OAKLAND, CA – DECEMBER 21: Klay Thompson #11 of the Golden State Warriors shoots a layup against Robert Sacre #50 of the Los Angeles Lakers on December 21, 2013 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2013 NBAE (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
By Matthew Harrington
In man-handling the Los Angeles Lakers 102-83 at Oracle Arena Saturday night, the Golden State Warriors reversed their fortunes against teams without their usual star power. On Thursday the Spurs, who were short Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli and Tony Parker, slipped past Golden State 104-102. With a chance to rectify Thursday’s loss against a gutted foe, the Warriors (15-13) punished the punchless Lakers (13-14) who were missing injured stars Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and new addition to the infirmed Pau Gasol (out Saturday with a upper respiratory infection).
Laker forward Nick Young had a game-high 20 points coming off the bench, while David Lee led Golden State with 19 and 10 rebounds to complete the double-double. Andrew Bogut joined Lee registering double-digits in points (12) and rebounds (20).
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson had five field goals apiece for the home side, good for 18 and 17 points respectively. Laker center Chris Kaman’s 17 rebounds in the contest were second only to Bogut’s total.
Andre Iguodala again struggled, collecting only three points on one shot made in six attempts in 24 minutes of action in his third game back from injury. Iguodala stood as the lone Warrior starter to not crack double figures in scoring.
The Warriors held a slim one-point lead after the first quarter before adding a slight four-point gap at the half leading 46-42. The Dubs did most of the damage in the third, outscoring the Lakers 26-15 in the pivotal frame. Thompson had eight points in the third, including a pair of threes to stake the hosts to a 72-57 lead. The Warriors wrapped up the blowout by outscoring their Rivals from the south 30-26, sealing the victory.
With the win, the Warriors managed to hold the Lakers from gaining ground in the standings. Golden State stands one place out of playoff position with the Lakers a game and a half behind them. With the Warriors heading to the Mile-high City to face the eighth-place Nuggets Monday night, a Dubs victory would move them over Denver into the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The tip-off is at 6:00 p.m.
Thanks to some clutch free throw shooting by Nik Stauskas, Michigan held off Stanford 68-65 Saturday in a non-conference men’s basketball contest at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The Cardinal (8-3) had won seven of their last eight games going in, including a notable road win over No. 10 Connecticut on Wednesday. But they came up short in their bid for back-to-back road victories on the East Coast.
Stauskas, who led the Wolverines with 19 points, sank two crucial free throws with nine seconds remaining in the second half. Glenn Robinson III added 17 points for Michigan (7-4), which turned the ball over only eight times. Wolverines reserve Zak Irvin added 12 points.
Stefan Nastic equaled his season-high of 14 points for the Cardinal, but he fouled out with 5:24 to play. Chasson Randle, meanwhile, led Stanford with 18 points.
Stanford pulled to within one point in the second half, but could never get ahead of the Wolverines, who surged ahead at the 14:42 mark of the first half and never trailed for the remainder of the game.
Michigan’s Caris LeVert missed a pair of foul shots with 45 seconds remaining in the second half, which left the door open for a Cardinal comeback. After Grant Verhoeven made 1 of 2 free throws for Stanford with :44 showing, the Cardinal chose not to foul and Robinson’s layup put Michigan up 66-62 with 14 seconds left.
Chasson Randle’s 3-pointer cut the Cardinal deficit to 66-65 before Stauskas hit his two foul shots that gave Michigan some breathing room. Randle’s last-second 3-point attempt was short as time expired.
It was Michigan’s first game since dropping a 72-70 home decision to No. 1-Arizona on Dec. 14.
After a holiday break, the Cardinal return home on Sunday, Dec. 29, for a non-conference game against Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.
SAN JOSE, CA – DECEMBER 21: Joe Thornton #19 of the San Jose Sharks is congratulated by teammages after he scored the winning goal in an overtime shoot-out against the Dallas Stars at SAP Center on December 21, 2013 in San Jose, California. The Sharks won the game 3-2. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
By: Phillip Torres
SAN JOSE-The San Jose Sharks (22-8-6) hosted the Dallas Stars (17-12-6) on Saturday night at the SAP Center in San Jose. This exciting thriller was worth the price of admission as it took a Joe Thornton goal in the fifth round of a shootout to decide the winner. The Sharks came away with the 3-2 victory as they rallied late to earn the W.
San Jose fell behind early as Ray Whitney and Antoine Roussel scored the first two goals in the game to take the early 2-0 advantage. Jason Demers put San Jose on the board at 11 :47 in the second period. Demers slapshot goal was his first goal of the season with assists from Tyler Kennedy and Andrew Desjardins.
Joe Pavelski tied the game up at 2-2 with his 14th foal of the season at 4:24 in the third and final period. Pavelski scored on a nice backhand shot. Thornton and Marc Edouard Vlasic.
Thornton scored the lone goal in the shootout and gave San Jose just its fourth win in December. The Sharks will be back on the ice Monday as they will host the Colorado Avalanche. The puck will drop at 7:30 P.M.
The Sacramento Kings desperately needed a win on Saturday night in Orlando. The Kings had lost the first three games of the four game road trip and had been blown out in two of those games. The game against the Magic appeared to be the most winnable of the trip. The Kings stepped up, shook off the blowout in Miami and beat the Magic 105-100.
The game did not begin in a manner that would instill confidence that a win was in the cards. The Kings gave up 31 points to the Magic and trailed 31-25 after one quarter. The lack of defense made it appear that is was going to be déjà vu all over again for Sacramento.
The Kings offense stepped up and starting putting points up on the board in the second quarter. Head Coach Michael Malone felt that his team’s 12-4 run to close out the quarter was a key to their victory. The Kings went to the locker room trailing the Magic by just two points, 58-56.
Both teams came out in the third determined to play defense. The Kings and the Magic scored only 19 points each in the quarter. Malone called his team’s defensive efforts in the period, “Terrific!” After three quarters the Magic led the Kings by just two points.
The Kings offense came alive in the fourth quarter as they went on an 18-4 run to kick things off in the final 12 minutes of the game. The Kings outscored the Magic 30-23 in the fourth period and capped off their 105-100 win.
After the game, Michael Malone said, “We battled back tonight.” He also praised guard Marcus Thornton, “Marcus has been a true pro. He was ready tonight.”
Thornton has been the forgotten man on the Sacramento bench. He had gone from being a starter to being completely out of the rotation. Saturday night Thornton got the chance to play and he did the most with his opportunity. Thornton scored 15 points in his 22 minutes of playing time. After the game he said, “I’m happy to have the opportunity.”
Isaiah Thomas had another terrific game for Sacramento. His play in the first half really kept his team in the game. Thomas finished with 23 points, nine assists and five rebounds. He shot eight for 15 from the floor.
Rudy Gay also poured in 23 points for the Kings in his 38 minutes of playing time. Gay grabbed six rebounds and added two assists.
DeMarcus Cousins recorded another double-double. Cousins scored 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.
The Kings had a strong night shooting the ball. They shot 49.4% (39-79) overall and 52.2% (12-23) from beyond the 3-point line.
The Kings now head back to Sacramento where they will host the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night at Sleep Train Arena.
At the first intermission during the Sharks game Saturday, Jamie Baker said the Sharks seem to be missing something, possibly their mojo. If the Sharks have lost their mojo, it might be buried in Todd McLellan’s higgledy-piggledy line adjustments. It could be time to unchange all those lines.
Or maybe they found their mojo Saturday, in the process of being outshot 46-39 by the Dallas Stars, who average 31.6 shots a game. Maybe the Sharks found their mojo and that is how they survived going down by two goals, made it to a shootout and won 3-2. They won. That is important. But if a 4-2 victory in Toronto foretold of a losing streak to come, it isn’t likely that the Sharks will rest on those Dallas shootout laurels.
The Sharks started the season outstandingly well. To get back to that could be impossible, but to get back to winning more than losing is a reasonable goal. The key is to put the pieces back where they belong and leave them there for at least as long as they have been out of place. That would be nine games or so.
The Sharks’ coaching staff spent a lot of time thinking up forward lines during the off-season and training camp. The lines they started with might have some merit, even if you account for the insertion of players who came and went due to injury. During the ten game experiment the team just completed, only the Hertl-Thornton-Burns and Couture-Marleau connections lasted.
Those were dismantled Saturday against Dallas, beyond replacing the injured Hertl. John McCarthy took Pavelski’s spot as third line center, Pavelski moved to a new line with Thornton and Marleau, and Burns to Couture’s line with Havlat.
Putting McCarthy at center is not wrong per se. He played there in college and also in the AHL. But he’s been in San Jose for most of this season, playing wing. Maybe tossing him back to the middle isn’t the best way to stabilize the team.
When the Sharks started this rough patch after Toronto, San Jose started making line adjustments. Eventually, they made every line adjustment there was to make, until finally Martin Havlat was skating on a fourth line with Andrew Desjardins. The experiment may have provided some as yet unseen benefit to the team, but it certainly didn’t generate many wins.
Obviously, the inquiry into whether or not a pass can connect between Havlat and Desjardins was answered with an unequivocal “no.” But what about all those other adjustments? What about moving Pavelski to the wing? Pavelski is a perfectly capable winger, but moving him away from center punched a hole in one of the team’s most coveted qualities: daunting depth through center.
The decision to sit Tyler Kennedy for a game, then put him back in on the fourth line looked a lot like the path Havlat followed back to the second line. It’s all well and good to make a player watch a game to sort things out, then have him come back in with limited ice time.
Except it really isn’t well and good. Using the fourth line as a gateway back into the game can thoroughly handicap the fourth line if said player is not accustomed to fourth line duty. It’s hard enough for the energy line to do its job with limited ice time and the continuous changing of their membership.
When the rotation included McCarthy, Sheppard and Brown as wingers for Desjardins, at least it was just those four. They could get a feel for each other. Tossing Havlat and Kennedy in there didn’t do them any favors. They have to work fast and hard, they’re not a rehab service for top niners.
It wasn’t ideal for the top niners either. Martin Havlat, before Thursday’s game, was preparing to skate on a line with Couture and Marleau, the third line he’d played on in as many games. Despite playing all over the lineup, did Havlat think his game was becoming more consistent or not?
Not, but like you said, I’ve been all over the place. So we’ll see. I played with these guys half of the year last year at the end and it was great. So we’ll see how it is.
It went pretty well, better than other lines that night. It was the only line to score a goal and finish without a minus by their names. Tyler Kennedy was the only other skater without a minus.
Whether he sees it or not, Havlat’s game has been getting stronger. It may be taking longer than it would if he’d been left consistently with the same line-mates. While his game has suffered along with the team’s, he has at least maintained some defensive equilibrium. McLellan commented on that after the win in St. Louis last Tuesday:
When we look at Marty, I think since he’s been back in the lineup, he’s only been a minus player three nights. That’s pretty darn good. There’s not a lot of other guys that are in that situation. Would we like more offense from him? I think it’s coming.
Havlat isn’t the only player who might profit from a consistent line configuration. Kennedy did better than Havlat on the fourth line. He even got an assist in his second game there. Maybe all he needed was a little more time with his new linemates, a second game?
In Los Angeles, it looked like McLellan was ready to put the old bands back together, with Havlat and Marleau flanking Couture, and Pavelski back at center with Wingels and Sheppard. When Hertl went down, emergency changes had to be made, but otherwise the team was taking a familiar shape again.
Those lines did not win that game, but wins have been scarce for the kaleidoscope of line formations before and since. Those won three of eight games. Perhaps if McLellan gives the old lines a chance to find their footing again the team can reverse this losing trend.
The Stanford basketball team was in the same position a couple of nights before, so based on the prior result, the Cardinal certainly had reason to believe.
Coming off a signature victory on the road against No. 10 Connecticut, during which they found themselves down by eight early in the second half, Stanford was again behind against Michigan Saturday night and rallied yet again.
This time, however, the Cardinal could not close the deal, cutting Michigan’s lead to one point against the runner-up in last season’s NCAA Tournament but could not push through in a 68-65 loss at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Stanford did not shoot particularly well but still hung around against a more athletic Wolverines team, which didn’t have a great shooting night, either. Michigan, which thrives on shooting the 3-pointer, was 8-for-27 from behind the arc Saturday night.
Chasson Randle, who made several key shots down the stretch in the second half but had his final-seconds 3-pointer to tie the game fall short, scored 18 points to lead the Cardinal while Stefan Nastic, who had somewhat of a breakout game, had 14 to equal his season high.
The Cardinal will now enjoy the upcoming Christmas break and will not play again until Dec. 29 against Cal Poly at home before beginning the Pac-12 season against Cal the following Thursday, Jan. 2 at Maples Pavilion.
DALY CITY–The Colorado Eagles are a top three team in the East Coast Hockey League and they proved that on Friday night with a three goal win over the San Francisco Bulls 6-3 at the Cow Palace. They’re very fast and they’re a great skating club, they have great skaters. They look like an elite team. The Bulls played sloppy and if your going to play in this league you got to have your A game you got come out there with your best.
The Bulls didn’t really come out with their best unfortunately Bulls goaltender Tyler Beskorwany he had some quick goals put on him not all of them were quick passes. So if he’s moving from side to side in the net the other team just tapped it in. Multiple goals like that by the Eagles are practiced and obviously Colorado did very well. The Bulls tried to make their come back in the second period and scored a couple and then they scored one in the third. The Bulls cut it close and then unfortunately Colorado pulled away at the end, it was a decent showing at the end.
The goals that the Bulls scored were all really good goals they really worked the puck in there and on offense I was very impressed with the play in front of the Eagles net by the Bulls at the end of the game when they were shooting at that end. They were working the puck they were working the corners there was not a lot time and space the puck was bouncing pretty well. Bulls skaters Tyler Gron and Dale Mitchell looked pretty good carrying the puck and of course it was fortunate they looked real good.
The Bulls have to keep working at it and keep the grinding into it. They need to come out with a better start because playing with a three goal deficit is really tough to come out of it. Turning the page is what you have to do as a hockey team once the last horn sounds for a game and especially in the ECHL you have back to back games. In this case back to back to back. The Bulls played Friday and Saturday and finish up Sunday afternoon at the Cow Palace.
The only other league in sports where you play that many consecutive games without a day off is professional baseball.
San Jose Sharks update: The Los Angeles Kings played a very physical game and they won the Stanley Cup a few years ago and they still have a good number of those core players there and the Sharks are a good team and their getting good goaltending from this rookie who came in Alex Stalock.
Injured left winger Tomas Hertl checked with his father in the Czech Republic that he would be out for a week to a month and that was the night of the knee injury in Los Angeles on Thursday. When an injury happens it really takes a couple days for things to settle down to observe the full extent. I would expect this injury to Hertl to last a couple of months.
If the knee is torn or ripped he’ll be out awhile but if it’s just a bruise it might be three or four weeks and then you have to get into hockey shape of working out to get the game speed. As far as the hit by the Los Angeles Kings Dustin Brown on the knee on knee injury it’s amazing no matter who you ask that Brown should have been thrown out of that game.
Brown has done this multiple times to players and if this was a legal hit it’s unfortunate and it worked and the poor guy is getting blamed for something terrible. I’ve been skating for 40 years and if your making a left turn and your on your inside edge on your right foot you should be inward and and it was not on his inside edge and his knee wasn’t inward which tells me that he was trying to go right at Hertl.
Larry Leavitt does Pro Hockey commentary each week for Sportstalk Radio
SAN FRANCISCO–The Kraft Hunger Bowl is back and kick off is scheduled for Sat December 28th at AT&T Park between BYU and Washington University. Friday night I was in downtown S.F. and ran into the BYU advance crew. The Cougars don’t arrive in the City until Sunday. The Cougars former head coach Lavelle Edwards was in town on Friday night.
There’s a lot of excitment downtown it’s BYU’s first appearance in the Kraft Bowl and it’s Washington’s also. It should be a great football game. BYU is having a great season. The Cougars lost games during the regular season to Wisconsin and Notre Dame. BYU is a good football team and they run the football.
Washington runs the football just as well with their running back Bishop Sankey and the Huskies are 8-12 for the regular season in the Pac 12. Then there was the coaching change for Washington as Steve Sarkisian who left for USC is replaced by Chris Peterson. Sarkisian will not be involved in this game.
Peterson left Boise State to coach the Huskies and with the Hunger Bowl in the last couple years there have been coaching changes for this game. It will not affect the product on the field it should be an exciting game. Former Raider quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo the Huskies interim coach knows the system going into this bowl game. It’s all hands on deck with Sarkisian gone and the team has to rally around the new coach for this game.
The players have to be more attentive and the assistants have to assume the responsibilty it’s not going to affect them on the field. They’ve got plenty of time to prepare and they might be able to do well without Sarkisian for this game. What happened two years ago with Illinois they came into the bowl to play UCLA with their new coach and last year a coaching change happened when Boston College came town and they also had a new coach.
That’s just the kind of timing they have in football and particuarily with this bowl game coaches are taking new jobs at this time of the year and obviously athletic directors are not interested in having somebody around whose accepted a new job who can not even coach the last few games. They get the guy out and he doesn’t coach the final bowl games and they just move on.
It shouldn’t effect Washington at all with this change and again Peterson will take over at the beginning of next season and coach the Huskies 2014 season. Peterson maybe attending this game as an observer. He might be there as a consultant but Peterson left Boise State and it’s great for Washington he was an excellent coach while he was with the Buffaloes and made a couple of BCS appearences.
Morris Phillips is filling in for Michelle Richardson this week for NCAA commentary
DALY CITY-The San Francisco Bulls (9-14-2-1) hosted the Colorado Eagles on Friday night at the Legendary Cow Palace. Colorado held off the Bulls as they took game one of the three game weekend series 6-3. The first 47:31 seconds of the game were dominated by the Eagles as they scored five unanswered goals. Tyler Beskorowany started in the net for the Bulls, but was removed from the game after giving up four consecutive goals.
The Bulls did not get their first goal until 17:29 in the second period. Jordan Morrison put the puck in the net on the glove side past Adam Brown. Tyler Gron and Brett Findlay earned the assists on the play. Dale Mitchell scored 18 seconds later to make it a 5-2 deficit.
Gron scored his 12th goal of the season in the third period to put the Bulls to within two goals, but Colorado tacked on a late goal to go back up by three.
The final score tallied 6-3 in favor of the Colorado Eagles. San Francisco will host Colorado on Saturday and Sunday as well in this three game series.
The Bulls are now 0-4 against the Eagles this season. After the game head coach Pat Curcio commented about what the Bulls need to do to win the next two games in this series.
“We just need to mix up the lineup. We need to play a full three quarters,” said Curcio.
The puck will drop at 7:30 for game two on Saturday night.
On Friday night, a NBA team shot 58% from the field, scored 103 points and lost the game. The team was the Sacramento Kings, and their opponents were the reigning world champion Miami Heat. The final score was Miami 122 – Sacramento 103.
No one really expected the Kings to roll into Miami and come out with a win. In fact after losing in Charlotte and being destroyed in Atlanta, no one really knew what to expect from the Kings in South Florida.
The Kings did shoot 58.1% (43-74) versus Miami, but shot just 31.8% (7-22) from 3-point land. Even worse, Sacramento shot a miserable 41.7% (10-24) from the charity stripe. Tack on giving up 70 points in the paint, 22 fast break points and 34 bench points and all of the numbers add up to a loss.
Miami shot 61.4% (51-83) while posting a 43.5% (10-23) mark for 3-pointers. The Heat went 10-14 (71.4%) from the free throw line.
The high point of the night for Sacramento had to be the first quarter which they won 36-33. From there everything went downhill. The Kings gave up 34 points in the second quarter, 31 in the third and 24 in the fourth period. A NBA team cannot give up 30 plus points in three consecutive quarters and expect to do anything but lose.
Individually the Kings were led by DeMarcus Cousins’ game high 27 points. Cousins pulled down eight rebounds, recorded five assists and two steals. He did not have a blocked shot. The Kings managed to block just one Heat shot in the entire 48 minutes of play.
The one real highlight may have been the play of Ben McLemore. McLemore has been struggling as a shooter for the entire month of December. On Friday, the Kings’ rookie shot 8-13 en route to scoring 20 points. He went 4-7 from beyond the 3-point arc.
On the downside for McLemore, he made ESPN Top 10 plays but not in a good way. He tried to stand between LeBron James and the basket. LeBron won going high in the air and put McLemore on his back as King James scored the bucket.
Rudy Gay scored 14 for Sacramento while Isaiah Thomas added 11 points. Thomas made seven assists while Gay was credited with six of his own.
Chris Bosh paced the Heat with 25 points. Dwayne Wade added 20 while “the King” poured in 18.
The best thing that can be said for the Kings is that it is over in Miami and they can put the game in their past. The bad news for the Kings is the Heat will be in Sacramento next Friday.
The Kings will have no time to sit in the corner and lick their wounds. They have to face the Magic in Orlando on Saturday night. It will be the final opportunity to salvage a win on this four game road trip.
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