Month: March 2015

San Francisco 49ers podcast with Tony Renteria: 49ers talking to Reggie Bush but he’s not the same player as two years ago

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by Tony Renteria

SANTA CLARA–The San Francisco 49ers would have to make some sort of splash to get back into the good graces of everyone. Everything with the 49ers has been a negative connotation and being a quality back Reggie Bush is talking with the 49ers. Bush’s worth would be under the cap at this point the sad part is it’s not a feather in the 49ers cap.

Bush who would have carried for 1,000 yards two seasons ago and now is coming off a injury plagued year he’s 30 years old he’s a running back whose never been an every down back. Bush is kind of a third down specialist who can carry the ball in the flat and produce some yards. He’s not a guy whose going to gain some yards.

This has really showed you where the 49ers have gone, you lose a guy like Frank Gore (now with the Colts) and your looking to replace him with a guy like Bush. I’m really kind of concerned with the direction the 49ers are going when your top free agent signing has only played 33% of the time.

In terms of the NFL Players Association talking with younger players just about what happens to you over the course of time playing in the NFL because Patrick Willis who retired this week is still a quality linebacker. He’s a guy who the Niners need to depend upon to play and there comes a time where players make so much money that they don’t have to put themselves in a situation that other players in the past had to put themselves in.

So while Willis is a top five linebacker in the league he had to ask himself if this was really worth his health? He decided to get out of the game now while he’s on the top. Coming off an injury plagued season but still a quality football player. Willis has a lot of gas left in the tank the Niners think now that he’s made enough money he doesn’t have to go around the racetrack anymore.

There was a time when former Chicago Bear running back Walter Payton was given a blank check to play and that was because he had such a great career with the Bears. They said to Payton “you have a couple of seasons left write down what your worth.” With the salary cap and the way the 49ers have self destructed I just don’t understand why they would let Frank Gore go.

Join Tony Renteria who does commentary for the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

Cal close early, but distant late in loss to Arizona in the Pac-12 quarterfinals

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Surrounded

By Morris Phillips

This time, what Cal was doing was working… at least for a little while.

Then the prevailing reality sprung the surface, and Cal was cooked by top-seeded Arizona once again, this time in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon.

Led by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Stanley Johnson, Arizona raced past Cal for the third time this season, 73-51.  The Wildcats advance to face fourth-seeded UCLA in the tournament semis on Friday, and the Bears return to Berkeley unsure if they will get a phone call from the NIT or another post-season tournament.

“On the offensive end, we did a good job of being patient, finding the next guy, and we were able to get some shots down,” Tyrone Wallace said of the Bears solid first half effort which had them down just 33-27 at the break.  “The second half, not as many shots went down.  They played good.”

“They played well in the first half and we kind of stagnated.  Credit Cal for that, but we made the plays when we needed to,” Arizona point guard T.J. McConnell said.

In each of the regular season matchups, Cal was overwhelmed by Arizona, especially in attempting to find quality scoring opportunities against the bigger, broader Wildcats.  But this time, at least in the opening half, the Bears pushed back.

Cal’s shooting was any better—33 percent in the opening half, 34 percent for the game—but early on, the Bears held their own on the glass, limited Arizona’s second shot opportunities and short-circuited any big runs.  Arizona coach Sean Miller felt the Bears’ intensity might have surprised his team early on.

“There’s always a feeling-out process in March when you get into these tournaments because teams are desperate,” Miller said.  “Individual players are kind of playing with house money or playing with a lot at stake, depending on which team you’re on.”

Cal’s “house money” man, senior David Kravish had his way with Washington State in the tournament opener, scoring a career-best 25 points.  But against Arizona, Cal’s big man had to battle 7’1” Kaleb Tarczewski and 6’10” Brandon Ashley.  Kravish grabbed 12 rebounds, but couldn’t get going offensively, scoring just six points while missing 10 of his 13 shots.

Meanwhile Arizona’s “high stakes” guy undoubtedly was Hollis-Jefferson, a defensive wizard able to guard Cal’s leading scorer Tyrone Wallace as well as their other threats, Jordan Mathews and Jabari Bird.  When Arizona made its push, scoring 14 of the first 20 points after halftime, Hollis-Jefferson delivered the spirit-raising, offensive plays as well.

Hollis-Jefferson had a dunk and a layup in transition during Arizona’s 9-0 run that put them up 46-32 with 15:50 remaining.

Freshman Stanley Johnson led the Wildcats with 19 points and Ashley added 15 points and seven rebounds as Arizona advanced to the tournament semis for the fifth straight year.

Wallace led Cal with 19 points, but needed 20 shots to reach that total.  Mathews was bottled up by Hollis-Jefferson, T. J. McConnell and others, finishing with three points on 1 of 7 shooting.

Cal (18-15) hadn’t scored as few as 51 points in a game since January 24 when Arizona came to Berkeley and held the Bears to 50 in a 23-point rout.  The Bears dropped six of their final eight games following a five-game win streak.

Kravish broke the school record for games participated in with his 135th on Wednesday and now has 136 under his belt.  Wallace moved into 25th place on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,196 points.

Stanford Cardinal Pac 12 Championship podcast with Matt Harrington: Cardinal gear up to face big physical Utah tonight at the MGM Grand

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by Matt Harrington

PALO ALTO–The Stanford Cardinal just got by in fashion over the Washington Huskies on Wednesday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with a 71-69 victory. The win advances the Cardinal to face the Utah Utes on Thursday night. What a finish for the Cardinal for the win on Wednesday night who could have scripted a win like that for Stanford it was positively electric.

You couldn’t have scripted it any better as the Cardinals “Flame” Chasson Randle for his going away performance had ten points and it looked like the senior was going to go out on a down note and now I’m changing my script. Randle had a huge three pointer to win that game. It’s another case of when you think that Randle is out of the game, when you think he’s struggling all of sudden he hits the big shot.

I don’t think I’ve seen a bigger shot in his career at Stanford, so that was an incredible ending of a crazy game. It was a game where the Cardinal weren’t really in control of their own dynasty for the majority of it. It really did feel like Stanford was going to be on the wrong end and that this was going to be another game to chalk up for the season.

When you look at the stats Washington was on the free throw line five times and had only five free throw opportunities in the game and they were still leading by a couple of points that’s just crazy. You look at the three point shooting they finished 13-20 from the three point line and you look at all those stats and you start thinking this shouldn’t have been Stanford’s game.

It ended out working out for them in the long run, the Cardinal shot something like five percent it’s hard to figure out that five last minutes of play in game. It was really a struggle for Stanford in the game. It’s certainly not a performance that the Cardinal doesn’t want to repeat. In the next round they face the Utah Utes at the MGM on Thursday night.

The Utes are a team that will really give Stanford some challenges but it really felt like they snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat on Wednesday and it didn’t look like it was going on the right path and all of a sudden the final five minutes things start to turn. That last rebound by Marcus Allen and the three pointer by Randle that was a huge swing for Stanford.

Matt Harrington is the Stanford Cardinal beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com catch below on his podcast

Kings Fight Off Hornets, Hold On For A 113-106 Road Win In Charlotte

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By Shawn Whelchel

The Sacramento Kings were able to snap a four game losing streak on Wednesday, as a pair of strong performances from DeMarcus Cousins and Ben McLemore lifted them to a 113-106 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

In what proved to be a close game, the Kings were able to execute on both the offensive and defensive sides of the court late in the fourth quarter in order to sneak away with a rare road win.

Cousins was perfect in the fourth quarter, shooting 4-for-4 to reach 20 points and 14 rebounds on the night, while McLemore added 27 of his own. Rudy Gay added a strong showing as well, dumping in 26 of his own points on the night.

The Kings were aided by the diminished role of Hornets star Kemba Walker, who scored just six points in 16 minutes of play as he continues to recover from a knee injury. Charlotte lost another key piece when center Al Jefferson left in the third quarter.

The loss of Jefferson opened the door for Cousins to go to work late in the game, with both he and Gay scoring 18 combined points on a perfect 6-6 shooting from the field.

With Walker still recovering, the Hornets relied on Michael Kidd-Gilchrist for their scoring output, as he poured in 23 points on an efficient 9-of-12 shooting on the night. Mo Williams followed Kidd-Gilchrist with 20-points and eight assists.

The Kings will have a day off before taking on the 76ers on Friday.

Cal blasts WSU, gets top-seeded Arizona in the Pac-12 quarterfinals Thursday

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Kravish breakout

By Morris Phillips

For now, being the eight-seed represents a tremendous opportunity for the California Bears.

At least it does, until their high noon in the desert meeting with top-seeded Arizona commences on Thursday.

The Bears did all they could on Wednesday at the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas, dispatching ninth-seeded Washington State, 84-59, with a massive run spanning halftime that turned a close contest into a blowout.  Cal began their big roll, trailing by one, then after Christian Behrens’ layup led 47-30 with 15:21 remaining.  The Bears missed more free throws (3) than shots (1) in the run, hitting 13 of 14 from the field.

“We established David (Kravish) in the post.  I thought that set the tone for us offensively—if we’re able to do that, then our perimeter guys could play,” Coach Cuonzo Martin explained.

Cal’s senior post epitomized the fast turnaround; Kravish missed his first six shots, then commenced his big finish during the run, hitting 10 of his last 11.  He finished with a career-best 25 points, a distinct signal that the Bears’ leader is locked in for a big finish to his collegiate career.

“It’s just one of those things you play the game for so long, you can’t dwell on something in the middle of a game,” Kravish said of his in-game switch.  “You don’t really worry about the misses.”

Washington State surprised Cal January 4 in Berkeley, then the Bears won the rematch January 29 in Pullman.  In both Cal wins, the Cougs let the normally pedestrian Bears offense jump into a Ferrari.  Cal ranks 197th (out of 345) in Division I scoring at 66.5 points a game, but they averaged 80 points in the two wins against WSU.

Jabari Bird didn’t envision himself as a defensive specialist when he signed with Cal in 2012, but he was one Wednesday, shutting down WSU’s leading scorer DaVonte Lacy.  The senior guard was held to two points in the first half and finished with nine in his final appearance as a collegian.

The Cal sophomore also capped off the first half, hitting a three-pointer as a pair of WSU defenders froze, unwilling to contest Bird’s shot four feet behind the arc as time expired.  The Bears led 37-26 at the half.

Washington State hasn’t won a Pac-12 tournament game since 2009, Klay Thompson’s freshman year.  They’ve lost seven in a row since, including the March 2011 thriller in which Thompson scored a tournament-record 43 points but saw his Cougs fall 89-87 to Washington.  WSU and Cal had never met in this tournament prior to Wednesday.

The Bears got 19 points from Jordan Mathews and 12 from Tyrone Wallace.  Ike Iroegbu led Washington State with 17 points.  The Bears enjoyed a healthy 37-22 edge on the glass and hit 8 of 12 from distance.

Cal will need more of the same against Arizona; they fell to the Wildcats by 23 in Berkeley, and last week in Tucson, Cal was embarrassed, losing by 39. Making their task that much more difficult is the significant improvement of 7’0” Kaleb Tarczewksi who anchors the middle for the Cats, and was terrific last week limiting Cal and Kravish.

Randle’s clutch 3 sends Cardinal to Pac-12 quarterfinals

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Chasson Randle’s 3-pointer with three seconds remaining in the second half gave Stanford a stunning 71-69 defeat of Washington in opening round play of the Pac-12 men’s basketball Tournament at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.

Jernard Jarreau hit a 3-pointer to put the Huskies up 69-64 with 3:25 to play, but Washington (16-15) was unable to score for the rest of the second half. Meanwhile, the Cardinal (19-12) finished with a 7-0 run – a tip in and layup by Stefan Nastic and Randle’s game-winning trey.

Dan Kingma was fouled with :29 remaining, but missed the front end of a one-and-one. Rosco Allen rebounded for the Cardinal, who maintained possession with two key offensive rebounds.

Nastic topped the Cardinal with 21 points, with Anthony Brown adding 16 and Reid Travis with 14 off the bench. Randle, Stanford’s top scorer this season, was held to 10 points.

Andrew Andrews scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Huskies.

The Cardinal dominated inside with a 36-10 edge in points in the paint, and a 35-26 rebounding edge.

The No. 7-seed Cardinal will face No. 3-seed Utah in the quarterfinals. Game time is set for 8:30 p.m.

Warriors run winning streak to 5, defeat Pistons

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By Robert Steward

OAKLAND–

The Golden State Warriors extended their winning streak to five games, defeating a feisty Detroit Pistons squad, 105-98. With the win, the Warriors maintained their league-best record, improving to 51-12. The 51 wins matches their win total from last season, with 19 games remaining in the regular season. Barring a total collapse, Golden State should be a lock to set the team record for most wins in a season. The 1975-76 team finished 59-23 in the regular season, losing to the Phoenix Suns in the Conference Finals, one year after defeating the Washington Bullets in a four-game sweep in the NBA Finals, the last year the franchise won the NBA Championship.

This year’s team has shown no signs of letting up. Tonight was no different. The Warriors took their first lead, 9-8, on a jumper by Draymond Green with 8:15 left in the first quarter. They eventually built the lead to 10, at 26-16 with two minutes left in the quarter before the Pistons made a 9-2 run to trim the lead to 28-25. Andre Iguodala grabbed an offensive rebound following a Harrison Barnes miss and made a 13-foot jumper as the horn sounded and the Warriors led 30-25 after one quarter.

In the second quarter Golden State once again built a double-digit lead, going up as much as 44-31 following a shot by Marreese Speights with 7:43 left in the half. But, as they did in the first, the scrappy Pistons fought back, cutting the lead to five, 56-51, at halftime.

As the third quarter unfolded Detroit continued chipping away at the Warriors’ lead, eventually tying it at 65, then going ahead, 67-65, on a Tayshaun Prince jumper at the 5:26 mark. Both teams then took turns holding the lead until Golden State scored 7 unanswered points to go up 79-73 before Detroit’s Spencer Dinwiddie hit a three pointer as the quarter ended to draw back to within three, at 79-76, entering the 4th.

The Warriors opened the 4th by missing their first 5 shots, allowing Detroit to regain the lead, 81-79, before Shaun Livington’s jumper at 9:07 broke the scoring drought and tied the game at 81. It was at this point in the game that Golden State finally put the pesky Pistons away, going on an 18-2 run to take their biggest lead of the night, 97-83. During the scoring run Klay Thompson scored 9 of the 18 points. For the game Thompson finished with a game-high 27 points, leading the way for Golden State, who had 6 players reach double figures in scoring. Green and Iguodala both had 13 points each. Speights and Andrew Bogut each scored 12 points, while Leandro Barbosa chipped in 10. Detroit’s Andre Drummond was an absolute beast on the boards, hauling down a career-best 27 rebounds, 17 on the offensive side, to go with a team-high 22 points. Greg Monroe scored 20 points, Reggie Jackson added 14, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finished with 13.

Golden State improved to 28-2 at home. Detroit fell to 23-41, overall, on the season. The Warriors will travel to Denver to take on the Nuggets on Friday at 6pm.

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Magic were a handful last week can Sac answer the bell for Hornets Wed night?

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by Charlie O Mallonee

SACRAMENTO–You look at the two road games that the Sacramento Kings played in Orlando and Miami last week I said that the Orlando Magic should be a win on the road. The Kings got beat up in San Antonio on Wednesday and that wasn’t a surprise and that was the back end of a back to back and that was in New York and San Antonio.

The Kings played back to back on Tuesday the 3rd and Wednesday the 4th before heading out to Florida. It looked they would be able to handle the two games and in Orlando and Miami last Friday and Saturday. On Friday they turned around and let the Magic score 68 points in the first half. It was just insane the way Orlando was playing good defense.

The Kings came out a little slow they came out and picked it up and scored 57 points in the first half but they just let Orlando get out there too far. They were never able to pull the Magic back in, They were able to stay close but there has been a tendency for the Kings and it’s one that they get behind.

The Kings would pull up and get close and get within a point or two and even would take a lead by a point or two but then they would pull back. That’s something that you would see consistently in the NBA when a team does that they wind up losing the game because they spend so much energy putting themselves back into the game.

The other team is just using the energy to stay right there and when it comes to crunch time the Kings don’t have enough to put themselves over the top. Now in the case of Orlando they just owned the Kings they went 14-24 from the field and they scored 32 points a game. The other guy that just tore it up was the Magic’s Channing Frye he finished with 22 points.

Frye was in the game for Orlando to do one thing and that is to throw three point shots. He took a total of 11 shots from the field with three pointers and connected with six of them and wound up with the 22 points. Now the Kings Rudy Gay had a phenomenal game with 39 points and DeMarcus had 29 points. Cousins and Gay came together late in the game but it wasn’t enough and the Magic won the ball game by five points 119-114.

For tonight it’s onto Charlotte and the Hornets as the Kings go into Charlotte with a current road record of 1-3 winning only in New York that started this trip on Tuesday the third.

Charlie O is the Sacramento Kings beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

San Francisco Giants Podcast with Jeremy Kahn: Cain making a great recovery after facing Puig and the Dodgers

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by Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO–For Giants pitcher Matt Cain to come back and get two perfect innings on Tuesday it was a great confidence builder and he displayed that he’s healthy enough to go at it again and he pitched against a potent Dodgers lineup. The Giants tied up that game with the Dodgers 5-5.

Cain is coming back he’ll be okay and you have to give him sometime and elbow surgery is very serious and for a pitcher it’s very serious and Cain will need more time. That Dodger line up with Yasiel Puig and company can be a handful but Cain handled it well, let’s remember that when these two teams get together it’s one of the greatest rivalries in sports.

It’s been a rivalry since they both were in New York in the 50s, and that line up and rivalry is very good down south. There was not too much concern going into this game and he pitched only two innings. You don’t want to throw your arm out and not being able to pitch during the season. He could throw two pitches and he could be out the entire season.

Cain looked very good for someone who hasn’t pitched in seven or eight months, he looked really good and he should look pretty good when he goes in for his next start. Coming up this weekend as well.

Pablo Sandoval said he left San Francisco because of the way they treated him and it was not because of the money: I was stunned beyond belief when Pablo said this about the Giants organization. Your talking about one of the great clubhouses in MLB. I covered this team since 2003 and this is one of the best clubhouses since that time.

I’ve covered this team at home and on the road and to hear what Sandoval said about the Giants and Bruce Bochy whose been like a father to him and Hunter Pence and his teammates. This is a slap in the face to the other 24 members of the Giants, the coaches, the equipment staff, and the front office. What Panda said was absolutely disgusting.

Jeremy Kahn is the San Francisco Giants beat reporter for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

Hot Shooting Hawks Hand The Kings Their Fourth Straight Loss.

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By Shawn Whelchel

 

The Sacramento Kings were steadily dispatched by the Eastern Conference leading Atlanta Hawks, as they suffered a 130-105 blowout on the road Monday night.

In what amassed to a shootout, the Kings allowed all five Atlanta starters to reach double figures, with the team being led by Kyle Korver and DeMarre Carroll, both of whom scored 20 points on the night while leading their team to victory over the Kings.

The Kings couldn’t come up with timely stops en route to giving up 130 points on the night, allowing the kings to shoot 60 percent on the field while surpassing their previous season high of 127 points in the process.

Sacramento’s defense was especially poor beyond the arc, where it allowed a league leading 20 three-pointers in the contest. Atlanta also set another NBA season record with 42 assists on the night in route to their scoring outburst.

The Kings were able to break the centennial amount on the night, led by Rudy Gay’s 23 points, but it was too little to match the sharp shooting Hawks, who seemingly couldn’t miss. DeMarcus Cousins notched another double-double under his belt by scoring 12 points and grabbing 14 boards on the night.

The Kings have not gotten out to as hot of a start as expected since new coach George Karl took over, going just 3-7 in that span while sporting a four game losing streak. The Kings will continue their road trip against the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.