Kings battle to the end with the Warriors, but lose 130-125

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Photo credit: @SacramentoKings

By: London Marq

SACRAMENTO — The Golden 1 Center was hopping on Friday night as the Warriors traveled in to Sacramento looking to bounce back after a 20-point loss at the hands of Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors. Entering play, less than 20 days from the New Year, and the Sacramento Kings are over .500, currently in the eighth spot in the Western Conference. The Kings haven’t been this well placed to contend for a playoff spot since Ron Artest was on the team in 2006. The Kings looked to keep the Cinderella Story alive and keep the Warriors in the loss column.

The Warriors only had Dubs on their mind as they jumped out to 9-4 lead early. The lightning fast Kings are second in the league in pace, but had trouble hitting on all cylinders in the opening quarter. Kevin Durant led the charge for Golden State with 11 points, and the Baby-Faced Assassin Steph Curry was right behind him as he poured in 9 points. The Kings we able to keep it close. They were able get the Warriors in foul trouble early, scoring 10 from the line. Nemanja Bjelica led all Kings early with 10 in the first, and the Warriors would have a 4-point advantage, 42-38 going into the second.

It was much of the same in the second and the Warriors would take a 12-point lead into halftime. But things began to heat up in the third quarter, as the Kings starts started to gain some momentum. Fox had 11 points in the third quarter, and Hield Bjelica both dropped in 8 in the quarter as well. This is when the Kings started to play their brand of basketball, but they were not help out at all by the refs. There were several atrocious calls against the Kings, which slowed their progress.  In the stand’s fans roared with fury watching the replays. It’s a sight that’s become all too familiar in Sacramento. Even still the Kings would close the gap to 6, 103-97, going into the final quarter.

The Kings came out in the fourth with a purpose. Finding their stride, they came out with a 15-2 run to start the fourth and playing solid defense. They would begin to hit on all cylinders and they would take the lead. With 5 minutes to go in the game they would have 10-point lead.  However when you have 4 All-Stars on your team, as the Warriors do, magic just seems to happen. The Warriors would steal this game from the Kings on a 17-2 run to end the game.

Warriors’ leaders
Durant: 33 points, 8 assists, 8 rebounds
Curry 35 points, 6 assists, 7 rebounds

Kings’ leaders
Hield: 27 points, 2 assists, 4 rebounds
Fox: 25 points, 9 assists,  6 rebounds

Final
Warriors 130, Kings 125

Late rally pushes the Warriors past the Kings to win a thriller 130-125

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Photo credit: @warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors traveled to Sacramento to face the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center on Friday night. The Kings, who had been at the bottom of the league for years, are now becoming a much tougher opponent. They are built around guard De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield. Willy Cauley-Stein is playing the best basketball of his career and Nemanja Bjelica helps out from the forward position.

The Kings’ coach is Dave Joerger, who used a slow-paced offense when he was at Memphis. He now has guys who can run, and the Kings play a fast tempo type of game. The Warriors also like to run, and they did just that as they started out strong, but had to come back from a 10-point deficit with 3:03 left in the game to beat the Kings 130-125.

Both teams played offense in the first half. The defense was nowhere to be found as the Warriors scored 76 points in the first half and led the Kings 76-64 after the first 24 minutes of action.

The Kings won the third period as they outscored the Warriors 33-27 to finish the period trailing 103-97. The Warriors’ offense ground to a halt in the fourth quarter as the Kings kept the pressure on and led 123-113 with 3:03 left. The Warriors’ big three of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant went on a 10-0 run to tie the game at 123. Fox made a bucket to give the Kings the lead 125-123. The Warriors scored the last 7 points of the game to stun the Kings, and the Kings fans went home shaking their heads in disbelief as the Warriors snatched victory from the jaws of defeat once again.

Game Notes and Stats: The Warriors had four starters in double figures. Steph Curry led the team with 35, Kevin Durant had 33, Klay Thompson 27 and Kevon Looney added 10. Draymond Green was a monster on defense with 14 rebounds and 10 assists for another double-double. The Warriors’ bench tallied 23 points. Jerebko was the leader with 8.

The Kings’ Buddy Hield led his club with 27. De’Aaron Fox had 25, Willie Cauley-Stein 22, and Nemanja Bjelica added 18.

The team stats were almost identical. The Warriors were 44-for-96 from the floor, while the Kings came in at 45-for 96. Each team made 15 3s. The Warriors made 7 more free throws than the Kings, which turned out to be the difference in the game. The Warriors outrebounded the Kings 60-42. The Warriors committed 18 turnovers

The Warriors improved to 20-10, and the Kings are now 15-13.

Up Next: The Warriors return home to face the Memphis Grizzlies Monday night at Oracle Arena. Game time is at 7:30 pm PST.

Stanford Cardinal basketball podcast with Joey Friedman: After loss to Kansas, Stanford looks to recover against Washington Eastern

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gostanford.com photo

On the Stanford basketball podcast with Joey:

#1 Last Saturday, going to Kansas (8-0), you had to get that feeling the Stanford Cardinal (4-4) had their work cut out for them.

#2 The Jayhawks’ LaGerald Vick, one of the big threats, hit a three-pointer with just a second left in the game, Vick had eight of 27 points for the Hawks to lead them to a 90-84 win and the Hawks kept their perfect record in tact.

#3 For the Cardinal, KZ Okpala had 22 points and eight rebounds, Daejon Davis had 19 points and eight boards and Isaac White had 15 points and five threes.

#4 While the Jayhawks are still undefeated, they did make mistakes during their win over the Cardinal and just got away with a six-point win.

#5 The Cardinal have the home floor Saturday night against the Eastern Washington Eagles (1-7). The Eagles will be coming off a game against the USF Dons on Thursday night. The Cardinal could very well have this game in hand.

Join Joey each Friday for the Cardinal podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland Raiders podcast with Joe Hawkes Beamon: Coliseum says there will be no coming back for Raiders in 2019; Players have nothing but respect for former GM McKenzie

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nbcsports.com file photo: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (left) and Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis (right) have a laugh. The Raiders will be leaving Oakland despite the city of Oakland’s lawsuit suing the Raiders

On the Raiders podcast with Joe:

#1 With the lawsuit by the city of Oakland against the Oakland Raiders, could it mean that the Raiders will need to seek the team’s relocation site in either Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, UNLV in Vegas or Qualcomm in San Diego or will the Raiders and the city settle on the Coliseum?

#2 Oakland Coliseum Authority executive director Scott McKibben said there no will be proposal. “There’s no longer a lease extension in play, lawsuit or no lawsuit” McKibben said.

#3 Taking a look at some of the Raiders’ choices to play in the 2019 season: Oakland Coliseum, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Sam Boyd Stadium at UNLV, Stanford, Cal, SJSU or San Diego.

#4 Raider players have voiced their respect for former general manager Reggie McKenzie. The players agree that McKenzie had built a team that had the potential to go far in the postseason. This season, much of that team that McKenzie had built had been dismantled.

#5 Will the move of the Raiders in 2019 and the firing of McKenzie impact the team going into Cincinnati for this Sunday’s game?

Joe Hawkes Beamon does the Raiders podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

It’s Two Times the Timo in Sharks’ 3-2 Win Over Stars

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Jerry Feitelberg

The San Jose Sharks scored three unanswered goals to comeback from a 1-0 deficit before hanging on for 3-2 win over the visiting Dallas Stars Thursday night at the SAP Center. San Jose has now won three games in a row after losing their previous four. Timo Meier scored a pair of goals to continue his torrid stretch and Joe Thornton scored his fifth of the season. Logan Couture had a multi-assist night, his 14th and 15th points in 13 games, and Martin Jones 20 made saves.

Both teams engaged in a defensive standstill after 20 minutes, allowing a combined eight shots on goal with zero goals. Dallas broke through early in the second, with Radek Faksa scoring his fifth goal 3:35 into the middle frame.

After that, it was Timo time. The Swiss sophomore blasted a point shot past Stars goalie Anton Khudobin with 3:40 left in the second. He potted San Jose’s next goal 12:50 into the 3rd, driving hard to the net and redirecting a Logan Couture pass into goal for a 2-1 lead. Meier now has eight points in his last six games.

Joe Thornton scored an easy redirect just over five minutes later for his fifth goal of the season after Radim Simek’s point shot hit a blocker and ricocheted to the future Hall of Famer. Marcus Sorensen also added an assist on the Sharks 3-1 goal. Thornton was a game-time decision after missing practice Wednesday.

Miro Heiskanen scored his seventh of the year, victimizing the Sharks with 7:36 left in regulation on a bad line change, but San Jose would hold with the net empty for Dallas to pick up the win. They next travel to Chicago to face the reeling Blackhawks Sunday at 4:00 pm PST.

49ers look to build streak vs. Seahawks on Sunday

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Photo credit: @FoxSportsRadio

By Jeremy Harness

It has been a long and frustrating year for the 49ers, but they are finding a little bit of success toward the end of the year.

The 49ers will hope to build on their 20-14 upset win over the Denver Broncos last week and will play host to the Seattle Seahawks, a team that they have beaten only once in the past six years.

Cornerback Richard Sherman played in Seattle for the first time in an opposing uniform Dec. 2, and it didn’t go very well at all, as the Seahawks rolled to a 43-16 win. Not only did the 49ers lose the game, but there were verbal jabs exchanged in the following weeks between Sherman and some of his former teammates.

When Sherman said that the Seahawks are a “middle of the road” team at this point, defensive lineman Frank Clark took the opportunity to fire back at him, saying that “he’s not in this locker room anymore, so his opinion really doesn’t matter.”

For his part, Sherman responded by saying, “it didn’t bother me at all.”

In the meantime, the 49ers are dealing with some more injury issues. The team placed receiver Pierre Garcon on season-ending injured reserve with a painful knee injury that he has been dealing with for much of this season.

Fellow receivers Dante Pettis and Marquise Goodwin have been limited in practice this week with assorted injuries, while safety Jaquiski Tartt’s shoulder continues to give him problems, as he has not practiced this week after also missing last Sunday’s win over Denver.

For the Seahawks, Clark has an elbow injury that has kept him out of practice this week, while offensive lineman D.J Fluker also has not been able to practice while dealing with a hamstring issue.

Raiders are off to Cincinnati for matchup against Bengals on Sunday

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Photo credit: wsj.com

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
SRS Contributor

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Raiders are seeking back-to-back wins for the first time this season, as they prepare to head East where they will face the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 15 action. The contest will conclude the Raiders’ regular season schedule against the AFC North, as they are 2-1 against the division in 2018.

Sunday will mark just the first meeting between the two teams since 2015, and Oakland’s first visit to Paul Brown Stadium since 2012. In 28 meetings, the Raiders are 18-10 against the Bengals all-time, with Cincinnati winning the last two encounters.

Kickoff is at 10:00 a.m. PT.

Last week, the Raiders improved to 3-10 on the season, knocking off the Pittsburgh Steelers from the AFC North, 24-21 in come-from-behind fashion in front of a frenzy crowd at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

The Raiders wouldn’t be denied the victory as quarterback Derek Carr engineered an 8-play, 75-yard drive that was punctuated by touchdown pass to tight end Derek Carrier for the eventual game-winner after the Steelers missed a potential game-tying field goal from 39 yards away as time expired.

Carr finished the game with a blistering 122.4 passer rating after completing 25-of-34 passes for 322 yards and two touchdowns. It was Carr’s 16th comeback victory in his career. No other player has more comebacks since 2014, Carr’s rookie season.

After a rocky start to the season in which he threw 10 touchdowns and a eight interceptions through Weeks 1-8, Carr has rebounded tremendously since throwing eight touchdowns and no interceptions since. Carr hasn’t thrown an interception in his last 261 attempts, the second most by a quarterback this season.

Tight end Jared Cook has been the Raiders most trusted playmaker this season.

Against the Steelers, Cook recorded his second-straight 100-yard receiving day, tallying 116 yards on seven catches. It was Cook’s fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season, which is second-most by a tight end this season.

In his second season with Oakland, the nine-year veteran is having his most productive season, with career-highs in catches (61), yards (825), and touchdowns (six). With three games left in the season, Cook has a chance to challenge Todd Christensen’s club record of 1,153 receiving yards by a tight end set in 1986.

Defensively, linebacker Tahir Whitehead recorded his first interception of the season for the Raiders and finished with 10 tackles (six solo). Whitehead now has 103 tackles for the season, giving him his third-straight season of at least 100 tackles.

With season-ending injuries to franchise quarterback Andy Dalton (hand) and superstar wide receiver A.J. Green (foot),  the Bengals (5-8), are a shell of themselves and currently are riding a five-game losing streak.

Cincinnati fell to the Los Angeles Chargers 26-21 at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. in Week 14. Second-year running back Joe Mixon has been one of the lone bright spots for the Bengals this season and his game against the Chargers proved that.

Against the Chargers, Mixon carried the ball 26 times for 111 yards and a touchdown, giving him 866 rushing yards and six touchdowns this season. Barring major injury the rest of the season, Mixon should record his first 1,000-yard rushing season.

Following Sunday’s game, the Raiders will return home to take on their AFC West rival, the Denver Broncos on Christmas Eve in what could be the final home game in Oakland for the Raiders.

The City of Oakland filed a lawsuit against the franchise this week for their move to Las Vegas in 2020. The Raiders don’t have a lease signed to play at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum for 2019.

Sunday’s game against the Raiders will the Bengals’ home-finale, as they will finish up on the road in Week’s 16 and 17 against the Cleveland Browns and Steelers, respectively.

San Jose State looks for second straight win on Saturday against Northern Arizona

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Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Last week, San Jose State snapped its six-game losing skid with a down-to-the-wire 67-65 win over Bethune Cookman at home. This week, San Jose State is looking for its second straight win as they wrap up their four-game homestand with a game vs. Northern Arizona on Saturday night.

Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming game:

Game #9
Northern Arizona (2-5) vs. San Jose State (2-6)
Friday, Dec. 12, 7:00 pm PT
Event Center (5,000)
San Jose, Calif.

Live Stats
Fans can view live stats of all San Jose State men’s basketball games, home and away, by accessing the Live Stats feature at www.sjsuspartans.com. Click on the link on the women’s basketball schedule page to follow the action.

All-Access Passport
The Mountain West Network is your all-access passport to Spartan Athletics. For live and recorded video/audio of San Jose State men’s basketball home and Mountain West road contests, the Mountain West Network is your home. Go to Mountain West Network logo at top of the Spartans Athletics home page or go to www.sjsuspartans.com/video.

Back In The Win Column
San Jose State ran away with a 67-65 win over Bethune-Cookman in their last meeting on Dec. 6 to improve to 2-6 on the season. It was the Spartans’ first win over a Division I opponent since Feb. 28, 2018 at Utah State (64-62).

Last Time Out
After struggling to find much offense in the first half vs. Bethune-Cookman, the Spartan offense came to life in the second half as they shot 48% from the field and nailed five triples to come from behind and take down the Wildcats 67-65. Noah Baumann hit 3 of 5 treys in the second half, while Oumar Barry tallied a career-high 13 points and Michael Steadman finished with his third double-double of the season of 15 points and 13 rebounds in the win.

Steady Steadman
JUCO transfer Michael Steadman has had quite the debut for the Spartans this season. The 6’10 forward is averaging a team-high 13.5 points per game and ranks fourth in the Mountain West with 9.4 rebounds per game, which also ranks him in the top-40 nationally. Steadman has three double-doubles on the season, ranking fourth in the conference and has scored in double figures in 7-of-8 games, including six straight.

Staff Shake Up
Jean Prioleau made some changes to his staff in the offseason as he brought in former NC State All-American Julius Hodge as an assistant coach. He also promoted director of basketball operations, Ryan Cooper, to assistant coach.

What About The Lumberjacks?
Northern Arizona enters Saturday’s contest at 2-5 and hopes to end a four-game losing skid. After picking up early season wins over Jacksonville University (97-82) and University of Nebraska at Omaha (76-66), the Lumberjacks have since lost to Hawaii, UC Davis, Santa Clara and Utah Valley. Four Northern Arizona players are averaging double figures in scoring led by Carlos Hines’ 15 ppg. Northern Arizona is led by Jack Murphy in his seventh season.

This will be the seventh overall meeting between the programs. Northern Arizona currently leads the series 4-2 and were the victors in the last installment, which was played on Dec. 15, 2007 at the DeAnza College Gymnasium.

The Baumann Factor
Sophomore Noah Baumann is once again displaying his impressive 3-point shooting abilities this season after finishing in the top 40 in the Mountain West in that department as a freshman. Baumann is currently 15-28 (.536) from the 3-point range, which ranks second in the Mountain West.

Baumann came up huge for the Spartans in their win over Bethune-Cookman. After the team finished 0-for-10 from 3-point range in the first half, Baumann sparked the Spartan offense by draining 3-of-5 second half attempts and finished with a season-high 12 points to help lead San Jose State to a victory.

Barry’s Big Day
Senior Oumar Barry had his best game of the season vs. Bethune-Cookman as he finished with a career-high 13 points and tied his season-high of 7 rebounds.

San Francisco 49ers podcast with Joe Lami: 49ers looking to catch some more breaks this Sunday against Seahawks

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msn.com file photo: 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan in file photo from Nov. 1st game versus the Oakland Raiders at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara

On the 49ers podcast with Joe Lami:

#1 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said the clock flub at the end of Sunday’s game had quarterback Nick Mullens not taking a knee, but instead the ball was a turnover to the Denver Broncos. Lucky for San Francisco on the last play of the game, the Broncos wide receiver Tim Patrick lateraled and the ball rolled out of bounds midfield, which helped SF win and run the clock out.

#2 Shanahan who was fined by the NFL $25,000 for yelling an obscenity at an official and drew an unsportsmanship-like conduct back on Dec. 2 in Seattle. Shanahan said he would appeal a play that he felt should have stopped the clock after 49ers linebacker Fred Warner had lost his shoe and Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson threw it off the field Shanahan said the officials should have stopped the clock and that Warner should have been allowed to get his shoe back, but promised he wouldn’t swear at the officials again.

#3 San Francisco’s George Kittle had a career day in the first half last Sunday against the Broncos with 210 yards, seven catches, with a 85-yard touchdown.

#4 Mullens had a good offensive afternoon 22-33 for 332 yards. Mullens finished with a 102.1 passer rating.

#5 The Seattle Seahawks, who streamrolled the 49ers in Seattle on Dec. 2, will be at Levi’s Stadium this Sunday. Joe tells what the 49ers’ chances are this Sunday.

Joe Lami is the San Francisco 49ers beat writer and does the 49ers podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Maybe the Warriors’ Main Goal Is to Conquer the Moon

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Photo credit: @Deadspin

By: Amaury Pi-González

The Warriors are such a good team who are doing nothing but winning. So maybe they are bored with their success, and when that happens, and you are on top of the world like the 1970s A’s and Raiders, 1980s 49ers and 2000s Giants, this is bound to happen. A player will say something outrageous that will make news outside the sports world. Actually after winning three NBA titles, the Warriors’ only goal might be to conquer the Moon.

Stephen Curry said recently that man has never been to the Moon. Since then, Curry clarified his comments saying it was “a joke.” Nonetheless, NASA is offering Curry and the Warriors a tour of their facilities next time they visit the Houston Rockets. NASA offers to school Curry on moon landing, to show him some rocks that the astronauts brought from the Moon. Obviously, since NASA can’t offer Curry any advice of how to improve his game. Earlier this year, NBA star Kyrie Irving said flat Earth claims were an experiment and he was just having a little entertainment.

It is all fun, but in today’s social media world–every statement,every word is dissected, especially by famous people like Curry. I have no doubt if you take a poll across this country you will find a percentage of people that believe we never went to the Moon, that it was done inside a Warner Brothers studio, that 9/11 was an inside job by the US government to send us to war, and that Elvis still alive.

Recently, Virgin Galactic–Richard Branson’s outlet–flies its first astronauts to the end of space, taking one step further to space tourism and taking the lead over Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Today is the private world, entrepreneurs (not NASA and the government) that is taking the lead in space. In the future, Curry might be able (he sure can afford it) to actually take a trip to the Moon and tell his grandkids someday.

It is going to happen like Frank Sinatra’s huge hit in 1964: “Fly Me To the Moon.”