Month: March 2014

Sharks commentary: Sharks liked the homecooking; get ready for some ice time back east

Published on by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Larry Leavitt

SAN JOSE–Taking a quick review of the Sharks this past week last Thursday in their 5-3 comeback win over the Pittsburgh Penguins they didn’t look bad they were playing even with the Penguins and they were trying to control the puck. When they were even with the Pens the way they caught up was they played more physical and they played much faster. Everybody was on board and everybody was back checking and forechecking.

They all carried the load easily and the Sharks played that NHL style the way they wanted to play,the Pens after the game in San Jose traveled cross country and beat the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night and the Pens came in against the Sharks on the rear end of their road trip. As far as the Sharks are concerned they faced the Pens and the Montreal Canadiens and they had a very successful homestand.

The Sharks who concluded the homestand against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday start a three game road trip in Columbus (Thursday), NY Islanders (Friday) and New York Rangers (Sunday). The Sharks have had 12 games against east coast teams either at home or away. The Sharks really made their last homestand count with great play against the Penguins and Canadiens. The loss to Carolina was a close one to start the stand in a 3-2 overtime loss.

The Sharks have been doing a great job playing their game, the only down side would be their getting more short handed goals than their power play goals in the last 16 games, it’s not a great stat to have but their having a winning record and they’ll take it as the Sharks are hot winning five of their last seven games.

The thing is the Sharks have to realize they have to get the power play going that’s something that could come back and bite them when they need a power play goal. They did catch the Canadiens at SAP Center when the Habs were tired and at the end of the trip as well. The Candiens are struggling losing three of their last four games and ending the trip with a 4-0 shutout loss to the Sharks on Saturday.

On the trip they were able to beat a first place Anaheim Ducks team by a goal on Wednesday March 5th 4-3 at the Honda Center but their previous game with the Kings at Staples the Canadiens ran into a tough defensive battle and lost a low scoring game 2-1. They also got beat bad in a three goal loss to the Phoenix Coyotes 5-3 the game before they came to San Jose. All in all the Canadiens are glad to get out of San Jose with their sweaters on and get ready to host the Boston Bruins on the 12th.

The Sharks really got tested on Tuesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a first period that saw two Sharks goals get called back by the on ice official, the second goal that got called back was later ruled a goal and not a second too soon as that one gave San Jose the lead 2-1. The Maple Leafs brought some of their top stars into the rink for the contest as the Leafs are no slouch being second in the Atlantic and with Triple Crown offensive team leader Phil Kessel at the helm Kessel who leads the Leafs in points (73), goals (34), and assists (39).

Larry Leavitt does commentary on the Sharks and the NHL each week for Sportstalk radio

Kings fall to Pistons, 99-89

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

By George Devine, Sr.

The Kings played yet another double-digit game, and suffered another loss, this time 99-89 at the hands of the Pistons. It was an important win for Detroit, after losing three games, and the team is now within three games of Atlanta for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

It was mostly the home team’s game as Sacramento did not lead in any quarter after the first. However, the Kings did lead at the half, 54-52, but came up on the short end of a 20-11 third period which began with an 8-0 run for the home team. The final frame began with a 72-65 lead for the Pistons, who then went on a 6-0 run.

Rudy Gay had his typical 20-point night, and contributed half a dozen rebounds. Isaiah Thomas was next for the visitors with 19 points and 8 assists. DeMarcus Cousins had only 13 points, with a 33.3% percentage, but 14 boards.

For Detroit, Josh Smith led the scoring with 24 and contributed 8 rebounds; Rodney Stuckey was right behind him with 23 points. Andre Drummond had 15 points and 8 rebounds. Point guards Brandon Jennings and Will Bynum combined for a baker’s dozen in the assist category, which mitigated the lackluster shooting percentage the two achieved, in the 20% range.

The Kings next play in Philadelphia at 4 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, March 12.

Morris Phillips and Michael Duca on Cal Basketball: Can Bears survive in the tournaments first game Thursday

Published on by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Morris Phillips and Michael Duca

BERKELEY–As a group the Cal Bears are tired and they shot only 39 percent in beating Colorado by one point in their last regular game of the season 66-65. The game before they shot 39 percent against Utah in that loss and like Stanford they go into that conference tournament having lost three out of four and the Bears Justin Cobbs hasn’t played as well as he could play.

In spots he’s been incredible down the stretch and on Saturday he was great and the game in Arizona Cobbs was outplayed by Jahid Carson and Nick Johnson. Those are his contemporaries that not only Cal fans are hoping that he can outplay but NBA scouts in evaluating Cobbs looking how he fares in these individual match ups. With other players who project to be NBA players.

So for Cal it’s not been such a good stretch for them and the composition of the team would suggest just as much with half the team being freshman and half the team that plays. Half the rotation players are freshman and the injuries to Jabari Bird and Ricky Kreklow during the season didn’t help as well. You could argue that Cal head coach Mike Montgomery has got more out of this group than anybody else could have.

This year it doesn’t look like whatever he got out of them is going to be good enough to put them in the NCAA. In the recruiting class there’s one of the top players nationally in Oakland and we keep hearing that Ivan Rabb of Bishop O’Dowd is their key target and as well he should be.

Rabb is 6’10 and a great jumper and has great athletic presence in the paint right here in their own back yard and he’s on a list of 12 and Cal would like a shot at him. That’s been the issue for Cal of the six years of Montgomery the team has had good players, not great players and the results have been just about the same.

Michael Duca and Morris Phillips cover Cal basketball for Sportstalk radio

That’s Amaurys News and Commentary: Kings looking to get immient domain land parcel for arena build

Published on by lleonardbwLeave a comment

That’s Amaurys News and Commentary

PHOENIX AZ–The Sacramento Kings are very close to getting their new arena under construction they only need to sort out the remaining parcel land with the old Macy’s building located between the downtown plaza mall and Old Sacramento in front of the Holiday Inn. Once done the Kings are able to break ground.

The Kings are still haggling with the owners of the property U.S. Bank and the other owner CalPERS. CalPERS says their willing to sell their share but U.S. Bank is fighting immient domain and said it would be difficult to recoup the price that the Kings are willing to buy the building for.

In comparision to the Warriors situation the Warriors need to convince San Francisco voters that they need a 12 story building at Piers 30-32 waterfront location. That drive is not going so well and there have been talks about the team buidling at AT&T Park or by nearby UCSF owned by Salesforce just off of Third Street.

In the Kings case once they get past the U.S. Bankers for the Macy’s building they can begin construction, they don’t have to deal with the environmentalists, they don’t have to worry about the views, the view of the bay or the bridge views like the Warriors do. This is the closest the Kings have come to getting their new building once they settle with U.S. Bank on the sales price.

The Warriors situation is different and it looks like Warrior owners Peter Gruber and Joe Lacob could be in for a long, long fight here. They’ll need the best attorneys possibly the business law dream team version as opposed to O.J.’s dream team of attorneys from L.A. Especially Gruber who knows all those big shot attorneys down there in L.A.

Both basketball teams are hoping to get an new arena built and the Kings are hoping to get their new arena built and ready by the 2016 season and the Warriors who have to deal with lots of opposition in the waterfront neighborhood of the city to get their arena built as the arguement alone concerning the height of the arena and the building of a condo and hotel owned by the Warriors across the street is also causing a political stir.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for Oakland Athletics baseball and does News and Commentary each week for Sportstalk radio

Warriors commentary: Improved bench thanks to Blake, Green, and Crawford gives starters breather

Published on by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–It’s great that the Warriors are finally showcasing their depth early in the season their second unit, their bench team was just not complete they hadn’t figured out what their rotation is going to be. There were going to all kinds of combinations of guys and it just didn’t seemed to be working. For the Warriors week end and week out, part of that was becuase they didn’t have a legitment back up point guard.

The Warriors didn’t have a true point guard who could distribute and that kind of hampered any kind of efforts on the part of the bench to get any kind of flow going. To get the flow going you need someone who could direct traffic and the Warriors just didn’t have anybody.

The Warriors had Tony Douglas who gave the Warriors some hope to be successful back there, give credit to Bob Myers he’s been very open to making changes on the fly. As the season progressed the first move was getting George Crawford from the Celtics for a very cheap price and he wasn’t great as a point guard option that was kind of a failed experience, the guy can score off the bench.

They hope that Douglas can fill in for five to 15 minutes and at one point and when that became pretty obvious in January Myers hit the phones again and when Kent Bazemore and Marshawn Brooks went to the Los Angeles Lakers to get Steve Blake off of that sinking Lakers team which is really a genius move. Blake is a very solid true point guard he’s a guy who can dish.

By putting Blake at the point Crawford slides over to Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green and comes in as the three and the four. Jermaine O’Neal could be at the center spot that is a solid second unit. It’s not going to necessarily beat eveybody everytime out. These guys can score their dynamic they can hold their own through 15-20 minutes in a game and give the starters a rest.

You can push those guys in the line up every now and then and give the starters a rest and have them play with the other starters. Blake could go in with the first team or Green, having Blake back is giving the Warriors a full deep bench. That is one of the big reasons why the Warriors have a resurgence here in February and March because they’re able to get quality minutes that they weren’t getting before.

The Warriors had the worst scoring bench in the league in fact if you look at the scoring of the bench in the last three or four weeks that’s not the case any more the bench is probably in the middle of the pack if not higher.

David Zizmor covers the NBA for Sportstalk Radio

Second half and onto a Championship

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

{Giants} [MLB}

By Jeremy Kahn

After being behind the rival Los Angeles Dodgers for much of the first half of the 2012 season, like they did during their 2010 run to the World Series, the San Francisco Giants made two key acquisitions that helped out their line up.

General Manager Brian Sabean acquired Marco Scutaro from the Colorado Rockies, and Hunter Pence from the Philadelphia Phillies, and both men would definitely make an impact on the Giants in their drive to catch the rival Dodgers.

Unfortunately, before both men could get their feet wet wearing the Orange and Black, the Giants suffered their second significant loss of the season; however this loss was not due to an injury by one of its players.

Melky Cabrera, who named the All-Star Game MVP in the National League’s 8-0 victory over the American League at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, and was leading the NL in batting average was suspended in August for 50 game for use of HGH.

Despite the loss of Cabrera, the Giants overcame the loss of their outfielder and after a six-game trip to San Diego and Los Angeles, where they went 5-1, the Giants moved past the Dodgers and into first place, where they would remain for the remainder of the season.

Unlike the 2010 season, where the Giants nearly blew the division and won it on the final day of the season, this time there was little doubt that the Giants would blow their lead on both the Dodgers and the rest of the National League West.

Finally on September 22, 2012, closer Sergio Romo got San Diego Padres pinch hitter Mark Kotsay to lineout to Angel Pagan in centerfield and the party began at the corner of Third and King, as for the second time in three years, the Giants were Champions of the National League West.

Heading into the Division Series, a familiar foe was in the other dugout for the Giants, as the Cincinnati Reds were the Giants opponents in the first round, marking the return to San Francisco for former Giants manager Dusty Baker, the man who led to trhe 2002 National League Championship.

Things were not looking good for the Giants, as they fell behind their former NL West rivals two games to zero and heading to Cincinnati for the next possibly three games of the season, as the Reds owned home field advantage.

After winning two straaght to tie up the series, the Giants and Reds played for all the marbles to see who would face the defending World Champion St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series and it was up to their Most Valuable Player to get the job done.

Buster Posey hit a huge grand slam that propelled the Giants to an 8-5 victory, and onto the NLCS, where the Cardinals and another former Giant would be waiting for them.

Mike Matheny, who played catcher for the Giants was in ihs first year as manager of the Giants and there was no slowing down the Cardinals after they defeated the Washington Nationals in a thrilling five-game series.

Just like in the NLDS, where the Giants fell behind the Reds with the season on the line and they came up big in the long run, there was no bigger game than Game Five and Barry Zito on the mound.

Zito pitched the game of his Giants career, and the series returned to San Francisco, where the Giants simply demolished the Cardinals in both Game Six and Seven to complete the great comeback and it was on to the World Series for the second time in the last three seasons.

Awaiting the Giants in the 2012 World Series was the Detroit Tigers, the team with the first Triple Crown winner in the Majors since 1967 in Miguel Cabrera and the two-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander.

Pablo Sandoval could really care less about the status of Verlander, as he hit two home runs off of Verlander in his first two at-bats and then put his name into the record books with a third home run, this time off of Al Albuquerque, to become the fourth person ever to hit three home runs in a World Series game, joining Babe Ruth (twice), Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols.

Zito defeated Verlander 10-4, and then it was Madison Bumgarner and Ryan Vogelsong, with the help from the bullpen, the Giants shutout the Tigers to take a three games to zero lead in the best of seven series.

Going into Game Four of the series, the Giants wanted to put an end to the series, before having to face Verlander in Detroit, where he was dominant on the season.

Scutaro came up with the biggest hit of the season, as he singled to centerfield that scored Ryan Theriot from second base, giving the Giants a huge 4-3 lead heading into the bottom of the 10th inning.

Bruce Bochy gave the ball to his new closer, Romo and he gave the Giants their second World Series in three years, as he struck out the side in the bottom of the 10th inning, incluuding Cabrera to end the game and the series.

Lee, Thompson lead Warriors over Dragic, Green and Suns

Published on by jhawkes51Leave a comment

By Joe Hawkes

OAKLAND — The Golden State Warriors went on a 21-2 run (38-17 overall) in the third quarter and held on tight, picking up their fourth straight win 113-107 over the Phoenix Suns Sunday night in front of sold out 19,596 fans at Oracle Arena.

David Lee finished with game-highs of 26 points and nine rebounds on 11 for 18 in 37 minutes, and looked tremendous attacking the basket. Klay Thompson scored 13 of his 22 points in the third quarter. Thompson was 9 for 15 from the field, including 4 for 6 on 3s.

Stephen Curry added 18 points and a game-high nine assists on 7 for 16 from the field while dealing with a strained right quad. Golden State shot a blistering 52.9-percent from the field (45 for 85), while the bench outscored Phoenix’s bench, 36-28.

Draymond Green was the high-man for Golden State off the bench with 13 points.

Phoenix had no answer for Golden State inside, allowing the Warriors to hold a 50-36 edge in points in the paint.

Gerald Green had 25 points and six rebounds, while backcourt mate Goran Dragic added 24 and six assists for Phoenix (36-26), who drop into a tie with the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoffs.

With the win, Golden State (40-24) improves to 9-2 since the All-Star break, and moves two games ahead of the Dallas Mavericks (38-26) for the sixth spot in the Western Conference.

Golden State hosts Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks on Tuesday.Klay Thompson

Kings lose to Nets 104-89

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

Image

 

Photo credit: NBAE/Getty Images

By Charlie O. Mallonee

For second consecutive game, the Sacramento Kings committed more turnovers (24) than they had assists (11). For the second consecutive game, the Kings lost. Sacramento lost to the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday 104-89.

Another reason the Sacramento loss in Brooklyn was the play of former King Marcus Thornton. Thornton scored 27 points in just 27 minutes of playing time to be the Nets’ leading scorer of the game. More than half of his shots came from “3-point land” where he was 5 for 8 shooting. Every player who is traded wants to play well against his old team. Marcus Thornton was great versus the Kings.

The Nets’ bench outscored the Kings’ bench 59-19. Seven players scored off the bench for Brooklyn led by Thornton.

The Sacramento defense allowed Brooklyn to shoot .532 (41/77) from the field. The Nets shot .480 (12/25) from behind the 3-point line. The one weakness for the Nets was their poor performance from the free throw line (10/16 .625%).

The Kings shot just .444 (36/81) for field goals. They were a dismal 5 for 23 (.217) for 3-point shooting. Sacramento had one of its poorest performances of the season from the free throw line shooting 12 for 21 (.571).

Sacramento outrebounded Brooklyn 53-27, but they trailed the Nets in assists 25-11. The Nets recorded 14 steals to just three for the Kings.

The Kings squandered a great performance by DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins posted a double-double scoring 28 points and pulling down 20 rebounds.

Rudy Gay scored 20 points for the Kings. Isaiah Thomas had a very quiet game scoring just 10 points on 19 shots and hitting on just one of nine 3-point attempts.

Brooklyn outscored the Kings in every quarter except the second when both teams scored 21 points each.

The Kings are now 1-2 on their seven game road trip. Sacramento travelled to Detroit after the game to prepare for a Tuesday night contest with the Pistons. The Kings do not return to Sacramento until March 18 when they will host the Washington Wizards.

 

Michelle Richardson on the NCAA: Witchita State playing undisputed champion like basketball

Published on by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Michelle Richardson

Witchita State (34-0) vs. Indiana State (23-10): The thing that I said about college basketball is the regular season is one thing but when March Madness arrives anything can happen. Witchita State is no joke and everybody continued to look beyond the Shockers that is the most insulting part. The people who looked beyond them and it was kind of inseparable but Witchita State has continued to make some changes.

They played Indiana State on Sunday the Sycamores are averaging 71 points per game, the Shockers are averaging 75, the Sycamores are allowing 67 points per game and the Shockers are allowing 59 points per game. Indiana State’s home record is 11-2 and for Witchita State they are 18-0. The road record for Indiana State 9-7 and for Witchita they’re 12-0.

Witchita State took a 33 game win streak into the game against Indiana State, the Sycamores were on a two game win streak. This was a game that was close and no one gave up any kind of ground and it was close on the scoreboard. It’s going to be interesting Witchta State beat Indiana State twice this season with their first meeting on January 18 Witchita wins that one by 20 68-48. The Shockers defeated the Sycamores 65-58 at Indiana State back on Feb 5th.

Duke 93 (24-7) North Carolina (23-8) 81: This was a great ball game but Duke came out on top, Duke has been searching and they have really been making the moves and they want to get in the big dance and their number four. They took the first half 40-37.

Then after that first half Duke kept after them with the help of Jabari Parker who finished with 30 points, Rodney Hood with 24 points, and Quinn Cook with 11. Parker was on fire 11 rebounds, Parker was really all over the place on both ends of the court. Hood had two turnovers but got two rebounds.

Duke had 54 points just from their two starters and Cook who had the 11 points with the top three scorers, North Carolina couldn’t match the fire power of Duke. On offense for Carolina Marcus Paige 24 points, Brice Johnson 15, and James Michael McAdoo 13 points.

San Diego 51 (27-3) New Mexico (24-6) 48: There is a chance that these two teams will meet again and probably for the Conference Championship. Expect to see both of these teams in the NCAA Tournament in different brackets, San Diego is ranked number ten and New Mexico is ranked at 21.

New Mexico is hoping that they don’t get knocked out of the top 25, they played good basketball New Mexico’s top scorers in the match Cameron Bairstow had 20, Alex Kirk 14, and Kendall Williams with seven. Finals for the top three in San Diego’s winning cause, Xavier Thames 23, Winston Shepard eight, and Josh Davis with six.

This was just that kind of game where you had a top scorer like Thames and everyone else on the San Diego roster followed him with single digits in the win.

Michelle Richardson does commentary on the NCAA each week for Sportstalk radio

Trojans Upset Cardinal on Ogwumike’s Record Setting Night

Published on by joelami1 Comment

By Joe Lami

For the first time ever the Stanford Cardinal will not be going to the Pac-12 Tournament championship game, as the USC Trojans defeated the Cardinal 72-68 in the semi-finals on Saturday night.  Stanford the number one seed and the favorite to win the Pac-12 Championship, is now unsure of how their NCAA Tournament is going to look.  If the Cardinal came out of the Pac-12 Tournament unscathed, they would have received an almost sure bid to a number one seed in their host west region.

The first half ended with the score tied at 32.  Stanford dominated the paint in the first half, with 18 points.  However, the Trojans led the first with points off of turnovers, bench points and 2nd chance points.

Coming out of the half, the Trojans jumped on the Cardinal early, going on a 14-4 run in the first 5:30.  Stanford would be able to crawl back slowly, and would eventually take the lead back with 6:46 remaining.  The Cardinal would push the lead to three, at 60-57 with 5:06 to go and be able to hold it for a couple of minutes.  However, the Trojans would once again march back, much in part to Cassie Harberts’ ten straight points.  This would get the USC lead to as high as seven before the Cardinal would find another bucket with 61 seconds to go.

The Cardinal pressed in the final minute to get the deficit as low as two, but the Trojans would be good enough at the foul line to be able to ice the game away and advance to the Pac-12 Championship game, where they will face the Oregon State Beavers.

Chiney Ogwumike led the way for the Cardinal with 30 points and 21 rebounds.  The 30 points ties her with Stanford Alum, Candice Wiggins as the all-time Pac-12 scorer with 2,629.  Unfortunately for Ogwumike, she scored career point 2,629 with over seven minutes remaining in the game, and couldn’t find another to break the record in game where every point mattered.

Stanford had an awful day from the field, finishing the game at just 32%.  Lili Thompson finished with 13 points, going 4 of 11 shooting.  Amber Orrange was the only other double digit scorer for the Cardinal, as she finished the night with 11 points and 3 of 11 shooting.  Mikaela Ruef was held scoreless for the first time in recent memory, as the fifth year senior went 0 for 8 from the field, but she did bring down five rebounds.  Taylor Greenfield was the only Stanford player to come off of the bench and contribute points, as she finished the game with five.

The Trojans didn’t shoot that much better, as they finished the game shooting just 39%.  USC also saw three different players get into double digits.  Alexyz Vaioletama led the way with 19 points.  She also contributed 15 rebounds, with five of them coming on the offensive side of the glass.  Guard, Ariya Cook, finished the game with 15 points.  Game MVP, Cassie Harberts only had 13 points, but ten of them came at the most opportune time, as she scored ten straight with under three minutes to go to give the Trojan’s a lead good enough to win the game.

The win for the Trojans gets them that much closer into the NCAA tournament, as ESPN’s Charlie Creme has the ladies of USC on his first four teams out of the tournament.  However, with this win it might just be enough to break the bubble and earn a bid.  That is if they don’t receive the automatic bid on Sunday afternoon by winning the Pac-12 Tournament.  Oregon State, their opponent on Sunday is looked at as already in the NCAA Tournament according to Creme.

Number four-ranked Stanford has their record drop to 29-3, and now they are a little unsure on how they will be entering the NCAA Tournament.  Some questions arise, is Stanford still a number one seed?  Does Stanford still deserve to be in the west region, their host region?  Only time will tell what the selection committee decides, but for now we sit back and prepare for another great day of Championship basketball on Sunday.