Month: February 2014

Cardinal bounces back

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

By Jeremy Harness

 

Three days after nearly pulling off a monstrous upset, the Stanford men’s basketball team came back to beat a very good Arizona State team, using a dominant second half to come away with a 76-70 win at Maples Pavilion Saturday afternoon.

 

Dwight Powell scored 28 points on 8-of-19 shooting to lead the Cardinal, while Chasson Randle added 21 and made eight of his 14 shots from the field. 

 

The Cardinal came within a couple of possessions of knocking off top-ranked Arizona Wednesday night before faltering in the final minute, but there would be no second-half letdown this time around. They trailed by one at halftime on Saturday, but they took charge almost as soon as the second half got under way.

 

They went on a 12-3 run in the first five minutes of the second stanza and led by as many as 13  points. However, the Sun Devils, who squeaked by Cal Wednesday night, kept hanging around and proceeded to cut the lead down.

 

Arizona State managed to get the lead trimmed to three with 1:09 to play when Jermaine Marshall hit a 3-pointer, but they could not get any closer, as the 3’s stopped falling.

 

Meanwhile, Stanford knocked down their free throws when Arizona State was forced to foul in order to keep the game close.

 

Jahii Carson, the Sun Devils’ dynamic point guard, scored 24 points on Saturday while Marshall chipped in with 22 and made six of his eight 3-point attempts.

Kings downtown arena: Confidential memo city attorney warns subsidy can still make ballot with flaws

Published on by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–Sacramento Assistant City Attorney Matthew Ruyak says that the subsidy measure that would ask Sacramento voters if public subsidies could be used to build a new arena could make the ballot and that a judge could be persuaded enough to allow the measure to reach the ballot according to a confidential memo. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has said that the ballots are flawed and that the petitions are not legal and should not be allowed.

Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork or STOP and Voters For a Fair Arena Deal filed a lawsuit that their petitions were following political protocol and that they have the constitutional right to have their measure be legally on the ballot since they met beyond the minimum requirements to be on the ballot with 22,938 petitions over the ten percent minimum and some of the legalees were minor.

Sacramento City attorney James Sanchez sounded off immediately after STOP filed their lawsuit saying the petitions were not up to code and legal, “we believe the legal shortcomings presented by the STOP petitions will be persuasive to a judge, we believe a judge will be hardpressed to conclude they complied with the election code.” said Sanchez

But it’s Ruyak’s confidential memo that lends credence that the measure has a shot at making the ballot, although in basketball parlance it’s not a slam dunk Ruyak says there is no guarantee the city can fight to keep it off the ballot even with some of the legal inconsistencies, “we can not conclude with the requisite level of confidence that a court would more likely uphold an action to disqualify the initiative or it’s signatures. Given the fundamental right of the electorate to assist their voice through initiative, we cannot definitely conclude that there is a greater than 50 percent chance of prevailing in court should the city council refuse to place the measure on the ballot.” said Ruyak

STOP attorney Brad Hertz said that even though there were flaws on the petitions and legal disclaimer errors they are minor enough and that the initiative should go forward on the ballot, “it was a lot of very enthusiastic people with, you might say, too many cooks in the kitchen, all of (the flaws) are minor, technical, no voters were deceived” said Hertz

Ken Gimblin is covering the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors arena developments for Sportstalk Radio

Sharks Need to Remember When

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

By Mary Walsh

Many hockey players say that a short memory is an asset. Let the last game go, win or lose. It is better not to dwell on the past, but sometimes a short memory isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Sometimes remembering back before the unpleasant thing that just happened is better than simply forgetting everything as quickly as possible.

Saturday morning, Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews was asked about teammate Bryan Bickell, who has been in and out of the Chicago lineup lately. Toews said:

It’s not easy for a guy like that. We’re always trying to remind him what he’s capable of doing as a player. I think anyone can forget sometimes, when things aren’t going your way, it just seems to snowball in the wrong direction.

That sounds like something the San Jose Sharks could be saying to themselves and each other after the last few games.

The last time the Sharks played Chicago, Logan Couture was still in the lineup. The Sharks won, in a shootout, with a goal by Couture. Since he left the lineup, the Sharks have won seven of twelve games, including a nice little six game winning streak that recently ended with a three game losing streak. It isn’t a normal three-game losing streak. They went almost three games without a goal, and in the last two losses they lost by three goals. Lady Three is clearly not happy. The Sharks had better find out what she wants and give it to her.

Do the Sharks just miss Couture? They played nine games without him before they completely lost their scoring ability. Why would it take so long for them to notice that they missed him and were incapable of putting the puck in the net without him?

@SharksStats: Sharks with / without Logan Couture: Goals/gm 3.14 / 1.92, Shots/gm 36.1 / 31.8, PP Pct 18.9 / 13.8.

Did someone tell them they should not be capable of scoring, never mind winning, without Logan Couture in the lineup?

Certainly Couture is a very valuable piece of the San Jose scoring machinery, but it is preposterous to think that one guy missing would cause a such a dry spell.

The Sharks are not the only top team that is stumbling right now. Yes, even in the thick of this gaudy losing streak with the double-zeros in the score column, the Sharks are still in the top five or six in the NHL standings. Their neighbors at the top have been having some issues as well.

The Anaheim Ducks have lost two of their last three home games– that home, the one where they were undefeated to the chagrin of stats trackers everywhere– to Winnipeg and Minnesota.

The St. Louis Blues lost to Carolina on Friday, 3-1. Their 7-1 loss to New Jersey still looms large over the subsequent wins. SEVEN to ONE. They will have to win a lot of games to make up for that.

The Pittsburgh Penguins apparently didn’t get the memo that top teams should schedule their most tedious losing streaks for the pre-Olympic time period. Someone should let them know.

Chicago lost four in a row before finally pulling a win out of Vancouver last Wednesday. The four teams they lost to were Detroit, Winnipeg, Minnesota and Calgary.

What is it with Calgary?

In essence, this is a feeding frenzy for teams on the outside of the playoff picture. Dallas, Nashville and even Winnipeg are getting wide-eyed and ambitious.

Is this just a normal let down from the frantic first half of the season? If a team starts well, is it inevitable that they will hit a wall half-way through? Does it have anything to do with the imminent Olympic Games?

Blackhawks veteran and ex-Shark Michal Handzus said:

I thinks it’s coincidence it’s in the same time, … but you cannot go at that ridiculous pace the whole season. Especially Anaheim, St. Louis and us, were playing very well from the beginning pretty much til now. Obviously it happens over the course of the season, … It’s just the schedule is very tough and it’s so many games in a short period of time and it’s going to catch up to you some time.

Two teams in the top six of the NHL standings, as of Saturday, have not snapped out of their funk yet: the Sharks and the Blues. The Sharks have only lost three in a row. Their threshold is higher than that but it would be grand if they could find a way to cut the losing streak short, with or without Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, Raffi Torres, or Adam Burish.

Going back to Saturday morning Toews, here is what it sounds like when you get back on track after being embarrassed a few times. Of the team’s recent win in Vancouver, Toews said:

Most of all the guys just really wanted to win that one and we did what we had to do to win. I think going forward we can take a lot of those things that we did and try to implement that on a consistent basis. Kind of remind ourselves of what we were like before this … little skid … try and get back to that same way tonight.

Kings fall short in Dallas 107-103

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

Image

 

Photo credit: Glenn James

By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings went to Dallas on Friday night looking to end a five game losing streak. In the association, the toughest place to attempt to break a losing streak is on the road. The road is brutal to visiting teams in the NBA. It was brutal to the Kings on Friday as they lost to Dallas 107-103.

The game versus the Mavericks was the sixth consecutive contest the Kings have played without the injured (ankle) DeMarcus Cousins. Sacramento is 0-6 without their star center in the lineup. Yes, they do miss their big man.

The number one problem for the Kings has been a lack of consistent defense. The Kings played strong defense in the first quarter holding the Mavericks to just 24 points. In the second quarter the defense broke down and Dallas scored 30 points. Sacramento came out in the third period and held the Mavs to just 21 points. But in the fourth quarter, the Kings’ defense went dormant as they allowed Dallas to put up 32 points. Head coach Michael Malone described his team as having “no defensive mindset” in the final quarter.

The Kings committed 14 turnovers to just 4 for the Mavericks. Dallas outscored the Kings in the paint 50-44. The Mavericks scored 16 fast break points to just 5 for the Kings. Michael Malone said, “It’s very hard to win on the road when you beat yourself.”

Sacramento shot 50.7% (38-75) from the field while Dallas shot just 47.5% (38-80). The Kings shot 87.0% (20-23) from the free throw line while the Mavericks shot 80.6% (29-36) from the stripe. The Kings out-rebounded the Mavs 39-37. Sacramento played a strong game. It was lapses of defense in the second and fourth quarters that cost them the game.

Rudy Gay led all scorers with 35 points on just 16 shots. He was 15 of 17 from the free throw line. Gay posted 12 rebounds giving him a double-double. Isaiah Thomas put up 19 points and dished out six assists in 42 minutes of playing time.

Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 34 points. He was 11 for 11 from the free throw line. Monta Ellis added 20 points. Jose Calderon scored 14 points while Brandan Wright put up 10 points.

The Mavericks’ record improved to 27-21 on the season with the win. The loss dropped the Kings’ record to 15-31.

Sacramento has no time rest and regroup as they have to play the Spurs in San Antonio on Saturday night. The Kings will need to play four quarters of defense just to stay in the game with the Spurs.