Category: Uncategorized

By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings suffered their fourth consecutive loss on Friday night in Portland losing to the Trail Blazers 104-91. It was the first game of home and away back-to-back series that will be continued on Saturday night in Sacramento.

The Kings once again allowed their opponent to be too successful shooting from the field. The Trail Blazers shot 48.8% (39-80) overall and 43.5% (10-23) from 3-point territory. Portland was averaging 44.9% shooting and 40.4% for 3-Pointers for the season.

The Kings defense has been very generous to the opposition over the four game losing streak. Coach Michael Malone has repeatedly said that the opponents are not feeling the Kings. He sees the need for his team to be more physical. Versus Portland, they faced a team that could also shoot from beyond the arc. It proved to be a lethal combination for Sacramento.

The Kings were out rebounded 47-31. They committed 24 fouls to Portland’s 18.

Sacramento did manage to break the 40.0% shooting mark. The Kings shot 41.9% (36-86) from the floor. They shot a miserable 27.3% (6-22) from 3-point land. Those are not the kind of shooting numbers that translate into victories.

DeMarcus Cousins tried to put his team on his back and carry them past the Blazers. Cousins scored 35 points in 37 minutes of playing time. He also pulled down nine rebounds.

Isaiah Thomas had a sub-par night. Thomas scored just 13 points in his 29 minutes on the floor. Greivis Vasquez added 12 points while Patrick Patterson and Travis Outlaw each scored 10 points each.

Portland’s starting five all scored in double digits. Damian Lillard was the leading scorer with 22 points. He also had eight rebounds and seven assists. Power Forward LaMarcus Aldridge added 20 points and seven rebounds. Two guard Wesley Matthews put up 18 points for the Blazers.

The series continues on Saturday night in Sacramento with the Kings searching for a way to make it back into the win column.

By Jeremy Harness

STANFORD – While most top teams in the country are busy getting fat from beating up on much-lesser opponents, the Stanford basketball team is no stranger to being tested early in the season.

Friday’s 2013-14 season opener was no different.

Bucknell, the defending Patriot League champs, proved to be a very tough out during the entire course of the game. As the Cardinal got out to a big lead by stringing together a few baskets, the Bison made shots of their own and kept the game close.

“It takes a mature team to win a game like that,” Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins said, adding that Bucknell’s scoring late in the shot clock can be “demoralizing” for an opposing team.

In short, they looked just like the team that knocked off Kansas in the 2005 NCAA Tournament, and Stanford could not mount a big run or get a comfortable-enough lead to hold off the Bison.

Anthony Brown, who knocked down a big 3-pointer in the final minutes and finished with 14 points and five rebounds, advised that they need to be better finishers going forward, pointing out the fact that the Cardinal could not get a double-digit lead.

“Once we get the lead to seven, we need to push it to 10,” Brown said. Once we get it to 10, we need to push it to 15.”

It’s not that the Cardinal didn’t play good defense – which has been the staple of this team for the past few years – but Bucknell just kept hitting great shots every which way. The Bison used spin moves to the basket as well as the 3-point shot to stay in the game until the very final seconds.

In fact, it wasn’t until Ben Brackney’s desperation heave at half-court came up short at the buzzer when Stanford was able to close the game out. Seconds earlier, Stanford got defensive stops but neither Dwight Powell nor Chasson Randle, who led the Cardinal with 18 points, could make a free throw to seal the game.

“Very frustrating,” Powell, who had 17 points and 12 rebounds on Friday, said of his failure to knock down the crucial foul shots. ”Zero percent from the line (to start the season) isn’t fun.”

Bucknell hung around in the first half, even taking the lead in the closing minutes and only trailed by a point at halftime. Stanford came out strong to start the 2^nd half, quickly opening up a five-point lead on the strength of its 3-point shooting as well as daring moves to the basket by Randle.

But Bucknell came right back with a rally of its own, tying the game with 13:19 left when Kaspar pulled off a sweet no-look, over-the-head pass to Dom Hoffman for an easy layup.

“He made some of the best passes I’ve seen in a long time, over his head, behind his back,” Dawkins said. “He made a lot of plays at the basket.”

By: Phillip Torres

November 6, 2013

Sports Radio Service

ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA-The San Francisco Bulls (2-5-1-0) were shutout 2-0 to the Ontario Reign (4-0-1-2) on Wednesday night at Citizens Business Bank Arena. The Reign played stellar defense and received outstanding play from goaltender Michael Hutchinson, who blocked every shot that went his way.

The Reign put their first goal on the board with just 3:36 remaining in the opening period. The game was a defensive show as the second period went scoreless and headed into the third and final period at 1-0 Ontario.

At the end of the second period, the Bulls were outshot 16-13 by the Reign.

Dan DaSilva scored the final; goal of the game with just 19 seconds remaining on an empty netter. The Bulls had the opportunity to score with a couple of power plays, but failed to find the net.

Phillip Torres covers the Bulls for Sportsradioservice.com

By Morris Phillips

Under Mike Montgomery, the Cal Bears have performed better than expected more often than not.  And this season–which starts Friday at Haas Pavilion against Coppin State–the Bears could make a fifth NCAA appearance in six seasons with the iconic, 66-year old coach working his closely calculated magic.

But before Cal surprises the experts and makes a run at UCLA, Arizona, Washington and even Stanford—all teams picked to finish above the Bears in the Pac-12—a bunch of new faces have to be transformed into Montgomery-endorsed, floor-ready players.

Five of those faces are members of a heralded freshman class led by Jabari Bird of Richmond, who figure to give the Bears a much-needed infusion of talent and depth.  Three others—Christian Behrens, Garrett Galvin and Kahlil Johnson—have all been in the program for at least a year but haven’t seen any significant time.   And while Montgomery doesn’t necessarily need any of the eight to start, he does need most of them to play roles off the bench.

But if you know Montgomery, none of that will take hold until the chosen players have gained the coach’s implicit trust.

Don’t adhere to defensive principles?  Take a seat.  Don’t know a credible shot from a bad one?  Sit right here.  Making too many mental errors?  Yup, Montgomery’s yelling is directed at you.

“You’re after trying to play the game right, and get out where guys are playing at game speed, tiring faster, adjusting to the tempo, adjusting to the other team, adjusting to the way the game’s called, all the things that have to happen,” Montgomery said after Thursday’s exhibition against Humboldt State.   “And as I say, we have eight guys that haven’t played basketball.  So all of those people have a different learning curve and we have to get them up to snuff as quick as we can.  The freshman group is going to be a pretty good group but there’s going to be growing pains.”

At 6’6” Bird brings eye-popping athleticism and size to the wing spot, but oft-injured Ricky Kreklow appears to be ahead of the freshman at least until Bird can establish efficiency with his offense.  6’3” Jordan Mathews can shoot it, so he appears to be in the rotation, but he better impress Montgomery with an ability to guard Pac-12 quality guards.

Kameron Rooks—at 7’0”—is the Bears’ biggest player, but it appears the Bears will go small for now when one of the starting posts—Richard Solomon and David Kravish—takes a breather.  Sam Singer’s a shooting guard-sized playmaker, but just like Rooks he needs a lot of growth on the defensive end first.

“They really haven’t played in any college games yet,” Solomon said.  “So it’s still that learning curve that we have to get around.  But they’re ready to work, ready to learn, do things and they’re picking up… not as fast but… they’re still picking things up.”

Montgomery’s success lies in his ability to get his teams to pay attention to details and not have mental or physical lapses.  Those that continue to make mistakes sit and heady players get big minutes.  And no nationally-ranked recruit like Bird gets a pass.  Until Montgomery feels a player is a mentally in tune, that player sits.

“I’m trying to say to them that we’ve got to have a standard for how we play the game,” Montgomery said.  “There will be times that we play as hard as we can that we don’t win.   We can’t pick and choose when we want to play hard.”

Justin Cobbs knows what Montgomery demands and he will have the ball in his hands in most critical situations.  The senior guard paced last year’s team in scoring along with NBA draft pick Allen Crabbe.  Cobbs has recovered from a foot injury and is poised to start the season after performing well in the exhibitions and early practices. 

The Bears appear well-stocked at the wings with Kreklow, Mathews, Bird and last year’s starter, Tyrone Wallace.  Where they could be thin is up front with Kravish and Solomon as they only experience players.  Physical interior players might even have an advantage against the two holdovers, neither of whom are wide bodies.

Christian Behrens and Rooks will get time behind the two posts.  Behrens has seen injuries rob him of playing time in his first two years, but this season the junior is healthy and should assume the role of first interior player off the bench.   Singer will back Cobbs, and Kreklow could start now and then become an indispensible reserve once Mathews or Bird get acclimated.

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Oakland Athletics skipper Bob Melvin was named as a finalist Tuesday for American League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

If Melvin wins, he would be the first repeat winner of the top AL managerial award. He previously won last year in Oakland and took the National League Manager of the Year award in 2007 with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The other finalists for AL Manager of the Year are Terry Francona of Cleveland and John Farrell of the World Series champion Boston Red Sox. NL finalists are Fredi Gonzalez of Atlanta, Clint Hurdle of Pittsburgh and Don Mattingly of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Managers of the Year will be announced next Tuesday by the BBWAA.

By Tony Renteria

 The Struggling Atlanta Hawks (1-2) came into Sleep Train Arena looking to continue the Sacramento King’s (1-2) bad luck, and came away with a 105-100 victory.

The Kings led by seven after a strong first quarter but fell apart in the second being outscored 29-13.  The Hawks took that lead and expanded on it in the third, adding six more points to their lead.  The Kings made a strong run in fourth but came up four points short.

The Kings came off a recent loss to the Golden State Warriors 98-87.  The Hawks had just lost to the Los Angeles Lakers by two points, 105-103.

The Kings were led by reserve point guard Isiah Thomas’s 26 points on 8 for 17 shooting.

Atlanta got their points from Al Horford, the starting center had 27 points and ten rebounds.

Sacramento Heads to Portland to take on the Trailblazers Friday night, while the Hawks continue the western tour and head to Denver and face the Nuggets.