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How was your week

Posted: November 26, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports
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The Atlanta Braves added their third free agent of the off season as it’s being reported that they have a deal in place with utility man Sean Rodriguez on a 2-year $11 million dollar deal. Rodriguez will be entering his 10th season and he’s a career .234 hitter. Rodriguez posted career highs in games (140), home runs (18) and RBI’s (56) last season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Rodriguez is a true utility man as throughout his career he’s played every position except for catcher. Career Stats It appears as though Rodriguez will spend time at 2nd base, 3rd base and rightfield for the Braves, but as through his career can and may fill in at the other positions.

If you’re a Braves fan I’m interested to know what you think if this signing. This signing like the other two the Braves had made are just short term. It’s two years for Rodriguez, one year for R.A. Dickey with an option for a second year and then a year long deal for Bartolo Colon.It looks as though these guys are just place holders as there younger players try to get major league ready. I guess what I really want to know is do you feel these three signings will help the Braves improve from last seasons 68-93 record.

The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Seattle Mariners made a trade this week and I have to tell you from the Mariners side of the deal I don’t understand it. The Diamondbacks acquired starting pitcher Taijuan Walker and shortstop Ketel Marte while the Mariners received shortstop Jean Segura and two minor league prospects outfielder Mitch Haniger and left handed pitcher Zac Curtis.

Now Segura did lead the National League in hits with 203 and is an upgrade at shortstop over Marte, but adding Walker to the deal hurts a rotation that had it’s issue last season. Now I get it Walker had his issues last season and was even sent to Triple-A for a short stint, but he’s just 23 years old. Walker made 25 starts for the Mariners last season tied for second most on the team. Seattle had 13 different pitchers make starts for them during the 2016 season and losing a pitcher who had a rotation spot locked up can be tough to replace. Marte is also a young player (22 years old), but looked to be the Mariners shortstop for a long time. Segura fills that role, but how do the Mariners replace Walker. The free agent starting pitching market is down this season; so you have to think they have someone from there own system in mind or will they make another trade to get a starter.

Of course the Mariners got the word every team loves to hear in a deal back PROSPECTS!. Haniger split last season between Double and Triple-A and hit .321 with 25 home runs and 94 RBI’s combined. Haniger did play 34 games for Arizona last season and hit ..229. It was just 34 games, but you have to wonder if Haniger’s skills will translate to the major league level. Zac Curtis spent time at high Class-A and Double-A before the Diamondbacks called him up. Curtis pitched in 21 games for Arizona last season. Curtis was 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA and one blown save opportunity over 13 and 1/3rd innings. Curtis has pitched strictly in relief and maybe the Mariners are looking at him as a future closer. Curtis has 53 career saves in 59 chances in the minors.

Will Arizona make Marte the everyday shortstop or is he going to be added to there three man rotation at 2nd base/shortstop. Chris Owings and Nick Ahmed are the other two guys that rotate in these positions. Owings and Ahmed both missed time with injures last season and Owings spent some time in centerfield as well. Walker may have to win a spot in the Diamondbacks rotation. As it looks like there are six pitchers for five spots, but then again the Diamondbacks could go with a 6-man starting rotation.

I guess like all trades we’ll have to wait and see how this works out for both teams, but just looking at it I think Arizona got the better end of this trade on paper. Of course we all know they don’t play the games on paper.

The Houston Rockets beat the Sacramento Kings 117-104 last night. Now it looks like just your typical Western Conference NBA game, but the Rockets set an NBA record in this game by taking 50 3-point shots in the game. The Rockets made 21 of the 50 3-points shots they took in the game. Eric Gordon took the most 3-pointers going 4 for 12. Trevor Ariza and James Harden each took 11. Ariza made 6 and Harden made 3. Ryan Anderson took 7 making 3 while Patrick Beverly took 4 making 2. Sam Dekker took 3 making 1 and Corey Brewer took 2 3-pointers and made both of his.

While we’re talking about the 3-point shot the Cleveland Cavaliers became the first team to make 20 3-point shots in back to back regular season games. The Cavaliers made 21 3-pointers in there Wednesday night win over the Portland Trail Blazers and then last night Cleveland made 20 3-pointers in there win against the Dallas Mavericks. The Cavaliers accomplished this feat in last season playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks. Now I’m sure you’re thinking that the Golden State Warriors have done this a number of times, but they’ve never done it in back to back games.

This leads me to part of the reason I don’t enjoy the NBA game. How many times in a game do you see a guy pass up a short jumper to kick it out to the 3-point line for that shot instead. The NBA seems to be a league where you either get a player driving to dunk the basketball or he throws it out to the 3-point line for that long jumper. While the dunks can be fun and exciting to watch, but players standing at the 3-point line waiting for the basketball to be passed to them isn’t great basketball to watch. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who enjoy this style of basketball, but I’m not one of them. From time to time I’ll see a play where a team has great ball movement and it ends with them finding the open man for a 3-point bucket. I’m fine with that, but there are just way too many times where it’s one guy handling the basketball and then just tossing it out to the 3-point line for the shot. You’ll have to let me know if I’m off base here. How do you feel about the state of the NBA game right now?

You can listen to Sports Time Radio live on BlogTalkRadio.com or you can listen the podcast anytime you want at TuneIn.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Chicago Bulls 105 Philadelphia 76ers 89

Posted: November 25, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports
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The Chicago Bulls wrapped up their 6 game road trip with a 16 point victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. It was a 4-2 road trip for the Bulls who improved there record to 10-6 with the win while the loss dropped the 76ers to 4-12 on the season.

The Bulls scored the first 8 points of the game and never trailed. The Bulls built a 12 point lead at 20-8, but the 76ers ended the quarter on a 11-3 run and cut the Bulls lead to 4 points 23-19 by the end of the 1st quarter.

A Hollis Thompson 3-pointer to start the 2nd quarter cut the Bulls lead to 1 point, but that was as close as the 76ers could get. The Bulls built the lead back to 10 points at 38-28 with 6:30 left to play. The Bulls where able to get the lead to 12 points on a couple of occasions, but couldn’t keep it there. After Jimmy Butler hit 2 free throws to end the quarter the Bulls went into halftime with a 57-47 lead.

The Bulls stretched the lead to 15 points 67-52 after a Dwayne Wade basket, but the 76ers where able to knock the lead back down to 10 after a 7-2 run. Chicago dominated the rest of the 3rd quarter as they went on there own run of 21-5 to end the quarter. The Bulls ended the 3rd quarter with a 26 point lead 90-64.

With the outcome apparently I hand the Bulls bench saw quite a bit of 4th quarter action. Philadelphia did work the lead down and outscored the Bulls by 10 points in the final quarter 25-15, but there wasn’t enough time to pull out what would’ve been a huge comeback and the Bulls ended up with the win 105-89.

Dwayne Wade and Jimmy Butler shared high scoring honors for the Bulls and the game with 26 points each. Taj Gibson contributed 12 points and Robin Lopez added 10 points. The Bulls other starter Rajon Rondo had game highs in assists with 8 and rebounds with 10. Butler played a team high 31 minutes while Wade played just 29 minutes in the game.

The 76ers where led by Ersan Ilyasova with 14 points. Richaun Holmes and Nik Staukas came off the Philadelphia bench to each score 13 points. Jerryd Bayless and Hollis Thompson (off the bench) each had 11 points Jahlil Okafor added 10 points. Ilyasova and Dario Saric tied for the team lead in rebounds with 7. Saric also toed with Staukas and Sergio Rodriguez for the team lead in assists with 3 each. Since the 76ers game before tonight went double overtime Joel Embiid was given the night off.

The Bulls will get a little bit of time off as they don’t return to the court until Wednesday night when the host the Los Angeles Lakers. The 76ers will host the Eastern Conference leading Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday afternoon.

Let’s call it the day before Thanksgiving

Posted: November 23, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, NASCAR, sports
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Week 11 in the NFL ended with the Oakland Raiders getting past the Houston Texans 27-20 on Monday night.  That game also wrapped up our picks for the week; so here’s how we did. Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy tied for the top spot with a record of 11-3. Schaumburg Stu was a game behind at 10-4 and my belief in the Green Bay Packers out me in the cellar at 9-5. On the season Schaumburg Stu is holding onto 1st place with an overall record of 102-59. Dan the Man is 2nd overall at 96-65. Mr. Fantasy is 3rd at 92-69 and I am bringing up the rear with an overall record of 87-74. Let’s see if my luck turns around in Week 12.

While we’re on Week 12 being that tomorrow there are three games on the schedule. The day kicks off with the Minnesota Vikings at the Detroit Lions. Both these teams are 6-4 and tied  for 1st place in the NFC North. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. c.s.t. The middle game is the Washington Redskins at the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys are 9-1 and in 1st place in the NFC East while the Redskins are 6-3-1. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. c.s.t. The third and final Thanksgiving day games is the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Indianapolis Colts. The Steelers are 5-5 and are tied with the Baltimore Ravens for 1st place in the AFC North. The Colts are also 5-5 and are one game behind the AFC South leading Houston Texans. Kickoff for this game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. c.s.t. The games are spread out over three networks. CBS has the first game, FOX has the second game and NBC will carry the night game.

There where quite a few injuries in Week 11. The first one that will come up is in Thursday nights Steelers/Colts game. Andrew Luck is in the NFL’s concussion protocol and as of now hasn’t been cleared to play yet. Luck didn’t practice yesterday and there’s no word on if he’ll practice today. Luck is in serious jeopardy of missing the game against Pittsburgh. It looks as though Jay Cutler’s season could be over. It’s being reported that Cutler has a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. Reports are Cutler will get a second opinion and hope for a different result. The Cincinnati Bengals placed Giovani Bernard on season ending injured reserve. Bernard torn his ACL during the Bengals final drive of Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills. The Bengals also lost wide receiver A.J. Green on the second play of Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury. It was originally reported that Green had a torn hamstring, but I don’t believe that’s been confirmed as MRI results haven’t been released. It’s looking like Green will miss this week’s game against the Baltimore Ravens. San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid torn his bicep Sunday and has been placed on injured reserve. Reid has already had surgery and has said the procedure went well. Obviously Reid is done for the season. Another injury that might impact one of tomorrow’s game. Minnesota wide receiver Stefon Diggs missed practice Tuesday with a knee injury. Diggs is the Vikings leader in receptions with 67, targets with 87 and yards with 747. The Vikings broke there four game losing streak last week and Diggs led the team with 6 receptions. It’s looking like Diggs will play tomorrow, but if you have him in fantasy watch the injury report.

I’m always a little confuse when the people who report on the NBA try to say who the best team is when we’re all of 15 or so games into the season. If you just go by record the Los Angeles Clippers are the best team at 13-2. How many people out there are confident enough to say that the Clippers will win the NBA title when the season is over. The teams I think most people expect to meet in the NBA finals are right behind the Clippers. The Golden State Warriors are 12-2 and the Cleveland Cavaliers are 10-2. The only other team in the NBA with double digit wins right now are the San Antonio Spurs who are 11-3. It won’t be long until we see how the Clippers match up with the Cavaliers and the Warriors. On December 1st the Clippers are in Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers and then on December 7th the Clippers will play host to Golden State. When it’s this early in the season these games don’t mean a ton, but it will be good to see how the Clippers due against the expected top teams in the NBA.

You’ll notice the only Easter Conference team listed above are the Cavaliers. Is there another team in the Eastern Conference that you see challenging the Cavaliers for a spot in the NBA finals. The Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls have 9 wins and the Charlotte Hornets, Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics each have 8 wins. Now those five teams all seem pretty equal, but will or are at of them capable of knocking off Cleveland in a seven game playoff series. The Cavaliers first loss of the season was at home to the Hawks, but would Atlanta be able to repeat this in a playoff series. Even though we’re this early in the season it looks as the road is paved for the Cavaliers to make the NBA finals barring a huge upset.

The 2016 NASCAR season wrapped up with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Chase for the Sprint Cup was also down to four drivers as Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Carl Edwards where the guys looking to win the title. Edwards led the most laps (47) out of the four, but during a late restart Edwards tried to block Logano from making a pass and the two touched. Edwards got the worst of the collision as he went into the wall and was knocked out of the race. Edwards finished 34th. After the wreck Logano managed to find his back to the front of the pack and was right there in the end with Busch and Johnson. In the end Johnson took the lead with three laps to go and survived a late restart to claim his 7th Sprint Cup title. Logano finished 4th and Busch came home 6th. Johnson 7th title win ties him with “The King” Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. for the most titles won by a driver in his career. Johnson last title came in 2013, but he won five seasons in a row from 2006 to 2010. Is there an 8th title in Johnson’s future? He’ll start his defense of his latest title in February at the Daytona 500.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio live on BlogTalkRadio.com and you can find the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Denver Nuggets 110 Chicago Bulls 107

Posted: November 23, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Denver Nuggets improved to 6-8 on the season with a 110-107 win over the Chicago Bulls. This is the 10th consecutive time the Nuggets have beaten the Bulls at the Pepsi Center. It’s also the 16th loss in 17 tries in Denver for the Bulls. The loss drops the Bulls to 9-6, but you have to wonder if they think they let this one get away. With the score tied at 107 and 9 seconds left in the game Will Barton hit two free throws to give the Nuggets the lead. Isaiah Canaan missed a 3-point shot with 4 seconds left to try and give the Bulls the lead. The Bulls fouled Danilo Gallinari as the clock expired. Gallinari hot one of two free throws to get the game to it’s final score of 110-107.

The Bulls got off to a good start and built an 11 point lead on a couple of occasions in the 1st quarter. Then towards the end of the quarter the Bulls took a 14 point lead, but Nikola Jokic hit a jumper to end the quarter and make the score 31-19 Chicago.

The 2nd quarter saw the teams fortunes change as the Nuggets scored the first 22 points of the quarter to take a 10 point lead at 41-31. Dwayne Wade final got the Bulls on the board in the 2nd quarter when he hit a 3-pointer. The Bulls tied the game at 50 all, but Denver took a 6 point lead again at 56-50 and going into halftime we had a tie game at 60 all.

The biggest lead any team saw in the 3rd quarter was 7 points as the Nuggets did took those leads towards the end of the quarter. The quarter itself was very even as the Nuggets managed to outscore the Bulls by 3 points 31-28 and take a 91-88 lead heading into the 4th quarter.

After the Bulls tied the game at 93 the Nuggets ran off 6 straight points to take the lead at 99-93. The Bulls tied the game again at 99 all, but could never take the lead. The Bulls tied the game one more time at 107 apiece, but the Nuggets hit 3 of there four free throws down the stretch to take the victory 110-107.

Jamal Murray came off the Nuggets bench to lead them in scoring with 24 points. Wilson Chandler also added 16 points off the bench. Danilo Gallinari scored 15 points, Jusuf Nurkic had a double-double scoring 14 points and grabbing a game high 14 rebounds. Will Barton and Jameer Nelson each scored 10 points and Nelson handed out a team high 7 assists.

All five Bulls starters scored in double figures led by Jimmy Butler who had a game high 35 points. Dwayne Wade added 22 points while Rajon Rondo had a double-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds and also had a game high 8 assists. Taj Gibson also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Robin Lopez also had 12 points while Nikola Mirotic came off the Bulls bench to score 11 points.

The Nuggets (6-8) take the court again tonight as they are on the road to face the 7-8 Utah Jazz. The Bulls (9-6) have one more game left on there current road trip. Friday night they’ll take on the 4-10 Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center.

Chicago Bulls 118 Los Angeles Lakers 110

Posted: November 21, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Chicago Bulls played there fourth game of a six game road trip and it was also a back to back game. You would think that the Bulls might be weary from the road trip, but they managed to score 118 points last night as they beat the Los Angeles Lakers by 8 points 118-110. It was the Bulls 4th win out of 5 games on this road trip and they have now won 5 of there last 6 games. The win improved the Bulls record to 9-5 while the loss knocks the Lakers back to .500 at 7-7.

The Bulls built the biggest lead of the 1st quarter when a Taj Gibson basket gave them a 7 point lead at 17-10. The Lakers worked there way back into the game with a 20-13 run and when Louis Williams hit a long 3-pointer at the end of the quarter the teams found themselves tied at 30 all.

In the 2nd quarter it was the Lakers who found a way to build a lead and when Jordan Clarkson made 2 of 3 free throws he gave the Lakers a 10 point lead at 44-34. Now it was the Bulls turn to work there way back into the game. It took a 28-15 run to give the Bulls a 60-59 lead. Julius Randle dunked to end the quarter and the Bulls went into halftime with a 1 point lead at 62-61.

The Lakers scored the first 7 points of the 3rd quarter to take a 68-62 lead. The Lakers held the lead midway through the quarter and when Nick Young made a 3 pointer with 6:13 left in the 3rd the Lakers lead was 7 points at 78-71. The Bulls turned right around and scored the next 11 points and took the lead at 82-78. The teams traded baskets the rest of the quarter, but the Bulls did add 1 point to there lead as the quarter ended 90-85 Chicago.

The Bulls built the lead to 12 points at 99-87 after a Bobby Portis lay up. With 4:24 left in the game Jimmy Butler scored to give the Bulls there biggest lead of the game at 111-96. The Lakers did cut the lead to 5 points at 115-110, but they didn’t score again. The Bulls hit 3 of 4 free throws to end the game and make the final score 118-110.

Jimmy Butler was the games high scorer with 40 points for the Bulls. Taj Gibson and Nikola Mirotic each scored 15 points and Mirotic also grabbed a game high 15 rebounds. Mirotic was moved into the Bulls starting line up so Dwayne Wade could be given the night off. Robin Lopez had a double-double scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Isaiah Canaan came off the Bulls bench to score 17 points. Rajon Rondo scored just 4 points in the game, but he did hand out a game high 12 assists.

The Lakers top two scorers came off the bench, Louis Williams scored 25 points. Williams helped his cause by hitting 5 of the 6 3-pointers he shot. Larry Nance Jr. scored 18 points while starters Nick Young (15 points) and Julius Randle (14 points) also reached double figures for the Lakers. D’Angelo Russell led the Lakers with 7 assists while Young, Nance Jr. and Tarik Black tied for the team lead in rebounds as they all grabbed 6 boards.

The Bulls have two games left on there current road trip. There next game is Tuesday night against the 5-8 Denver Nuggets. The Lakers also take the court again Tuesday night as they’ll try to get back above .500 when they host the 8-6 Oklahoma City Thunder.

Los Angeles Clippers 102 Chicago Bulls 95

Posted: November 20, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Los Angeles Clippers used a 30 point 4th quarter to end the Chicago Bulls 4 game winning steak 102-95 Saturday night at the Staples Center. While the Clippers have multiple All-Star players it was Marreese Speights who really got the Clippers over the top for the win. Speights scored 11 of his season high 16 points in the 4th quarter. The Clippers hit there free throw s late in the game and 2 Technical Fouls on Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg iced the game for Los Angeles. The Clippers have the best record in the NBA at 12-2 while the loss drops the Bulls to 8-5.

The Bulls got off to a good start and after Dwayne Wade hit his second 3-pointer in a row as well as his second of the quarter the Bulls had a 10 point lead at 19-9. The Clippers never got closer than 6 in the quarter and after Jimmy Butler hit a buzzer beater the Bulls had a 10 point lead again at 33-23.

The Bulls scored the first 12 points of the 2nd quarter and stretched there lead to 19 points at 45-26. The rest of the 2nd quarter belong to the Clippers. Los Angeles went on a 24-7 run to cut the Bulls lead to 5 points at 52-47 going into halftime.

Jimmy Butler hit a 3-pointer at the 9:32 mark to give the Bulls another 10 point lead at 59-49. The Clippers cut the Bulls lead to 3  at 68-65 after Chris Paul made a 3-pointer. Then another Paul basket cut the Bulls lead to just one at 68-67. The Bulls ended the quarter on a 9-5 run to make the lead 5 at 77-72 heading into the final quarter.

The Clippers came out in the 4th quarter on a 10-5 run and the game was tied at 82 all. The Clippers took there first lead since the 1st quarter at 87-85 on a Speights 3-pointer with 6:13 left in the game. The Bulls did even the game at 87 apiece, but never took the lead in the game again. Isaiah Cannaan hit a 3-pointer to cut the Clippers lead to 2 at 97-95, but Los Angeles made 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch. Blake Griffin hit 2 after a tough foul call on Jimmy Butler and then J.J. Reddick stepped to the free throw line and hit 3 of 4 from the free throw line to put the game away at 102-95.

Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 26 points and grabbed a game high 13 rebounds. Chris Paul added 19 points and tied for the game high in assists with 8. J.J. Reddick was the other Clippers starter in double figures with 10 points while Marreese Speights came off the Los Angeles bench to go 5 of 7 from the field including going 3 of 4 from behind the 3-point line and 3 of 4 from the free throw line to total 16 points.

Dwayne Wade led the Bulls in scoring with 28 points. Wade went 5 of 9 from the 3-point line in the game. Jimmy Butler scored 22 points, Taj Gibson scored 11 points and Robin Lopez added 10 points. The other Bulls starter Rajon Rondo scored 9 points, had a team high 10 rebounds and tied for the game high in assists with 8.

The Clippers (12-2) get to stay at home as they host the Toronto Raptors (8-4) on Monday night. The Bulls (8-5) continue their west coast road trip and interestingly enough stay in Los Angeles as tonight (Sunday) they’ll take on the Los Angeles Lakers who are a game over .500 at 7-6.

 

 

How was your week

Posted: November 19, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports
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As far as Thursday night games go the Carolina Panthers 23 to 20 win over the New Orleans Saints was one of the better games the NFL has had on Thursday. Now from a fantasy perspective the game was terrible. Carolina’s pass defense was ranked 25th going into the game with New Orleans pass defense being ranked even lower at 29th. With Drew Brees and Cam Newton as the quarterbacks in this game you’d think there would be a lot passing yards and fantasy points going up. While Brees did throw for 285 yards and 2 touchdowns his negatives really hurt him. Brees threw an interceptions, lost a fumble and was sacked 3 times. I was betting that Brees would throw for 350 yards against a struggling Carolina pass defense. Newton’s numbers where bad, just bad. Newton completed 14 of 33 passes for just 192 yards, but did throw a touchdown pass. It was the second lowest number of passing yards Newton has thrown for this season and the first time he had been under 200 passing yards since Week 4. Now in a lot of cases when Newton struggles he makes up for it with his running. Newton ran 5 times against the Saints, but managed just 7 yards. So neither of these big name quarterbacks are going to be any help for their fantasy owners this week. With the quarterbacks not having big nights that means the wide receivers and tight ends probably didn’t out up any fantasy points for you either. Bradin Cooks (New Orleans) had the most receptions with 7 while Michael Thomas (New Orleans) had the most receiving yards with 68. Even Panthers tight end Greg Olsen had a down night. The three passing touchdowns went to Colby Fleener the Saints tight end, Brandon Coleman the Saints 4th wide receiver and Ted Ginn Jr. of the Panthers. Depending on the size of you fantasy league there’s a chance that none of these players where in a starting line up. There where two or maybe three useable fantasy players in this game, Tim Hightower had 69 rushing yards on 12 carries and also caught 8 oases for 57 yards. Hightower was the highest scoring fantasy player in the game and he didn’t score. Jonathan Stewart was solid picking up a rushing touchdown while gaining 31 yards on 18 carries. Stewart also caught a pass for 8 yards. Hey every fantasy point helps. Ginn  Jr. was the highest scoring fantasy receiver by catching 3 passes for 46byards and a touchdown. Ginn Jr. also had 10 return yards and ran the football 1 time for 13 yards. Ginn Jr. may have been the top fantasy player in this game had he not had a rushing touchdown called back because of a penalty. While not putting up the most fantasy points in this game the best fantasy play may have been the Carolina Defense/Special Teams unit. The Panthers had 3 sacks, an interceptions, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick to go along with 66 return yards. With the fantasy points the Panthers Defense/Special Teams unit out up I won’t be surprise if they end up in the Top 5 in scoring among Defense/Special Teams this week. I’m interested to know how many people even started this unit against an offense like the Saints.

Now I have a few of these guys on my various fantasy teams and I’m hoping that either I’m playing a team that also had players in this game or that someone else on my fantasy team will step up and make up for the points that weren’t scored in this game. Hopefully you where in on the right guys in this game even though there weren’t many and the rest of Week 11 goes well for you.

The Columbus Blue Jackets scored 2 goals in the 3rd period last night to beat the New York Rangers 4-2. Now the story in this game was Blue Jackets winger Matt Calvert. Yes; it’s one of those stories that show how tough hockey players are. In the 2nd period with the Blue Jackets up 2-1 and 9;28 of the period gone Calvert blocked a shot by the Rangers Nick Holden. While Calvert was credited with a shot block he blocked it with his face and started bleeding. Calvert left the ice to be stitched up and checked for a concussion. After receiving 36 stitches and passing the NHL’s concussion protocol you guessed it Calvert returned to the ice. Mika Zibanejad of the Rangers scored at the 8:32 mark to tie the game at 2 apiece. Then while short handed Calvert scored the game winning goal for Columbus at the 11:35 point of the period with his head wrapped in a bandage. Calvert was assisted by Ryan Murray and William Karlsson on his game winner. The Blue Jackets did add an empty net goal to get to the 4-2 final. Calvert was named the #1 star of the game.

The Houston Astros had made some minor moves this off season. They picked up the option on Evan Gattis contract; they also claimed Nori Aoki off waivers from the Seattle Mariners and they dealt reliever Pat Neshek to the Philadelphia Phillies, but this week the Astros made a bigger splash. The Astros week started by signing pitcher Charlie Morton to a two year $14 million dollar deal, but that was just the start for Houston. On Thursday the Astros two minor league pitchers; Albert Abreu and Jorge Guzman to the New York Yankees for catcher Brian McCann. McCann will be 33 years old at the start of what will be his 13th major league season. McCann is a career .266 hitter and has 245 career home runs. Career stats McCann caught in 92 games for the Yankees last season. He was the Designated Hitter in 32 games and played 1st base in 3 games last season. How will the Astros use McCann might be the question. That’s something will have to wait and see on. Even after the McCann trade the Astros weren’t done as they signed outfielder Josh Reddick to a 4 year $52 million dollar deal. Reddick started last season with the Oakland A’s, but was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 1st with pitcher Rich Hill. Reddick had his struggles with the Dodgers hitting .258 in in 47 games with 2 home runs and 9RBI’s. Reddick will be 30 years old at the start of his 9th season. Reddick is a career .258 hitter and has 96 career home runs. Career Stats There are some reports that the Astros aren’t done as they have interest in talking to free agent Edwin Encarnacion. I thought the Astros might go after starting pitching help and we’ll see what they got in Morton, but it does look as they’ve improved there hitting. Do you like these Astros moves?

You can listen to Sports Time Radio live on BlogTalklRadio.com you can also listen to the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Chicago Bulls 85 Utah Jazz 77

Posted: November 18, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Chicago Bulls picked up there 4th straight win and 3rd in a row on the row as they won a low scoring affair over the Utah Jazz 85-77. With the win the Bulls improve to 8-4 on the season. It was the 2nd loss in a row at home for Utah as they fell to 7-6 overall.

The Bulls built a 7-point lead early in the 1st quarter at 12-5. Utah came back and a Gordon Hayward 3-pointer tied the game at 14 all. The teams played a pretty even quarter after that and the Jazz held a 1-point lead 26-25 after the 1st quarter.

The Bulls again jumped out to a lead early in the 2nd quarter. This time the lead was 5-point on a couple of occasions. Utah bounced back tying the game at 34 and then again at 36. There was a 2 plus minute scoring drought before Hayward split a pair of free throws to give Utah a 1-point lead at 37-36. It was another even quarter. low scoring, but even. The Jazz did outscored the Bulls by 1-point in the quarter 17-16 and went into half time with a 43-41 lead.

The 3rd quarter started out like the other two quarters. The Bulls jumped out to a 6-point lead, but this time the Jazz could never quite get all the way back. The closet the Jazz could get was 4 points. The Bulls pushed the lead back to 8-points by the end of the quarter and had a 66-58 lead headed into the final quarter.

The Bulls scored the first 9 points of the 4th quarter to take a 75-58 lead. The Jazz cut the leas to 5 with just under 2 minutes left to play at 82-77, but those where the last points the Jazz would score in the game. Both teams scored 19 points apiece in the 4th quarter which led to the Bulls picking up an 85-77 win.

The Bulls where led by Jimmy Butler who had a game high 20 points and tied for the team lead in rebounds with 12. Butler also handed tied for the game high in assists with 3. Dwayne Wade scored 18 points and Robin Lopez posted a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Rajon Rondo sat out his second straight game with an ankle injury.

The Jazz where led by Rudy Gobert who had 16 points and a game high 13 rebounds. Dante Exum scored 14 points while Rodney Hood added 12 points. Trey Lyles came off the Utah bench to score 11 points. Gordon Hayward managed just 8 points on the night, but did tie for the gam high in assists with 3.

The Bulls get a day off, but then the road trip continues as they face the 10-2 Los Angeles Clippers Friday night. The Jazz will try to snap there 2-game losing streak in Houston on Friday as they take on the 7-5 Rockets.

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 16, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports
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Week 10 just wrapped up in the NFL and here’s how we did with our picks. Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy tied for the lead in Week 10 at 9-4 while Dan the Man and I stumbled under .500 at 6-8. Schaumburg Stu is beginning to pull away on the season with a 92-55 overall record. Dan the Man is holding onto 2nd place at 85-62, but Mr. Fantasy has cut his lead down to 4 games as Mr. Fantasy is 81-66 overall. Sadly I’m at the rear of the pack after 1o weeks at 78-69. Hopefully Week 11 will be my week.

If you’re a Dallas Cowboys fan do you want to see them stay with Dak Prescott at quarterback or would you like to see them turn the job back over to a healthy Tony Romo? Romo met with the media yesterday and said of Prescott “He’s earned the right to be our quarterback”. Under Prescott the Cowboys have the best record in the NFL at 8-1. Prescott has thrown for 2339 yards and is completing 66.8% of his passes. Prescott has thrown 14 touchdown passes and just 2 interceptions. The only starting quarterback with less interceptions this season is Tom Brady and he missed the first 4 games of the season. Sam Bradford and Russell Wilson each have 2 interceptions as well. While Prescott has been sacked 13 times he also averages 4.0 yards per carry and has scored 4 rushing touchdowns. Romo hasn’t played a game this season and only played in 4 games last season because of injury. The Cowboys where 12-4 back in 2014 when Romo started all 16 games that season. Romo is in his 12th season with the Cowboys. Romo has 34,154 career yards, 247 career touchdowns and 117 career interceptions in 149 games. It can be a tough decision especially since it’s a plyer who’s had success in his career and lost his job due to an injury, but it looks as though it’s Prescott’s job. Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones even said that Prescott “won’t be looking over his shoulder”. Which pretty gave the stamp of approval for Prescott to stay in the starting role. Prescott and the Cowboys put there 8-game winning streak on the line this week as they host the AFC North leading Baltimore Ravens Sunday. This appears to be the first game that Romo will be active for as the back up quarterback.

NASCAR is down to it’s final race of the season. On Sunday they’ll run the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. There are four drivers left in The Chase for the Sprint Cup. It will be Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch racing for the championship. Johnson has 6 Sprint Cup championship on his record while Kyle Busch is the defending Sprint Cup champion; his only championship. Edwards and Logano are looking for there first Sprint Cup title. Johnson, Edwards and Logano all won their way into the championship race while Busch got in a points. On the season Johnson and Busch won 4 races while Logano and Edwards won 3 races. Logano got the won last week at Phoenix International Raceway, but will that give him some momentum coming into the final race. Johnson has the championship experience to rely on. Busch was here last season and got the win to take the title. Edwards was close to winning the title in 2011. He lost a tiebreaker to Tony Stewart for the championship. Does it look as though one driver has an advantage coming into Sunday’s race? We’ll find out on Sunday if Kyle Busch defends his title, if Jimmie Johnson picks up his 7th title or if Joey Logano or Carl Edwards can pick up there first Sprint Cup championship.

Steven Stamkos the captain of the Tampa Bay Lighting and one of the top players in the NHL may miss some time with a low body injury. Stamkos scored early in the Lightings 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings last night before exiting the game. Stamkos left the game in the 1st period after he collided with Detroit’s Gustav Nyquist along the boards. After the collision Stamkos didn’t return to the game. Tampa Bay’s head coach said Stamkos “will be evaluated tomorrow”. Stamkos is a 6-time All-Star and was off to a good start to the 2016-17 season. Stamkos’ goal was his 9th of the season and he has 20 points in 17 games. The Lighting have had to play without Stamkos before as he played in just one of Tampa Bay’s playoff games last season after having surgery for a blood clot on April 4th.

While Stamkos did get a goal in Tampa Bay’s 4-3 win last night. Nikita Kucherov scored 2 goals and an assisted on another while defenseman Nikita Nesterov scored the other goal and had an assist. Vladislav Namestnikov also had 2 assists for the Lighting. Ben Bishop stopped 25 of the 28 shots he faced last night. Frans Nielsen, Ryan Sproul and Henrik Zetterberg had the Red Wings goals in the loss. Petr Mrazek stopped 18 of the 22 shots he faced in the game.

The Los Angeles Clippers are off to the best start in the Western Conference at 10-1 while the Cleveland Cavaliers are leading the eastern Conference at 9-1.

While it is very early in the season DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors is off to a hot start averaging 33.2 points per game (PPG). Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder is averaging 32 PPG. Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans is averaging 30.5 PPG. James Harden of the Houston Rockets is averaging 30.3 PPG and Damien Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers rounds out the Top 5 scores with 29.8 PPG.

Hasan Whiteside of the Miami Heat leads the NBA in rebounding grabbing 15.9 rebounds per game (RPG). Andre Drummond of the Detroit Pistons is next with 14.3 RPG. Marcin Gortat of the Washington Wizards and DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers are each getting 12.4 RPG while Dwight Howard now with the Atlanta Hawks grabs 12.3 RPG.

Harden tops all players in assists with 12.6 assists per game (APG). Westbrook is next on the list handing out 9.9 APG. LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers is at 9.6 APG. Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers is giving out 8.5 APG while John Wall of the Washington Wizards is handing out 8.3 APG.

Hopefully some of these guys are on either your favorite NBA team or your fantasy team.

You can list to Sports Time Radio live on BlogTalkRadio.com and you can listen to the podcast anytime you want at TuneIn.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

Chicago Bulls 113 Portland Trail Blazers 88

Posted: November 16, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Chicago Bulls started off what has become known as their “Circus trip” with a 113-88 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. It was the first game of a 6-game road trip. The Win improves the Bulls record to 7-4 while the Trail Blazers fell to 7-5 on the year.

The Bulls jumped pout to a 10-0 lead before a couple of Mason Plumlee free throws got the Trail Blazers on the board. A Taj Gibson basket gave the Bulls a 21-point lead at 30 to 9 with 2:05 left in the period. The team each managed 5 more points apiece and the 1st quarter came to am end with the Bulls ahead 35-14.

The Bulls stretched the lead to 25 at 39-14 before Portland started to get going in the 2nd quarter. Even though the Trail Blazers had a better 2nd quarter they where only able to knock 2 points off the Bulls lead as they outscored the Bulls 23-21 in the 2nd quarter. Chicago went into halftime with a 19 points lead at 56-37.

The teams played a very even 3rd quarter. The Trail Blazers never got closer than 17 points after Damien Lillard hit a 3-pointer with 0:53 seconds left in the quarter. Jerian Grant then score the next 5 points for the Bulls to make it a 83-61 game. An Ed Davis basket ended the quarter with the Bulls up by 20 points 83-63 after three quarters.

The Bulls where able to rest there starters in the 4th quarter, but still added to there lead. Portland was never able to get the lead under  points as the Bulls outscored the Trail Blazers 30 to 25 in the 4th quarter to pull away to a 113-88 victory.

Jimmy Butler was the high scorer in the game with 27 points as all the Bulls starters scored in double figures. Butler also grabbed a team high 12 rebounds and tied for the game high in assists with 5. Dwayne Wade scored 19 points and tied Butler with a game high 5 assists. Jerian Grant got the start in place of Rajon Rondo and scored 18 points. Rondo sat out with an ankle injury. Robin Lopez scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Taj Gibson scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as well.

Damien Lillard didn’t shoot very well going 7 for 22 from the field, but he still led the Trail Blazers in points with 19. C.J. McCollum scored 17 points while Allen Crabbe came of the bench to score 15 points. Maurice Harkless grabbed a team high 8 rebounds to lead the team and Lilliard, McCollum and Mason Plumlee all dished out 4 assists to tie for the team lead.

The win was the Bulls (7-4) 3rd in a row and they’ll put that streak on the line as they travel to Utah to play the 7-5 Jazz Thursday night. The Trail Blazers (7-5) also play Thursday night as they head out on the row to face the 6-4 Houston Rockets.

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