However, we all know A-Rod is true player in every sense of the word, so we don’t doubt Canseco’s other claims for one second.

He [Lavin] says Canseco claimed he didn’t inject Rodriguez but “introduced Alex to a known supplier of steroids.” Lavin also says “Canseco claims that A-Rod was trying to sleep with Canseco’s wife.”

“I really, absolutely, have no reaction,” Rodriguez said Tuesday when asked about the claim relating to the steroids distributor. As far as the allegation regarding Canseco’s wife, Rodriguez responded:

“I don’t know how to answer that.

Well, you could start with either a yes or a no, that’s how most people go about answering questions. Of course, you are a modern-day baseball player, so we assume you’re just following protocol.

Links:

[NBC Sports]: Report: A-Rod was pursuing Canseco’s wife

Categories
Boxing

Odds and Ends: Zab Judah perfects the backhanded bet


Boxers are a confident breed and they just love to talk trash. Zab Judah is no different, so he decided to open his mouth and actually bet Shane Mosley a nice chunk of change that he would knock him out in their upcoming fight on May 31. Don’t worry, the bout is going down in Las Vegas.

That’s free money,” Judah said. “If he’s so confident and so much in shape, then why didn’t he take it? The last time I put a $100,000 bet on the table was against Corey Spinks. What did I do? I knocked him out.”

Mosley declined. But this is what’s great about boxing. Any other sport and Judah’s suspended; here, he’s celebrated.

In other news…

[10,000 Takes]: Gopher blasts hockey ref.

[The Big Lead]: Like father, like son.

[BucStats.com]: Herm Edwards Is Bitter.

[Skate 2 Stick]: Gordie Howe is old!

[Charlotte.com]: So, how’s your bracket holding up?

[The Professional Cheerleader Blog]: Magic cheerleaders do their magic on a trampoline.

[WISTV.com]: Another wrestler gone before his time.

[WSMV.com]: When Pacman and the Playmaker get together you know it’s going to be good.

[KARE11.com]: High School assistant coach tries to have a beer party with his athletes.

[Freep.com]: 20% drop in NFL crime over last year. Just wait; Pacman’s back.

Categories
All Other Sports

Is it still considered "hot-dogging" if it’s done by an actual dog?

Skip To My Lou ain’t got nothing on Rover.

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Links:

[CollegeHumor.com]: Dog Joins the Globetrotters

Categories
Detroit Pistons

Around the Rim: Not in our house!


1. Detroit outshines Phoenix
In what very well could be a preview of this year’s NBA Finals, the Pistons proved they still got it when it comes to breaking Shaq’s heart. The Suns were on a seven-game winning streak going into Detroit on Monday, but Detroit posted 14 points in overtime to take a 110-105 victory. Since joining Phoenix, the Bad Boys have twice defeated Shaquille O’Neal and the last time the Diesel was sporting a Western Conference uniform, the Pistons sent his Lakers home brokenhearted from the game’s ultimate stage. O’Neal managed to have a solid outing, posting 12 points and 10 rebounds to compliment Amare Stoudemire’s 33 points and Steve Nash’s 23, but Chauncey Billups was too much to handle down the stretch, scoring nine of his 32 points in the extra frame.

2. Beantown letdown

Philadelphia’s shock-n-awe tour continued on Monday night when the Sixers stopped in Boston and knocked off the league’s top dawgs 95-90. Andre Iguodala finished with 28 points and went bonkers in the fourth quarter, going on a personal 10-0 run as part of a 19-0 run to claw out of an 11-point hole. Boston’s “Big 3” combined for 44 points, but only posted five in the final quarter and the Celtics lost their second straight. Philadelphia improved to 8-2 over its last 10 games and now sits in sole possession of sixth place in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.

3. The Nuggets keep rolling
On Sunday, Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony combined for 69 points in a victory over Toronto. On Monday, the dynamic duo posted 49 points, but the results were the same – a win. The Answer finished with 26 points and Carmelo Anthony tallied 23, however neither could hold a candle to J.R. Smith in Denver’s 120-106 win. Smith went nuclear in the final period, ripping off 25 of his 27 points, including seven bombs from downtown. The W was the Nuggets third consecutive as they try to work themselves back into the playoff picture in a stacked West. The Grizzlies got big games out of a pair of blossoming youngsters as Rudy put up a game-high 30 points and Hakim Warrick finished with 29. But don’t let the inexperienced talent fool you, this team stinks. In fact, if it weren’t for Seattle’s current 1-11 streak, Memphis might very well own the conference’s worst mark.

Monday’s Player of the Day: Lamar Odom @ Golden State 53 min, 23 pts (FG: 10-15, FT: 3-5), 21 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl, 5 blk

Tuesday’s Game to Watch: San Antonio (47-23) @ Orlando (46-26)
The last time the Spurs visited Orlando Dwight Howard slam dunked his Magic to a victory with less than one second remaining in the game. Until he went Superman at All-Star Weekend, it was the defining moment of his short career. The Spurs have now won three in a row after dropping six of seven and just added Brent Barry back to the roster to give them some solid perimeter shooting for the playoff push. It’s a strategy the Magic are quite familiar with. Orlando averages the second-most treys in the league (25.1 3FG per game) and Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu and Keith Bogans are amongst the top 12 in the league for 3-point attempts.

Buzzer Beater: Fans in Seattle chanted “Save Our Sonics!” at any chance they could get last night and apparently the players just aren’t used to hearing anything other than boos when they play in front of the home crowd after dropping 11 in a row before beating Portland 97-84 on Monday.

Messed me up a little bit,” [Kevin] Durant said. “But I heard them and that’s something I love. The crowd was into it tonight and that shows they’re going to stick behind us.

Categories
College Basketball

Highlights sure aren’t what they used to be

When March Madness comes rolling around, we turn into absolute NCAA basketball junkies. For weeks on end we sit and stare at the tube and the computer screen in an attempt to catch every possible moment of action. So far, the highlight of the tournament for us was when the frog on Duke dunked on Belmont’s Jason.

Links:

[Can’t Stop The Bleeding]: A Non-CBS Affiliate Presents “One Shining Muppet”

Categories
Denver Broncos

McDonald’s bag puts Brandon Marshall in the hospital


Strange injuries are nothing new to the world of sports, but Brandon Marshall found a way to give us something we’ve never seen before. The Broncos receiver needed surgery on his right arm and is expected to miss a majority of all offseason activities after wrasslin with some family members, slipping on a McDonald’s bag and crashing through his television.

I understand I’ve had my problems, but from what people are saying, they’re trying to twist this thing around to make me sound like some kind of bad guy,” Marshall said. “I don’t care what anyone says. I’m telling you what happened.” …

“We woke up early in the morning, probably 7 o’clock, to go jet skiing,” Marshall said. “There were probably 10 of us, maybe more. We got to horseplaying and I slipped on a McDonald’s bag. I went hand-first into an entertainment system and, in trying to bridge myself, I went through the TV.”

Marshall acknowledged earlier that he had slipped on a McDonald’s bag, but an NFL Network report Monday added details of his wrestling with family members. According to the report, Marshall severed an artery, a vein and a nerve in his right forearm, along with tendons to five muscles. The injury is expected to sideline him for several weeks, but Marshall said he expects to be ready for training camp in late July.

This might be the first time in the history of McDonald’s food that the effects are actually visible on the outside. We all know exactly what that crap can do to your insides and, frankly, we kinda think a severed artery is getting off easy compared to the hours of bubble-guts following a Big Mac!

Links:

[DenverPost.com]: Broncos’ Marshall suffers bad cuts

Categories
Boxing

Odds and Ends: Anderson Silva vs. Roy Jones Jr. – it could happen


The war for fighting supremacy between boxing and mixed martial arts has been going on for a while now and it looks like we might finally get a little clarification on the matter. NBC Sports is reporting that there are talks going on concerning a boxing bout between the UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and boxer Roy Jones Jr.

Alan Hopper, director of public relations for Don King Productions confirmed that talks are ongoing, and characterized them as “preliminary.”

“Roy likes the idea and is up for it,” Hopper said. “It’s being discussed. Roy will only agree if the match takes place under the rules of boxing, and UFC would have to clear Silva’s participation.

Making the fight a boxing match clearly gives the advantage to Jones Jr., but that doesn’t mean it can’t be an interesting contest. If the WWE‘s Big Show takes down Floyd Mayweather Jr. at WrestleMania and Silva knocks off Roy Jones Jr. then it could be nighty-night for boxing. It’s a black eye at the very least.

In other news…

[FanIQ.com]: Pole-Vaulting keeps getting sexier and sexier.

[BestWeekEver.tv]: Wiffle ball is more than a game to this dude, it’s an obsession.

[CBS2Chicago.com]: Some “sweet” artwork for a Cubs fan’s crib.

[Awful Announcing]: Stu Scott channels Stephen A. Smith.

[StupidVideos.com]: 58-inch box squat jump.

[KCBD.com]: Brent Barry is back in black (and silver).

[On Frozen Blog]: Alex Ovechkin is in good company.

[Sportsocracy.org]: G.I. Joe fans, we’ve got two words for ya: Snake Eyes.

Categories
Dallas Mavericks

Around the Rim: Down goes Dirk! Down goes Dirk!


1. The M.V.P. is O.U.T.
The Mavericks lost a whole lot more than just the game when they played San Antonio on Sunday, they also lost Dirk Nowitzki. In the third quarter Nowitzki took a nasty fall and his left leg got caught up underneath him, leaving him in pain and the Mavs in misery. The “lower left leg injury” is expected to keep Dirk out of action for at least two weeks which could spell disaster for Dallas’ playoff chances because after falling 88-81 to the Spurs, the Mavericks are now just two games from falling out of the chase as they currently sit in seventh place. The defeat dropped Dallas to 0-8 versus teams with winning records since acquiring Jason Kidd. The Spurs on the other hand are starting to improve, winning their third consecutive game after going through a horrible 1-6 slump.

2. Denver’s playoff push continues

Denver is a tough team to beat when Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony get hot. Just ask Toronto. The duo combined for 69 points in a 109-100 defeat of the Raptors up in Canada. A.I. exploded for 36 points while Anthony posted 33 to help Denver win its second consecutive game. The Nuggets are racing the clock and the competition as they try to claw their way back into the postseason’s elite eight out West. Toronto is slipping and sliding its way to the bottom of its conference with a 2-8 record over the last 10 games. Not even having their superstar back is helping. The Raptors are 1-2 since Chris Bosh returned to the lineup. Against Denver, Bosh was doing it all in the loss, finishing with 17 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.

3. Lakers rally in vain
The Lakers trailed by 26 points at one point against the Warriors on Sunday and damn near rallied all the way back, but Stephen Jackson thwarted the comeback. Jackson made a pair of big treys in the final minute, giving him 31 points on the day and his team a 115-111 road victory. Monta Ellis matched Jackson’s 31 point output and Baron Davis added 18 to help Golden State avoid a total choke job. Kobe Bryant had 36 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists in the loss. Los Angeles is now sitting in second place in the Western Conference, trailing New Orleans via tiebreaker, but has considerably cooled off, going 6-4 in their last 10 contests. However, LA can avenge the loss tonight as it turns around and heads to Golden State for the tail end of the home-and-home.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Kobe Bryant vs. Golden State 46 min, 36 pts (FG: 13-30, 3FG: 3-9, FT: 7-7), 14 reb, 8 ast, 1 stl,

Monday’s Game to Watch: Phoenix (47-22) @ Detroit (49-20)
Talk about a contrast in styles! The Suns are the second best offensive team in the league, averaging 110.2 points per game while Detroit is the second best defensive unit in the Association, giving up a meager 90.8 points a contest. Tonight, something has to give. The Pistons are riding a two game losing streak after falling to Cleveland and Washington on the road, but they will have the advantage of playing at home against Phoenix where they are 27-6. But home court advantage might not be enough as the Suns are finally clicking with Shaquille O’Neal, winning seven straight. In the last five games, Phoenix has been able to keep O’Neal’s minutes to a minimum (27.6 per game) while getting nearly a double-double (14. ppg, 19.6) out of him.

Buzzer Beater: For the first time in the history of the NBA it appears that we are going to see a 50+ win team miss the playoffs. And, of course, we are talking about the unlucky souls who get the shaft out West. Currently, that team is the Denver Nuggets with a 42-28 record.

I’ve never seen anything like it. I call it the Halley’s Comet year of the NBA,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “Once every 99 years something like this happens. Why I have to be a part of it, I want to know why.