Sacramento Kings podcast with Jeremiah Salmonson: Kings get OT win over Blazers 121-118; Sac hosts OKC at Golden 1 tonight

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The Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk (0) takes a shot against the Portland Trailblazers forward Justin Minaya (24) second half action at Golden One Center in Sacramento on Wed Nov 8, 2023 (AP News photo)

On the Sacramento Kings podcast with Jeremiah:

#1 Jeremiah, Domantas Sobonis had the hot hand for the Sacramento Kings (3-4) on Wednesday night leading with 27 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists on the Kings 121-118 victory over the Portland Trailblazers.

#2 With just 13 seconds left in overtime the Kings Molik Monk hit two crucial free throws to keep hope alive.

#3 The Kings got ten points to the Trailblazers seven points in over time and got a four point edge for the win.

#4 The Blazers are now 3-5 how much is that record and some of those loses based on Damion Lillard no longer with Portland.

#5 The Kings host the Oklahoma City Thunder at Golden 1 tonight. The Thunder are 5-3 and defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in their last game 128-120. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lead all scorers for the Thunder with 43. How crucial will it be for the Kings defense to shut down Alexander?

Join Jeremiah for the Sacramento Kings podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco 49ers podcast with Joe Hawkes: 49ers hope to snap out of 3 game skid in Jacksonville Sunday

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On the 49ers podcast with J Hawkes:

#1 Joe, how crucial was the bye for the 49ers coming off three straight loses.

#2 Looking back to the game against Cincinnati there was the first and goal at the two yard line play where Javon Kinlaw was offsides and the defense kind of paused with linebacker Fred Warner came up from his crouch and defensive end Nick Bosa was just in his same pace, defensive tackle Arik Armstead just did a small jog on the play and Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow went right and threw for a touchdown to Andrei Iosivsas. The defense fell asleep during that play according to Jim Nance who was calling the game on CBS TV.

#3 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy acknowledged he has some things to work on after throwing five interceptions over the last three games and said he has to be smart with the ball.

#4 How much are opposing teams picking up weaknesses and taking advantage of those mistakes during this losing streaks?

#5 The 49ers are in Jacksonville. The Jaguars have won five straight games after losing two straight games and the 49ers have lost three straight games after winning five straight. How do you see this match up in Jacksonville this Sunday at 10:00 AM PT?

Joe Hawkes does the 49ers podcasts each weeks at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks win nail-biter against the Oilers 3-2

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Photo courtesy of San Jose Sharks. The Sharks celebrate a victory (taken on 7/11/23).

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

SAN JOSE- The Sharks took on Edmonton at home and were able to extend their winning streak to two with a win by a final of 3-2.

In goal for San Jose was Mackenzie Blackwood while Stuart Skinner was between the pipes for Edmonton.

Tonight also saw the debut of Calen Addison in a Sharks jersey as he was acquired from the Minnesota Wild the day before.

The first period saw Edmonton’s power play get to work early as just a couple minutes in Nikita Okhotiuk took a penalty for slashing. Instead of creating chances they were giving up them up as William Eklund got a breakaway but was stifled by Skinner.

Things remained pretty even until Fabian Zetterlund broke things open with a one time goal from the slot on a nice pass from Tomas Hertl. The goal was Zetterlund’s fourth of the season as Eklund was also given an assist on the goal.

At the end of the first the shots favored Edmonton 14-6.

The second period did not get off to a good start for the home team as Darnell Nurse sniped one home on a 2-on-1 tying the game up at one.

Edmonton continued to push but Blackwood made some solid saves as he helped keep the score tied.

The Sharks responded with a goal as Hertl benefitted off of a lucky bounce out front that went right to him making it 2-1. It was Hertl’s second of the season with Zetterlund and Okhotiuk getting the assists.

Closing out the second the shots still favored Edmonton at 24-14.

The third ended up being quite the opposite of the second as just a couple minutes in on a 2-on-1 Filip Zadina scored off a feed from Nico Sturm. The goal was Zadina’s third of the season with Ryan Carpenter also getting credited for an assist.

San Jose then got a great opportunity to extend their lead on the power play but took a penalty of their own making it a 4-on-4 for 28 seconds.

It then came down to crunch time as the Sharks tried to hold on to their 3-1 lead. With the goalie pulled Edmonton got within one as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored on a juicy rebound getting his third of the season.

Granlund then took a tripping penalty putting Edmonton in prime territory to tie the game up. Blackwood and the Sharks defense though stood strong killing off the penalty and holding on for the victory.

At the end of the day this was another game were Blackwood single-handedly kept San Jose in it as he made 39 saves on 41 shots. Ending his night with a 2.00 GAA and 951 SV%.

Both teams power plays were nonexistent tonight as the Oilers went 0/4 while San Jose went 0/2.

With this loss the Oilers fall to 2-9-1 which is their worst start in franchise history and ties them for last in the league with the Sharks.

The three stars of the game were: 1st: Mackenzie Blackwood 2nd: Tomas Hertl 3rd: Fabian Zetterlund

The Sharks will not get much time to rest as they will play Vegas tomorrow at 7 p.m. on the road.

San Jose State Smashes Bethesda 117-72 To Go 2-0

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San Jose State Spartans and the Bethesda Flames battled it out in San Jose on Thu Nov 9, 2023 (San Jose State Spartans photo)

Thursday, November 9th, 2023

By Troy Ewers

It’s the second game of the season for the Spartans and it’s San Jose State facing off against the Bethesda Flames. This is a home game before they go to Texas Tech and then a tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Bethesda drove up from Anaheim in vans and showed up 3 hours before the game. 

The first half started with a dominant outing on offense with Tibet Gorener having nine of the Spartans first 11 points and holding a lead halfway through the first. The Spartans were scoring mostly in the paint and had second chance points that made the difference for them as the first half went on.

Bethesda tried to stay in the fold keeping the score as close as they could, but there weren’t enough runs for the Flames. With five minutes left in the half, Bethesda had cut the lead to eight and were looking to go on their first run.

The nine total turnovers SJSU had brought Bethesda within two points, but a 6-0 run from the Spartans in the last 1:22 of the half put them up going into the locker room 56-47. The biggest problem for Bethesda were fouls. The Flames had 13 team fouls and SJSU took full advantage of these opportunities making 13-15 free throws in the first half. 

The Spartans started the second half the way they were supposed to getting a 20 point lead 5 minutes into the half. The Flames hit a drought where for 4:39 they didn’t score a point and that was the halfway point of the half in the game.

SJSU went on a terror run leading by 32 with eight minutes left and Gorener leading the team in points with 26. It was a complete runaway for San Jose State, beating their season high score from last season that was also against Bethesda. This is the third most points in San Jose State basketball history and the game was well in the books, SJSU winning 117-72. 

The game after halftime was a complete blowout, but it was something that is going to give the Spartans a lot of confidence going to Lubbock, TX where SJSU will face Texas Tech on Saturday. The three standout players for SJSU were Gorrener with 26 points, Alvaro Cardenas with 14 points and 8 assists, and Trey Anderson with 13 points. The Spartans are 2-0 and look to keep this party going into this ongoing season.

Golden State Warriors podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: Warriors played it close but Nuggets Jokic had a big night 35 points

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Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (with the basketball) goes up against the Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) at Ball Arena in Denver on Wed Nov 8, 2023 (AP News photo)

On the Golden State Warriors podcast with Jerry F:

#1 Jerry, there was no doubt about it the Golden State Warriors (6-3) or any team for that matter in the NBA have a struggle keeping a player like the Denver Nuggets (8-1) Nicola Jokic contained he was off the charts on Wednesday night scoring 35 points.

#2 Jokic is one of the key reasons why the Nuggets are a NBA Finals caliber team.

#3 For sure this was a battle of the titans type game with the NBA Champions Nuggets demonstrating on Wednesday why they went all the way. They got scoring help from Reggie Jackson with 20 points and Michael Porter Jr with 17 points.

#4 Draymond Green sat this one out and guard Stephen Curry once again did all the heavy lifting leading in scoring with 23 points as Golden State fell short 108-105.

#5 Next up for Golden State they host the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Chase Center on Sat Nov 11 for a 5:30pm PST tip. The Cavs have won two of their last six games. The Cavaliers defeated the Warriors in their last meeting in Cleveland 115-104 on Sun Nov 5th.

Join Jerry for the Warriors podcasts Thursdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com Happy 85th Birthday Jerry F. You don’t look a day over 75.

Kings Defeat Blazers 121-118; Monk and Sabonis lead Sac in scoring

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Guard Malik Monk (0) of the Sacramento Kings lets everyone know who the man is after scoring on the Portland Trailblazers forward Jerami Grant (9) at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Wed Nov 8, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jeremiah Salmonson

SACRAMENTO–The Sacramento Kings were back in action on Wednesday night. The Kings were coming off two games in Houston against the upstart Rockets. It was a disappointing show from the Kings on the road as they lost both games to the Rockets. The Kings were boat-raced in both games, losing 107-89 and 122-89.

It was a pathetic showing for the Kings in the Lone Star State as they looked to get back on track on Wednesday. The Kings were set to tip off against the Portland Trailblazers at 7 PM PST. The Kings snapped their losing streak of three games by beating the Blazers 121-118

In the first quarter, the Kings offense looked different than in previous games this season. Coach Mike Brown elected to start Keon Ellis over Davion Mitchell. The decision paid off early, as Keon gave the Kings solid minutes to open the game with stability. Overall, the Kings played well in the first quarter, scoring 34 points with help from an 11-point quarter from Domantas Sobonis. The Blazers scored 29 points in the quarter. 

In the second quarter, the Kings lost the lead. The Kings only scored 22 points in the second. On the other hand, the Blazers scored 31 points in the quarter to build a 60-56 lead over the Kings. Mike Brown was visibly frustrated with the Kings going into halftime. The Kings offense was suffering under missed open shots. If the Kings hoped to win, they needed to hit their open shots in the second half. 

In the third quarter, the Kings played better, but it wasn’t by much. The Kings outscored the Blazers 29-24 in the third quarter to regain the lead going into the game’s final quarter. The Kings leading scorer through three quarters was Domantas Sabonis, who had 21 points. The Blazers leading scorer was Jerami Grant, with 25 through three quarters. The score was 85-84 Kings going into the fourth quarter. 

In the fourth quarter, the Kings would play without enough intensity to finish the job. The Kings scored 26 points compared to the Blazers 27 points. The game would come to the end of regulation with the score 111-111. The Kings would need to finish the overtime job if they wanted to snap the losing streak. 

In overtime, the Kings got the job done! The Kings managed to squeak out the win over the Blazers in overtime, outscoring them 10-7. The King received a heroic performance from Malik Monk at the free throw line, crucial to the victory. The Kings leading scorer in victory was Domas Sabonis, who had 27 points. Jerami Grant led the way in defeat for the Blazers with 38 points. 

Up Next: The Kings stay home to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday at 7 PM PST. The contest will count towards the NBA in-season tournament.

Despite Defensive Excellence Warriors Fall to Denver Nuggets 108-105

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The Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) drives on the Golden State Warriors forward Trayce Jackson-Davis in the first half at Ball Center in Denver on Wed Nov 8, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

Despite a slow start, the Golden State Warriors (6-3) kept the Denver Nuggets (8-1) on the ropes in the second half of Wednesday nights game. This game show-cased excellent defense from both teams but it was the Nuggets that prevailed 108-105.

Wednesday night the Warriors faced their biggest challenge of the season taking on the defending champion Nuggets at Ball Arena. The Nuggets have only lost one game this season a matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves 110-89. Nikola Jokic has had the high score in every game so far this season and so he was the man the Warriors tried to contain in this matchup.

He has had an amazing 108 triple doubles in his career and he kept Golden State busy. The Warriors got Andrew Wiggins involved in the game while guard Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson got a fast start having plenty on their plates besides Jokic.

Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr. and Reggie Jackson rounded out a terrific bunch of starters for Denver. Golden State missed their best defensive player Draymond Green who was out for this game due to personal reasons. Gary Payton II was also out due to illness which is another tough loss since he has had some success guarding Jokic.

Game recap: This game did not go as planned; it was not the way that Golden State wanted to start. They had three early turnovers and as the first quarter began to wind down the Nuggets already had 12 points off Warrior turnovers.

The Warriors missed their first seven three’s and it was Moses Moody that hit one on the eighth attempt. After the first 12 minutes, Curry had not scored but it was Moody and Kevon Looney that had kept this game close. Despite everything that had gone wrong, the Warriors only trailed by five points 26-21. They were doing a great job keeping this game close.

The second quarter saw a momentum change in favor of Golden State. Three minutes into the quarter the Warriors had pulled to within two points after trailing by as much as 12 points in the first quarter.

At 6:16 Curry hit his first three of the night. The Warriors had held Denver to 38% shooting, a feat in itself against the number one shooting team in the NBA. Golden State was having a great defensive game.

With 1:40 left in the half, the Nuggets had their first turnover, a Jokic travel. The Nuggets won the second quarter 27-26 and took a 53-47 lead into the locker room at the half. Golden State finished the first half with seven turnovers and had yet to find a single player in double digits.

The Nugget’s Jokic, Porter Jr and Jackson all had double digits yet the Warriors only trailed by 6 six points which was a win in itself. So far in the first two quarters, Wiggins had only come up with 2 points.

Bench player Moody made a huge impact in this game scoring ten points in eight minutes. The Warrior reserves were keeping Golden State in this game and with the third quarter winding down, the Warriors had tied up this game numerous times.

With 28 seconds left in the quarter Golden State had taken the lead 78-76. Through three quarter, Curry and Klay Thompson had carried the offensive load in the game. With one quarter to go could the Warriors hang on and hand the Nuggets their first home loss of the season?

The fourth quarter could not have been tighter with the lead swinging back and forth sprinkled with a number of ties. The Warriors bench had dominated the Denver reserves and they were a huge part of any success Golden State was having.

With 14.7 ticks left on the clock Golden State was trailing by two points 107-105 and ball possession. Take the three or try to tie? The Warriors chose the later and failed giving the Nuggets the 108-105 win going undefeated at home.

Curry finished the game with 23 points, five rebounds and Thompson had 15 points and six rebounds. The Warriors bench completely outplayed the Nugget reserves 42 to 12. Both teams played excellent defense and this game could have gone either way.

The Warriors will now head home to Chase for a six-game home-stand. They will have two day off after a most grueling road trip. First up for Golden State will be the Cleveland Cavaliers who beat Golden State last Sunday 115-104. The Warriors will be looking to even things up this Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 PM.

Headline Sports podcast with Jessica Kwong: Angels hire Ron Washington; It’s not A’s Kotsay fault for bad record he gets extension; plus more news

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Former Atlanta Braves third base coach Ron Washington takes over as Los Angeles Angels manager for 2024 (AP file photo)

Headline Sports podcast with Jessica:

#1 The Los Angeles Angels hired former Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington to manage the Halos for the 2025 season. Washington a long time third base coach for the Oakland A’s and Atlanta Braves finally gets another opportunity to manage again.

#2 Washington is the one of two black managers in MLB the other is the Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. Washington becomes the oldest manager in the big leagues.

#3 The Oakland A’s extended Mark Kotsay’s contract through 2025 despite the A’s having the worst record in baseball last season. Kotsay knew he would be fielding a team that would be consisting of rookies, free agents, draft picks and players that no team would promote and with that in mind that did rally around Kotsay and avoided tying or surpassing the 1962 New York Mets who has baseball’s worst record.

#4 After winning their first five games the San Francisco 49ers are on a three game loss streak going to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars who have won their last give games after losing their first three games. This could be seen as a pretty even match this Sunday.

#5 After 11 straight loses the San Jose Sharks turned it around on Tuesday night and defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in San Jose. The Sharks longest streak losing streak in their history. Sharks goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood said it was relief to finally have won a game and it’s a weight that has been lifted.

Jessica Kwong does Headline Sports every other Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Sens Stutzle opens up on offense against Leafs; Wild get Bogosian from Lightning; plus more news

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Detroit Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek goes after Ottawa Senators left wing Tim Stutzle who puts the puck on net against the Detroit Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on Tue Feb 28, 2023 (AP file photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Len talk about the Ottawa Senators Tim Stutzle scored a goal and picked up three assists. The Senators scored three unanswered goals in 3:11 defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 at Scotiabank in Toronto.

#2 In a trade on Wednesday the Minnesota Wild got Zach Bogosian from the Tampa Bay Lightning for a seven round draft pick in 2025, and Calen Addison to the San Jose Sharks for Adam Raska and a 2026 fifth round draft pick.

#3 The Colorado Avalanche Ross Colton forward was fined $5000 which is the maximum under the Collective Bargaining Agreement for cross checking New Jersey Devils forward Timo Meier on Tuesday night. The penalty came at 10:44 in the second period and Colton was hit with a major penalty and a game misconduct.

#4 The Chicago Blackhawks Connor Bedard is finding his way around goal creases, Bedard has three goals and five assists and has been a force with Nick Foligno and Philipp Kurashev on the same line. How crucial is Bedard for the Blackhawks.

#5 The San Jose Sharks picked up their first win of the season after losing 11 straight games. The Sharks goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood stopped 39 Flyers shots to save the night. The Sharks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 after getting blasted by the Vancouver Canucks 10-1 and Pittsburgh Penguins 10-2. The Sharks defense looked far more improved against the Flyers can you talk about the improvements?

Join Len Shapiro for the NHL podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Win, Finally, 2-1 Against Flyers; 11 game skid comes to an end at SAP Center

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Mike Ferraro defenseman (left), Anthony DuClair left wing (center), and Mikael Granlund (64) celebrate Duclair’s third goal of the season in the first period against the Philadelphia Flyers at SAP Center in San Jose on Tue Nov 7, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks ended their miserable losing streak Tuesday. The Sharks won 2-1 over the Philadelphia Flyers at SAP Center. Anthony Duclair and William Eklund scored for the Sharks and Mackenzie Blackwood made 38 saves for the win. Joel Farabee scored for the Flyers and Samuel Ersson made 17 saves in the loss.

Sharks goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood described the mood post-game: “It’s nice. It’s a lot of relief in here, everyone’s happy, it’s been a long time coming. Now we can take a breath and start to try and put some more together.”

Tomas Hertl described how the team felt during the game: “I know everybody was dialed in, everybody fight, everybody hit, everybody just put everything there.”

“There’s just so many things that went into tonight and at some point you say enough’s enough,” said Sharks Head Coach David Quinn. “I give a ton of credit to our leaders and our older players. I thought they really stepped up tonight.” He continued with a little bit of a reality check:

“And it wasn’t like we played great. I don’t want to think like ‘oh wow, they won a game!’ We played the way we’re capable of playing. We can play much better. But we checked a lot of boxes and showed some characteristics that we’re going to need. I thought there were a lot of good things but I thought we left a lot of offense on the table.”

The first goal of the game came just 1:43 into the game. Mikael Granlund’s pass sent Kevin Labanc into the Flyers’ zone with Anthony Duclair, two-on-one. Labanc made the pass late, drawing the goaltender to him and leaving space for Duclair’s shot from the other side.

The Sharks finished the period with only four shots on goal to the Flyers’13 shots.

William Eklund scored the second goal of the game on a power play late in the second period. After a long time in the zone, Duclair made a quick pass from the blue line to Eklund in the face-off circle. Eklund sent a slap shot into the far side of the net.

The Flyers got on back in the final minute of the second. Joel Farabee caught a cross-ice pass from Travis Sanheim and squeezed the puck past Blackwood. The on-ice official called no goal but a review determined that the puck did cross the line. Assists went to Sanheim and Scott Laughton.

In the final seconds, Duclair and Laughton had a confrontation that resulted in 10 minute misconducts.

Sharks forwards had an excellent night in the face-off circle, winning 69.8% of the draws. The Sharks had seven shots in the second period to the Flyers’ 11. In a scorelss third period, the Sharks had eight shots to the Flyers’ 15. In all, the Sharks had just 19 shots in the game to the Flyers’ 39. The Sharks scored on one of five power plays and killed all four of their penalties.

The Sharks next play on Thursday in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT against the Edmonton Oilers.