Month: March 2015

Warriors Make Franchise History With Win Over Suns

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By: Joe Lami

For the first time in franchise history the Golden State Warriors have won 50 games in back-to-back seasons, as the Warriors improved to 50-12 with a 98-80 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Monday night.  With the victory, the Warriors are riding a four game winning streak and now own the best record in the NBA.

Once again, it was Steph Curry that led the Warriors in another impressive win.  As the member of the splash brothers notched 36 points, with 25 of them coming in the second half. Monday night marked the 13th time in which Curry has hit 30 or more points.  The second half was one to remember as well, as he hit six of eight three-pointers.  Curry also added five assists and four steals to cap off his amazing performance.

Warriors coach, Steve Kerr, commented on Curry’s play “Steph was spectacular and hit so many shots. I got on him a little bit at half time, and he came out in the second half just on fire and locked in.  He was incredible”.

The other splash brother, Klay Thompson, didn’t do too shabby either.  Thompson finished second in scoring with 25 points and 50% from beyond the arc.

The Suns were able to keep it close in the first half, as the teams went into the half tied at 46.  The Warriors came out of the break absolutely sensational going on a 23-5 run to blow the doors wide open.

Monday marks the ninth loss in 13 games for the Suns, as they are battling for the final spot in the Western conference.  They now sit three games back of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Point guard, Eric Bledsoe led the Suns with 19 points, going 6 of 11 from the field, and finishing 5 of 6 from the charity strike.  Center, Alex Len finished the night with a double double for Phoenix with 11 rebounds and ten points.

The Warriors continue to cruise with just 20 games remaining, they still sit on top of the West 5.5 games ahead of Memphis.

Sharks stay alive in playoffs race, beat Penguins

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By Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE, CA — Every game matters for San Jose Sharks right now. With the string of poor results dating back to the start of February, they slid five points back out of the playoffs picture before their game on Monday night against Pittsburgh Penguins. The players knew it, and battled all night long like it was one of the last games of the season. Although it took winning a skills competition at the end, San Jose Sharks earned huge two points as they won 2-1 in a very close contest.

While they wouldn’t have won without a key goal in the first third of the game, the first star of the night was no doubt San Jose night minder Antti Niemi who stopped multiple sure scoring chances both during regulation and in the overtime, made 39 saves and was then brilliant in the shootout. He didn’t seem to mind that they were playing one of the best road team in the NHL in the Penguins (who lost just eight times so far this season), being lead by two of the three best players in the league in Sidney Crosby. Niemi rose to the occasion and played one of his best games of the season.

But it all started in the first period, when Sharks opened the scoring in the game with less than a minute left in the period. Ben Smith stole the puck away from Penguins defense behind their goal. The puck ended on Chris Tierney’s stick and he quickly found Matt Nieto just outside the crease. Nieto one timed it straight into the net, scoring his seventh goal of the season.

But as time went on, it was the Penguins who looked like a better team. They had more scoring chances, more shots on goal, and looked like a team more in sync for most of the night. They finally scored a goal in the third period. Sidney Crosby picked up the puck in the central zone, and took off on the wing, entering the zone. His speed proved to be too much for the Sharks defense, and Crosby put it inside the net with a powerful backhand shot. After playing in San Jose five times before, it was in the sixth game that Crosby broke through and scored in this arena.

Penguins continued to push (they would end the night outshooting the Sharks 40-30), but Niemi was stellar and steady in front of the net, reading the plays and making huge saves.

Visiting team almost ended it all with 5 seconds left in the overtime when Derrick Pouliot had a great open chance on goal. He shot the puck well, but it bounced off the goal post, capping off an exciting overtime that saw both teams creating good chances.

Sharks didn’t fare so well in the shootouts this season (going 2-4), but they did prevail this time. Melker Karlsson was close to ending it all scoring on the third Sharks attempt, but Kris Letang evened out the score. Tommy Wingels went on to score in the eighth round and Niemi made one more big save on the night, stopping Steve Downie, and earning an extra point for the Sharks.

San Jose Sharks continue go dominate the Penguins, with Pittsburgh’s last win in regulation dating all the way back to 1997.

San Jose still has quite a hill to climb to get back into the playoffs picture, but the win helped them to stay in the game. The next big game is on Thursday when they face another powerhouse, the visiting Nashville Predators.

San Jose Sharks Podcast with Ivan Makarov: 16 games left and a 7 % chance to make the playoffs for the Sharks can they make it?

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by Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Sharks needless to say have been very inconsistent and every point matters now for the Sharks their outside of the playoffs their looking at a five point deficit right now between them and the Calgary Flames for the third spot in the playoffs a six point differential from the wild card. Things are not looking good for the Sharks, their playing for their lives right now, their battling, their trying and the Sharks in the first period against the Pittsburgh Penguins didn’t look so hot although they took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission when they started taking shots on the net.

Everything matters now the Sharks are really playing for their season now and everything really matters. The Sharks going into Monday night’s game had lost nine of their last ten games at home and that’s one of the biggest reasons why their outside of the playoffs in 10th place in the Western Conference. They’ve had a very strange season this year because they started a lot of their games on the road.

The Sharks played a lot of games at home later and now their spending a lot of their season on the road towards the end of March with a seven game road trip. It could be a good thing for them because they play much better and positive on the road when the pressure is not on them. It really is those home games not being able to win at home against good teams and bad teams it’s really effecting them especially in the standings and they might miss the playoffs as a result of that.

When you look at veterans on this team like Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, and Patrick Marleau to name a few you have to look at the leadership of the team. When head coach Todd McClellan is asked he never points out at any specific players in interviews but he always says its the leadership and that everybody has to step up.

So far the Sharks have been really inconsistent, Thornton is the only one that’s been showing up night in and night out and has been a producer but players like Pavelski and Logan Couture their going through a dry spell. You have to look at them and you have to look at Marleau and his production and he’s been very inconsistent this season it’s really hurting them.

The one thing the Sharks have to focus on now is they have to win every night and with the three point games and a lot of teams playing between each other they really have to make it count. With every point loss it will add more and more concern for McClellan and he has to be more and more concerned if the Sharks can’t finish these games.

Ivan Makarov is a San Jose Sharks beat reporter for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

That’s Amaury’s Podcast, News, and Commentary: Giants redoing line up Aoki leadoff & Pagan in three hole; A’s scrambling at second and in right

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

The San Francisco Giants will be taking a look at leftfielder Nori Aoki in the leadoff spot as Angel Pagan moves down to the third spot in the line up as it stands now. Catcher Buster Posey looking forward to his usual clean up spot but the team is without Hunter Pence who can pile up the numbers offensively. Pence is expected back in six to eight weeks because of the broken left arm.

The Giants right now don’t have a lot of power outside of Pence and Posey and at first base no one knows who it’s really going to be as the Giants are looking at Travis Ishiskawa and Brandon Belt. After Pence broke the arm there is still talk some four days after Pence broke the arm that it’s a big blow for them.

It’s hopeful for Giants manager Bruce Bochy that Aoki can do the job in left and in the leadoff spot. Pence was very optimistic and he wants to return a little bit earlier but they all say that. That’s Pence talking they have to wait until his bones heal the fracture in the left forearm is not an easy thing for a ball player.

It’s going to take awhile for the Giants to see how this line up works out the first part of the season. When General Manager Brian Sabean acquired Aoki it’s very important that Aoki pays off with the bat and glove as they don’t have Pence in the first two months of the season. With Giants pitcher Madison Baumgarner pitchers like him throw so hard they have so much stuff and they always get injuries. Mad Bum is aiming to stay healthy and cash in again this season.

Oakland A’s camp in Mesa: The A’s have delegated without no competition Coco Crisp as the opening day outfielder if he stays healthy. Sam Fuld and Craig Gentry were competing for the left field spot but both have been told that the centerfield job is up for grabs as Crisp is expected to start there by opening night.

Last season Yoenis Cespedes who made his rounds in the American League after leaving Oakland for Boston and now with Detroit had a lock on left field as Crisp was starting in centerfield. Crisp is considered the better centerfielder than Cespedes at the time and now he’s looking at starting left. Cespedes at the time didn’t want anything to do with centerfield and insisted on playing exclusively left which was one of the reasons the A’s forced a trade for Cespedes to Boston

Crisp playing centerfield has a lot of ground to cover and the last few years if you check the numbers he hasn’t played more than 110-120 games. If they A’s are going to make any run this year they need a healthy Crisp and when he plays centerfield you have more opportunities to get hurt and cover more ground than in the corners in right and left so moving him to left that was a good decision by A’s manager Bob Melvin.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the A’s and the Spanish TV voice for the Angels and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

NCAA basketball podcast with Michelle Richardson: Boeheim not going anywhere but rough going getting started over violations

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by Michelle Richardson

This is big time college athletics the program at Syracuse University will be impacted by the accusations of athletes accepting gifts and booster donations and head coach Jim Boheim is at the center of the conversation. The University is really disappointed in Boeheim and also the school had a huge colossal loss to NC State on Saturday in the middle of the storm of this high profile scandal.

Boeheim didn’t address the media after the game on Saturday and the assistant coach was left to meet with the media after the game when really Boeheim was the one who should have fielded questions right after the game. Boeheim was simply not there to answer questions and it’s good bet that was because he didn’t want to explain any particulars regarding the scandal.

I would be hoping that the university council told Boeheim that it was not in the school’s or Boeheim’s best interest to answer questions regarding the scandal to the media after the game as opposed to being childish and refusing to meet with the media after the game and I’m hoping it was at the advice of the council that he didn’t address the media after Saturday night’s game.

This is athletics and there are some things that I will hold Boeheim responsible for and there are things you can’t hold him responsible for. You can’t hold Boeheim responsible for boosters giving the players money because that’s what they do. Boosters give money whether anyone knows or doesn’t know about it. Whether or not it’s within the rule guidelines of the NCAA boosters to give money.

In the case of Syracuse they gave upwards to $8,000 reportedly, the boosters find ways to funnel the money to the students and they will do it no matter what. This is not something new with the Syracuse basketball program this is no surprise, this is no shock and awe. This has been going on for all of Boeheim’s 37 years at Syracuse and he’s most likely not going to be fired or replaced anytime soon.

Let’s call it what it is and Boheim needs to stand up and take responsibility for his actions you have 12 scholarships over the next four years. You can’t appear in the post season for the next five years, Boeheim is suspended for the first nine games of the ACC season for the upcoming fall season. The university will probably appeal that the treatment was too harsh but judging from the violations the NCAA will most likely stick with it’s ruling.

Michelle Richardson does commentary on NCAA basketball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to Michelle’s podcast below

Stanford Hails In Battle of the Bay Pac-12 Championship

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By: Joe Lami

The Stanford Cardinal won their 11th Pac-12 title on Sunday evening with a victory over their rival, Cal, by the score of 61-60. 

Add another page to the Stanford and Cal rivalry, as the two duked it out for the Pac-12 Championship in Seattle on Sunday evening.  It was the Stanford Cardinal that cut down the nets, as they defeated the Bears 61-60 in a nail bitter. The victory marks the 11th conference title for the Cardinal, as they clinch the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, where they are expected to be given the fourth seed in the Oklahoma City region and host the first two rounds of the tournament.  The Cal Bears have never won the Pac-12 Championship, and will have to try next year without star players Brittany Boyd and Rashanda Grey, who will be graduating.

The Cardinal did a great job holding the All-American finalist, as they scored a combined 13 points, way down from the 30 they average every night.  Unfortunately for the Bears, Grey was injured just minutes in.  She had to leave the court and ended up getting four stitches just underneath her right eye.  The injury occurred going for a rebound against Stanford freshman, Brittany McPhee.  As both players went up for the rebound, McPhee’s elbow came down and struck Boyd accidentally causing a small gash.

The Bears weren’t having any trouble without Grey early on, expanding their lead to nine, as Stanford went ice cold from the field.  Senior, Amber Orrange, ended the run with two free throws to pull the game to a seven point lead for the Bears.  Stanford’s drought would continue, allowing the Bears to grow the lead, as they went five minutes without a field goal.  However, they would push strong in the second part of the first half to make the deficit just two going into the break.

The second half would be just as close, as Stanford had the upper hand of just three points to give them the one point victory.  The difference maker was once again, senior, Taylor Greenfield, who finished the night with a career high 20 points.  Greenfield was also the difference maker in the semi-final victory over ASU, as she scored 17 on Saturday night.  Her amazing play over the two nights was good enough to be named tournament MVP.

Lili Thompson was second on the Cardinal in scoring, as she finished the night off with 13 points.  Orrange closely followed with 12.

Mercedes Jefflo continued to play extremely well, as the sophomore led the Bears with 16, keeping her team in the ball game.  She finished the night off nailing a three-pointer from the top of the key as the buzzard sounded to cut the loss to one.

Even with the loss, Cal is still expected to make the NCAA tournament, and are also expected to be a fourth seed in the tournament.  Like Stanford, the Berkley is also a host site for the first two rounds of the tournament, but in the Albany region.  Cal is expected to be a home team for the first two rounds.

Green’s 23 points leads Warriors past Clippers

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND —  Draymond Green scored a game-high 23 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field in  28 minutes helping the Golden State Warriors extend their lead in the Pacific Division to 10 games with a 106-98 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers Sunday at Oracle Arena. It was the 111th straight sellout for the Warriors, and their sixth straight at Oracle Arena where their an NBA-best 27-2 this season.

“We were aggressive today, which was huge for us,” said Green, who added six assists. “I thought guys were active and ready to play.”

Klay Thompson finished with 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting, while Shaun Livngston provided a lift off the bench scoring a season-high 21 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Livingston shot 9-for-14 from the floor in 28 minutes.

Stephen Curry, who didn’t score his first points until 5:16 left before halftime, finished with 12 points on 3-for-9 shoot to go along with four assists, but did have three steals which extended his consecutive games streak with at least one steal to 25 games.

Golden State (49-12) shot 50 percent (40-for-80) from the floor, and 45 percent (10-for-22) from three-point range. Green and Thompson each drained three from behind the arc.

Thompson’s three 3s moved him past his head coach, Steve Kerr (726), on the all-time list.

The Clippers (40-22), who were playing without Blake Griffin and Jamal Crawford, dropped their fifth straight game in Oakland.

Backup point guard Austin Rivers led all Clippers players with 22 points off the bench in 31 minutes. J.J. Redick scored 18 points in 27 minutes on 8-for-12 shooting.

Chris Paul scored 14 points and dropped 11 assists, while DeAndre Jordan grabbed 11 of the Clippers 39 rebounds.

Los Angeles outscored Golden State 42-30 in the paint, but the Warriors forced 18 Clippers’ turnovers that led to 22 points.

“I don’t think they like us. I don’t know why,” Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers said after the loss. “Steve (Kerr) told me he didn’t like me. We’re the last team to knock them out, and they know that. So I think that adds to it.”

Golden State avenged a 100-86 loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles on Christmas night; after Golden State pummeled Los Angeles 121-104 back in November in Oakland.

The home team has won each of the last 10 regular-season games. Golden State and Los Angeles play one more time in Los Angeles on March 31.

Golden State, who averaged a win-margin of 15.3 points per game in home wins, play the Suns in Phoenix on Monday.

 

 

 

 

Arizona takes care of struggling Stanford; Cardinal falls to No. 6 in the upcoming Pac-12 tournament

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McConnell

By Morris Phillips

With 137 college basketball games under his belt, as well as his undergraduate college degree earned in just three years, Chasson Randle could never be described as unprepared or inexperienced.

Yet, it wouldn’t be unfair to say that the Stanford senior leader appeared a bit rattled dealing with No. 5 Arizona, their sold-out McKale Center crowd and the gnat-like presence of Wildcats’ guard T.J. McConnell on Saturday afternoon.

In a game that Stanford had to win, they couldn’t even manage one lead.  And Randle needed to come up big, but more often looked spent, rattled and ineffective before fouling out with five minutes remaining.  Both circumstances had much to with Pac-12 regular season champ Arizona, who rolled to a 91-69 victory.

“You almost said to yourself, ‘This is going to be our day’ right after the first play,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said in reference to his team’s first basket coming just 19 seconds after the opening tip.

As anticipated, Stanford had their hands full just trying to score against stingy Arizona, who surely remembered that the Cardinal scored 82 points against them in a close-call win on the Farm in January.  The season-worst points allowed was out of character for the Wildcats, who have limited opponents to just 58 points a game. With McConnell hounding Randle, and Arizona’s big front line protecting the paint, Stanford was forced into one tough shot after another this time in shooting just 37 percent along with commiting 15 damaging turnovers.

After falling behind 21-8, eight minutes in, the Cardinal rallied to pull within 29-27 with six minutes remaining before halftime.  But the mental and physical fatigue of facing a bigger, formidable opponent may have already been showing as Arizona then surged to a 16-point lead at the break.

The final exchange of possessions before halftime said it all: Randle needed most of his ball handling tricks and more than ten seconds to get past McConnell and into the lane for a high-arching, short bank shot over a trio of defenders.  But Arizona’s Gabe York came right back, attacking the winded Randle in transition before burying a 3-pointer on the run, an answer that took less than five seconds to realize.

Coach Johnny Dawkins was already limited by the injury to and absence of freshman Michael Humphrey.  But foul trouble exacerbated things, forcing Dawkins to play his other young players for long stretches.  Needless to say, the attrition wasn’t the recipe to ending Arizona’s 37-game home winning streak, the nation’s longest.

“Those kids gave what they had, but in this type of environment and under these circumstances, it’s a little bit difficult,” Dawkins said.

Randle led Stanford with 16 points, despite missing nine of his 13 shots.  Stefan Nastic and Anthony Brown contributed 14 points each.  The Cardinal fell for the seven time in their last 10 games, erasing any NCAA at-large hopes they may have had.

Brandon Ashley led Arizona with 15 points, one of five Wildcats to score in double figures.

Two losses in Arizona dropped the Cardinal to a No. 6 seed in the conference tournament.  Instead of earning an opening-round bye, Stanford will open play on Wednesday against No. 11 Washington.  The Huskies provide their own unique challenge as a downtrodden team that’s capable of pulling an upset.  Washington beat ranked Utah on Saturday, the third time this season they’ve beaten a Top 25 opponent.

Quakes’ blocked shot eventually leads to game-winner

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Photo: Matthew Emmons, Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports)

By Pearl Allison Lo

Four minutes of stoppage were golden for FC Dallas as Blas Perez scored in the 92nd minute to take down San Jose Saturday 1-0 in the teams’ season opener.

It was Perez’s 32nd career goal in what was looking to be a draw. Goalie David Bingham came forward to block Victor Ulloa’s kick from just past midfield. However, Bingham deflected the ball directly to Moises Hernandez. Hernandez then kicked the ball toward the goal and Perez redirected Hernandez’s shot into the net with a header.

Perez led all with three shots on goal.

Regarding the goal, Bingham replied, “It’s a learning curve. It’s a little bit of communication, probably more on my part. He didn’t hear me coming. He didn’t know there was no one around. So, he went to clear it and I was coming out and we had a little mix up and then the guy duffs a shot wide and Perez was there to put it back in.”

San Jose now has a 16-game regular season winless streak, their successful preseason in the rearview mirror for now. The game would have been a rare draw for them as well.

In the 20th minute, FC Dallas had a free kick. Mauro Diaz set up Perez on the left but Bingham cut the shot off.

Two minutes later, Fabian Castillo found Perez, who was waving for the ball in front of the net. Perez got it past Victor Bernardez, but could not get it past new acquisition Paulo Renato, who had set himself up behind Bingham and alertly cleared the ball.

The first half leaders were the Quakes’ Chris Wondolowski with four shots, one shot on goal and Perez with three shots, two shots on goal.

Both ended up finishing with five shots apiece.

The second half saw five yellow cards, all by San Jose or former players.

The first one came in the 50th minute by former Quake Atiba Harris.

Shaun Francis saw yellow in the 67th minute when he fouled to stop a counterattack.

In the 77th minute, Shea Salinas received a yellow after losing possession to Michael Barrios when Salinas was coming out of the Quakes’ end. Barrios had just entered the game two minutes earlier.

The last two yellows came in stoppage time.

Sanna Nyassi went for the ball and ran into Castillo instead in the 92nd minute.

During the frantic pushing time for the equalizer, Adam Jahn was penalized in the 94th minute for contact.

Talking about the offense, Quakes’ head coach Dominic Kinnear commented, “…away from home, especially in the first half and some other moments, we had some good looks and we were just missing that last little pass, last little bit of aggression to get something on net.”

Game notes: San Jose’s Marvell Wynne played the whole 90 minutes in his team debut. Teammates and MLS newbies Fatai Alashe and Innocent Emeghara came into the game during the 81st and 89th minute respectively. The Quakes are now below .500 on the road versus FC Dallas at 10-11-6. San Jose was also shutout in the teams’ last game, though by a lesser margin, that final 5-0. The Quakes will next face the 2014 Western Conference Champions, the Seattle Sounders, Saturday at 7pm.

Third Times The Charm; Stanford Finally Gets Past Sun Devils

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By: Joe Lami

The Arizona State Sun Devils have been the thorn in the side for Stanford all season long, beating them in both appearances.  However, Stanford got their revenge on Saturday, as they outlasted the #9 Sun Devils 59-56 to move onto the Pac-12 Championship game on Sunday.

Arizona State had Stanford’s number this season, heading into Saturday nights contest defeating Stanford at Maples Pavilion by three and at Wells Fargo Arena by one.  The Cardinal were just not able to finish down the line when it mattered in both of those contests.

Arizona State pushed towards the end, once again, taking a one point lead with just 2:19 remaining, but were unable to score the rest of the way for Stanford to get the victory.

The Cardinal held Arizona State to a terrible shooting percentage of 32%, but the Sun Devils were able to stay in the contest as they were on fire from the charity strike shooting 16 of 21, as Stanford had way too many fouls, totaling 21.  There is no surprise that Sophie Brunner led the way for Arizona State, as the Sun Devils top scorer finished the night with 14 points.  Quinn Dornstauder came off the bench to add 13, including a perfect five of five from the free throw line.

Seniors, Amber Orrange and Taylor Greenfield, led Stanford in scoring with 18 and 17 respectively, as they were really the only players to get anything done for Stanford.  Greenfield was able to hit the game winning jumper with just 44 seconds remaining, taking a 57-56 lead.  The Cardinal later added two free throws to get to the final score.

Next up for the Cardinal, their rival, the California Golden Bears, as the two will square off for the Pac-12 Championship game.  Cal advanced to the game defeating Colorado 68-55.  Stanford is 1-1 against Cal this season, as each team earned a road victory last month.  Either way, both teams are pretty much automatic shoe-ins for the NCAA tournament, predicted to each be a four-seed, making the game for bragging rights on top of the Pac-12 title.