Archive for the ‘basketball’ Category

How was your week

Posted: March 19, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, basketball, College Basketball, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

How’s your NCAA tournament bracket? Mine actually went alright with one major exception. My tournament winner was Michigan State who loss in the 1st round to Middle Tennessee State. I know that #15 seeds have beaten #2 seeds before, but I really thought that wouldn’t happen to Michigan State. I thought a team with Denzel Valentine as their best player and coached by Tom Izzo would get through the first round against a much lower seeded team. Valentine struggled going 5 of 13 from the field including going 3 of 8 from behind the 3-point line. Oddly Valentine didn’t find his way to the free throw line and as a team Michigan State only shot 15 free throws in the entire game. Valentine ended up with a scoring line of 13 points, 6 rebounds and a tam high 12 assist. Middle Tennessee used pretty much just 5 players in the game as their bench as a whole played just 19 minutes and scored 9 points. Reggie Upshaw led the way for Middle Tennessee State with 21 points while playing 38 minutes. Giddy Potts had 19 points in 39 minutes. Perrin Buford and Darnell Harris each had 15 points. Buford also played 39 minutes while Harris played 28 minutes. Jaqawn Raymond also scored in double figures putting up 11 points in 37 minutes of action. Perrin also led the Blue Raiders in rebounding with 7 and assists wit 6. While Michigan State season and pretty much my tournament bracket are done for the season Middle Tennessee moves on to the 2nd round where they’ll face the #10 seeded Syracuse who beat Dayton (#7) 70-61 last night to advance. As a whole I didn’t do horrible picking the 1st round of the tournament. I lost 9 games total and I’m actually in the 84% of the contest I’m in. Of course with my tournament champion already eliminated my percentage will drop with the automatic losses I’ll take. Here’s hoping your 1st round went better than mine did.

Remember Chris Olmstead from Beyond the Flag will join me on the Sports Time Radio podcast tomorrow (Sunday) right around 10:00 a.m. to preview the NASCAR race at Auto Club Speedway. Austin Dillion won the pole position for the Auto Club 400 with an average speed of 188.482. Last weeks winner Kevin Harvick qualified 2nd with an average speed of 188.329. Denny Hamlin starts 3rd, Ryan Newman is starting 4th and Carl Edwards who was just nudge out by Harvick last week rounds out the Top 5 starting off 5th. It was another good qualifying set for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) with Hamlin 3rd, Edwards 5th as well as Kyle Busch starting 6th. The fourth JGR driver Matt Kenseth had a solid qualifying run as well and will start the race 20th on Sunday. Chris did very well with his picks last week; so you’ll want to know which 3 drivers he thinks have the best chance to end up in victory lane.

The Portland Trail Blazers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 117-112 last night, but the story from the game will be the clothesline Kendrick Perkins of the Pelicans center gave to Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard. Perkins hit Lillard in the chin or neck area as Lillard was attempting to score. Perkins was accessed a Flagrant foul 2; a call that was upheld after the video review. Trail Blazers center Mason Plumlee immediately took exception to the foul and stepped up to defend Lillard. Plumlee and Perkins had to be separated by the other players on the court. The play started with Perkins who was initially guarding Plumlee but, a screen switched him onto Lillard at the top of the key. The the much faster Lillard quickly drove past the 6-foot-10, 270-pound center, who then hit him as he prepared to go up with a shot from inside the free throw line. Perkins was ejected for the Flagrant 2 foul as Lillard went on to score 33 points grab 8 rebounds and hand out 6 assists in the Trail Blazers victory.

It’s another top notch match up for the NBA this Saturday night as the Golden State Warriors are at the San Antonio Spurs. They are the Top 2 teams in the NBA right now and are expected to be meeting in the Western Conference finals for the right to play for and as most people expect to win the NBA title. Golden State has the best record in the NBA at 62-6. San Antonio has the 2nd best record in the NBA at 58-10 and are a perfect 34-0 this season on there home court. As we’ve seen San Antonio’s head coach Gregg Popovich has rested his star player in these marquee type of match ups; so we’ll have to wait and see if any Spurs players are given the night off, but you’d think with a perfect home record on the line everyone one who’s healthy enough to play will play. San Antonio had the night off Friday night, but Golden State faced the Dallas Mavericks. Golden State picked up a 130-112 victory over the Mavericks, but 4 of the Warriors starters logged over 30 minutes in the game. Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes each played 36 minutes while Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson both played 34 minutes. Fatigue shouldn’t be a factor for Golden State as they’re an up tempo team and while San Antonio does play a faster paced game it’s not the same speed the Warriors play at. On yesterday’s (Friday)Sports Time Radio podcast Dan the Man picked San Antonio to win the game and stay undefeated at home. Do you agree or disagree with Dan’s pick?

We had another significant injury in spring training this week. The Tampa Bay Rays lost their closer Brad Boxberger for at least 8 weeks when he need abdominal muscle surgery to repair what was described as a core muscle injury. Last season the 27 year old Boxberger had 41 saves in 47 opportunities. He went 4-10 with a 3.71 ERA and was an All-Star for the first time. Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash didn’t name a replacement at closer, but has quite a few choices. Look for Tampa Bay to use Alex Colome, Ryan Webb, Xavier Cedeno, Danny Farquhar and Steven Geltz in that closer role as they try to find a way to fill the void until Boxberger can return.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week.

Posted: March 12, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, basketball, College Basketball, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

It’s starting to look like shortstop will be the big injury position this season. The St. Louis Cardinals lost their shortstop Jhonny Peralta to a wrist injury last week. Peralta did end up having surgery on his injured wrist and is expected to be out until about mid-season. Then yesterday the New York Mets announced that shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera has been diagnosed with a strained patellar tendon in his left knee and appears likely to open the season on the disabled list. Cabrera will be inactive for at least two weeks. He;ll be allowed to resume some baseball activities if he is comfortable. The Mets Cabrera flew to New York on Friday to undergo platelet-rich plasma therapy at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. With only 23 days until the Mets open the season against the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals on ESPN’s Sunday night baseball; it would be difficult for Cabrera to be ready for that game. Cabrera was part of the Mets off season reworking of their middle infield. He was signed to a two year $18.5 million dollar deal to play shortstop alongside new second baseman Neil Walker who the Mets acquired by sending left handed pitcher Jon Niese to the Pittsburgh Pirates this off season. With Cabrera and Walker brought in former starters Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada moved to backup infield roles. Now Flores and Tejada should go back to handling the shortstop duties until Cabrera is returns. There was some talk that the Mets might be looking to deal Tejada and with a salary of just $3 million for this season there where some teams interested. One of the teams that where interested in Tejada was the Cardinals who looked at him as a fill in for the inured Peralta. Of course with the injury to Cabrera it seems that Tejada is far more likely to stick with the Mets for Opening Day.

Tomorrow (Sunday) the NCAA will announce the tournament field for the men’s basketball championship. With the play in games and everything there is 68 teams; I think that have a chance to win the championship. I don’t watch college basketball and we don’t spend much time of any talking about it on Sports Time Radio. At least I do catch the highlights on whatever sports recap show I happen to be watching at that time. Of course with all this being said I still plan on entering a bracket into whatever championship pool I can find. Sometimes it seems as knowing less can actually be helpful, but I’m wondering how I should pick my bracket.I know there have been multiple teams that have held the #1 ranking in the polls only to be knocked off the top. That should mean the tournament is wide open, but could a mid-major team actually go all the way? I’ve heard over and over that you need good guard play to advance in the tournament. So who’s the best guard in college basketball? or do you need a pair of gourds in your back court to have tournament success. I’ve heard that Ben Simmons of Louisiana State University (LSU) is the best player in college basketball, but there’s a chance that his team might not even make the tournament. Of course then the question becomes; how far can the best player take a team? As you can tell I really have no clue who’s going to win this thing; so I’m asking for your help. Let me know who you think will win the title or even get to the Final Four. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The NASCAR series is staying out west as they’re at the Phoenix International Speedway for the Good Sam 500. Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) showed it’s muscle in qualifying as Kyle Busch took the pole position with a speed of 138.387. Busch’s teammate Carl Edwards took the 2nd spot with a speed of 137.515 and another JGR and this seasons Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin will start 3rd and had a qualifying speed of 137.426. Rounding out the Top 5 is Kurt Busch; Kyle’s brother starting 4th and Jimmie Johnson starting 5th. The only JGR driver not in the Top 5 is Matt Kenseth who will be starting 6th on Sunday. Chris Olmstead from Beyond the Flag will join us Sunday morning to preview the race. Not only will Chris preview the race with us, but he’ll let us know which three drivers he thinks has the best chance to wind up in victory lane. Last week Chris had Joey Logano; who finished 2nd and Jimmie Johnson who finished 3rd. His third choice was Kenseth who got caught up in an accident and ended up finishing 37th. Chris should join the Sports Time Radio podcast a little after 10:00 a.m.

The NBA has another one of there marquee match up Saturday night games as the Oklahoma City Thunder are at the San Antonio Spurs. Oklahoma City is in 3rd place in the Western Conference with a record of 44-21. San Antonio is the team ahead of the Thunder in the Western Conference standings as they are 55-10 in 2nd place. Now it’s difficult to go into San Antonio and win as the Spurs are 31-0 at home this season. Oklahoma City is 6 games over .500 on the road this season at 18-12, but can they go into San Antonio and beat a team like the Spurs? If Oklahoma City could find a way to win this game it could be a statement that they’re a team to watch in the playoffs. If the Western Conference plays out like it should Oklahoma City would have to play San Antonio in a playoff series and they’d need to be able to win a game on the Spurs home court to advance. It looks like Oklahoma City will be playing without Dion Waiters who is away from the team because of a death in his family. Andre Roberson is battling a left ankle injury and it hasn’t been announced yet if he will play tonight. Of course with San Antonio you never know who is going to be getting a night off. Tony Parker does have a toe injury, but should be go to go for tonight’s game. Parker along with Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili all sat out Tuesday nights game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. You would think these three players where rested so they’d be ready to play tonight against Oklahoma City, but you never know with the Spurs. On Friday’s podcast Dan the Man took San Antonio to stay undefeated at home. Do you agree with Dan or do you have Oklahoma City winning tonight?

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: March 5, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, basketball, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

With the start of the baseball season less than a month away spring training is up and running at full speed. This week 3 teams suffered their first injuries where players will miss regular season time. The defending champion Kansas City Royals lost outfielder Jarrod Dyson for 6 weeks with a Grade 2 strain of his right oblique. Dyson is going into his 7th season with the Royals, but has been used mostly as a defensive replacement and pinch runner. This season the Royals where hoping that Dyson would be part of there right field platoon with Paulo Orlando. With Dyson out Travis Snider might be given the first chance to fill his role at the start of the season. Snider was signed as a free agent this off season. The Detroit Tigers also lost and outfielder as Cameron Maybin was hit by a pitch and suffered a non-displaced fracture of his left wrist and is expected to miss the first couple of weeks of the regular season. After struggling through most of his career Maybin seemed to find something with the Atlanta Braves last season hitting .267 with 10 home runs while stealing 23 bases in 141 games. The Tigers sent 2 pitchers Gabe Speier and Ian Kroll to the Braves this off season for Maybin so he could compete with Anthony Gose for playing time in center field. Gose should be the full time center fielder while Maybin tries to recover from his wrist injury. The first pitcher to go down with a serious injury was Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Brett Anderson. Anderson was found to have a bulging disc in his lower back that will require surgery. The time frame for Anderson return has been set between 3 and 5 months. Anderson has had various injuries tough his career, but stayed healthy during the 2015 season making 31 starts. Anderson went 10-9 with a 3.69 Earner Run Average (ERA) last season. Even with Anderson out and Brandon McCarthy not scheduled to return from his injury until the All-Star break the Dodgers still have some depth in there staring rotation. Of course Clayton Kershaw is at the top of the rotation. Hyun-jin Ryu is returning from injury and looks like he’ll be ready to go for the start of the season. The Dodgers signed Scott Kazmir as a free agent as well as Japanese free agent and Kenta Maeda this off season. The Dodgers also have Alex Wood and Mike Bolsinger as 5th starter options. Will have to see which pitcher ends up filling Anderson’s rotation spot. There are always injuries in spring training you just have to hope that it’s not a key player who gets hurt or that your team has a player who can fill his role on the team.

Have there been two more disappointing teams this NBA season than the Houston Rockets and the Chicago Bulls? The Rockets are 30-31, but are holding onto the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Bulls are 30-30 , but are 1/2 game behind the Detroit Pistons for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. As the schedule would have it these two disappointing teams are the marquee match up for NBA Saturday night. What are we going to get on a national telecast with these two teams playing. Each team has shown flashes of the team people thought they might be at the beginning of the season, but haven’t shown enough to make people think they could be a factor in the playoffs. At this point right now if both of these teams end up as the #8 seeds in their conferences do you think they’d have a shot at all of beating the #1 seed. They better question might be would they even win a game in that series or would they just be swept out of the playoffs.  The Rockets where so bad at the start of the season that there head coach Kevin McHale lost his job. The coaching change hasn’t made a whole lot of difference with the Rockets. The Rockets feature James Harden along with Dwight Howard. Harden leads the team in scoring with 28.7 points per game and dominates the basketball. Harden does also lead the team in assists averaging 7 a game. Howard is the team leader in rebounds grabbing an average of 12 a game. Howard can still block shots; he’ll block 1.5 per game on average. Howard is also averaging 14.9 points per game. Harden and Howard are the Rockets top two scorers. The Bulls had been a playoff team under defensive minded head coach Tom Thibodeau, but the front office wanted to go another and replaced Thibodeau with a more offensive minded coach in Fred Hoiberg. As the Bulls attempt t adjust to a new system the defense hasn’t been what it was and the offense isn’t where it’s suppose to be. The Bulls are fighting some injuries, but there’s a chance that their best player Jimmy Butler will return tonight. Butler is the Bulls leading scorer averaging 22.4 points per game. Pau Gasol has shown he can still play offense averaging 16.9 points per game and is the tam leader in rebounding at 10.9 rebounds per game. Derrick Rose has played more this season, but still misses games with injuries that wouldn’t keep other players out. Rose is the Bulls 3rd leading scorer at 16.5 points per game, but does lead the team in assists averaging 4.8 assists per game. Rose and Butler have had some issues working together on the court, but it seems as though one of them has always been out injured; so that hasn’t been a huge issue yet. Will we get a good game tonight or we will get a game where two disappointing teams show up.

Just a reminder Chris Olmstead from http://www.BeyondtheFlag.com will join the Sports Time Radio podcast to preview The Kobalt 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kurt Busch won the pole in qualifying with a speed of 196.328 miles per hour. Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keslowski and Austin Dillion round out the Top 5 qualifiers. Will one of these drivers be in Chris’ 3 drivers to look for in victory lane? You’ll have to listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com to find out who Chris is going with.

Listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: March 2, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, fantasy, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

Stephen Curry sat out last nights games because of the left ankle he hurt on Saturday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. With Curry out of the Warriors line up the game may not have went the way anyone expected it to go, but Golden State still got a win over the Atlanta Hawks 109-105 in overtime. It was the 6th win in a row for Golden State and they also stayed perfect at home (Oracle Arena) this season. The last loss Golden State had at home was January 27, 2015 (113-111) against the Chicago Bulls. Golden State was up 32-26 after the 1st quarter and extended the lead to 59-48 at halftime and it started to look like the Warriors would cruise to another home win. The Warriors managed just 16 3rd quarter points and Atlanta was able to cut the lead to 5 at 75-70. Of course since the game went into overtime it means that Atlanta outscored Golden State 27-22 in the 4th quarter. The Warriors put up 12 points in overtime to Atlanta’s 9 points to get the victory. With Curry out injured Klay Thompson stepped up to lead the Warriors in scoring with 26 points. While the Warriors have become known for “small ball” last night there center Andrew Bogut chipped in 19 points. Bogut made 8 of the 9 shots he took from the field. Draymond Green had   15 points and led the team on rebounds with 13 and assists with 9. Harrison Barnes was the 4th Warriors starter to score in double digits with 12 points. Marreese Speights added 10 points off of the Golden State bench. Speights went 2 for 2 from behind the 3-point line making both of them in the 4th quarter. Golden State turned to Shaun Livingston as a starter and Leandro Barbosa off the bench to help fill the void with Curry out. Livingston played the bulk of the minutes (34), but Barbosa added the offense with 11 points. Livingston added 6 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assist and 2 steals in the game. Atlanta was led in scoring by Paul Milsap with 19 points. Al Horford and Dennis Schroder (off the bench) each had 17 points. Kent Bazemore had 15 points and tied with Horford for the team lead in rebounds with 9. Kyle Korver and Mike Scott each had 11 points and did their damage from behind the 3-point line. Korver went 3 of 6 while Scott was 3 of 5 from behind the 3-point line. Jeff Teague was the Hawks team leader in assists with 6.With the win Golden State improved to 54-5 on the season. Atlanta fell to 33-28 and are holding on to the #5 seed in the Eastern Conference right now. Atlanta will stay in California and play the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. Golden State will play host to Oklahoma City on Thursday. It’s a rematch of Saturday nights game that the Warriors won 121-118 in overtime.

If you’re playing daily fantasy or your fantasy league is still going on here are some of the guys I hope you had in your line up last night. D’Angelo Russell scored 39 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in the Lakers 170-101 win over the Brooklyn Nets. Brook Lopez had 23 points for the Nets in a losing effort. Damian Lillard had his 3rd consecutive 30 plus point night in a row scoring 30 points exactly as the Portland Trail Blazers cruise to a 104-85 win over the New York Knicks. Carmelo Anthony put up 23 points for the Knicks. Hassan Whiteside had 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as the Miami Heat beat the Chicago Bulls 129-111. Kemba Walker also had a 26 point night in the Charlotte Hornets 126-92 win over the Phoenix Suns. Wesley Matthews scored 21 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks as they beat the Orlando Magic 121-108. Ersan Ilyasova scored 22 for the Magic in the loss. Hopefully some of these guys where in your winning line up last night.

Jimmie Johnson used a pit strategy to win the 2nd race of the NASCAR season at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kevin Harvick had led the most laps and he appeared to have the car to beat, but Johnson pitted as soon as he could get enough gas in the car to make it to the end of the race. For some reason Harvick and the other drivers at the front of the field stayed on the race track longer than expected and with Johnson on new tires he was able to build a lead that no one could cut into. While there was a late caution giving the rest of the field a shot at Johnson; he took the inside lane and was able to hold the field off for the win. Johnson’s teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. came 2nd with Kyle Busch in 3rd his brother Kurt in 4th and Carl Edwards rounding out the Top 5. Harvick led 131 of the 330 laps, but ended up coming home in 6th place. Kyle Busch was one of Chris Olmstead’s choice on the Sunday morning edition of Sports Time Radio; so he did have a Top 5 finish. Now his other two choices; that’s a different story. Chris had Matt Kenseth who did lead 47 laps, but had a pit road penalty and then was black flagged. Even with all that Kenseth finished 19th. Kasey Kahne was Chris’ other choice and he never really factored in the race and came home in 23rd place. With 2 drivers locked into The Chase with wins the series heads out to Las Vegas for the Kobalt 400 Sunday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Will we have a new drivers name entered into The Chase or will Johnson or Denny Hamlin get their 2nd win of the season?

With a win last night the Edmonton Oilers improved to 24-34-7. With last nights loss the Buffalo Sabres are 23-31-8. Now neither of these teams are a threat to make the playoffs this season, but their match up last night drew some interest because it featured Connor McDavid the #1 overall pick in the 2015 draft taking on the #2 draft pick in the same draft Jack Eichel. The Oilers beat the Sabres 2-1 in overtime last night and McDavid scored both of the Edmonton goals in the win. It was almost Eichel who had the game winner in overtime as he spun an Oilers defenseman around, but missed a backhanded attempt on goal. Just seconds later McDavid raced by the Buffalo defense and beat Sabres goalie Robin Lehner for the game winner. While right now this match up might not mean anything as far as a playoff race might go, but are we looking at two guys who could become long term stars in the NHL.

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to Sports Time Radio at BlogTalkRadio.com

 

How was your week

Posted: February 27, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

Friday night Kyle Lowry scored a career high 43 points including the game winning shot with 3.8 seconds left in the Toronto Raptors 99-97 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The win was also Toronto’s 10th in a row at home tying a franchise record. Lowry was 15 of 20 from the floor. He made 11 of his 15 free throw attempts while picking up 4 steals, 5 rebounds and handing out a team high 9 assists. Lowry’s night proved to be even bigger as Toronto’s leading scorer DeMar DeRozan struggled. DeRozen scored just 6 points going 1 of 11 from the field in the game. Terrence Ross came off the bench t score 15 points. Toronto’s big man Jonas Valanciunas and Bismack Biyombo each scored 11 points. Valanciunas also grabbed a team high 9 rebounds. I’m sure if you asked any player on the Raptors or their head coach Dwayne Casey they’d tell you this was just another regular season game. You do have to wonder if getting a win over the Cavaliers the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference might give some confidence to the #2 seed in the East. The Cavaliers where led in scoring by LeBron James wit 25 points. James had a chance to win the game for Cleveland with a last second shot, but was unable to get the shot to drop. James also handed out a team high 7 assists. James was 9 of 18 from the field and made 5 of the 9 3-point shots he took. Kevin Love added 20 points for the Cavaliers while J.R. Smith had 13 points and Kyrie Irving scored 10 points. Tristan Thompson led the Cavaliers in rebounding grabbing 10 of them. With the win the Raptors improved to 39-18 just 2 games behind the Cavaliers (41-16) for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Would the Raptors moving into that #1 seed help them in a playoff match up against the Cavaliers? I guess having home court couldn’t hurt.

Lowry wasn’t the only NBA player to score 40 points last night. Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers scored 40 points exactly in his teams 117-107 win over the Sacramento Kings. Paul also added 13 assists and grabbed 8 rebounds as well. Paul was 13 of 20 from the field going 4 of 9 from behind the 3-point line. Paul also made all 10 of his free throw attempts. There was just one 30 point scorer last night. Paul George of the Indiana Pacers put up 32 points in a losing effort as the Pacers fell 96-95 to the Charlotte Hornets. George went 13 for 26 from the field, but was just 2 of 8 from behind the 3-point line. Hopefully you had Lowry, Paul and George in your daily fantasy line up last night.

The NBA has really been doing a good job of getting marquee match ups for their nationally televised Saturday night games and tonight is no exceptions. Tonight we’ll see the Golden State Warriors (52-5) against the Oklahoma City Thunder (41-17) at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Warriors are 9-1 in there last 10 games and are on a 4 game winning streak. The Thunder are just 6-4 in there last 10 games and dropped their last game 123-119 on Thursday to the New Orleans Pelicans. Is it possible the Thunder was looking ahead t this match up against the Warriors and got caught off guard by the Pelicans?

Golden State is led by Stephen Curry and his 30.4 points per game average, but Curry is also grabbing 5.3 rebounds per game and averages 6.7 assists per game. Klay Thompson is scoring an average of 21.6 points per game and then there’s the all around game of Draymond Green. Green averages 14 points per game along with 9.6 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game as well. You have to wonder though if Oklahoma City is the team that can match the Golden State offense. Kevin Durant leads Oklahoma City in scoring at 27.7 points per game, but I bet a lot of people don’t know that he’s also the teams leading rebounder grabbing an average of 8 boards a game. Russell Westbrook can go for a triple-double at any time. Westbrook averages 24.3 points per game, 10.2 assists per game and 7.5 rebounds per game. Oklahoma City’s big men Serge Ibaka and Enes Kanter add to the offense as well. Ibaka averages 12.8 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game and is the tam leader in blocked shots with an average of 2.1 per game. Kanter scores an average of 11.8 points per game and grabs and average of 7.6 rebounds per game. The difficult part for Oklahoma City is Kanter is ineffective against the Golden State small ball line up. While Ibaka will have to be able to handle Green on defense to give Oklahoma City a chance to win. When Oklahoma City has the basketball Thompson will have to be able to keep Westbrook in check and Green will have to help out on Durant. It should be big time NBA offense with a lot of 3-point shots being taken.

The NHL has another Stadium Series game tonight as the Detroit Red Wings and the Colorado Avalanche will play outside at Coors Field. The Red Wings have 71 points and the Avalanche have 68 points. Both teams are hanging out to Wild Card playoff spots right now. The Red Wings are in the 7th spot in the Eastern Conference 3 points ahead of the 8th place Pittsburgh Penguins. The Avalanche currently hold the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Colorado is 3 points behind the 7th place Nashville Predators and has a 4 point lead on the 9th place Minnesota Wild.

On Sunday we may be seeing a preview of the Stanley Cup finals as the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks host the best team in the NHL this season the Washington Capitals. Washington has 94 points in just 60 games this season and is running away with the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Blackhawks have 81 points and are just 1 point behind the Dallas Stars for 1st place in the Central division of the Western Conference. Patrick Kane is the NHL’s scoring leader and has a 14 point lead over Jamie Benn of Dallas, but Washington’s Alexander Overchkin has 5 more goals (40) than Kane has (35) this season. We should also get to see the Branden Holtby and Corey Crawford in goal for their respective teams. Holtby leads all goaltenders in wins with 39 wins while Crawford is 2nd with 32 wins. It’s incredibly difficult to repeat as champion in the NHL; so will the Blackhawks even get the Stanley Cup finals. The NHL playoffs also feature quite a few upsets; so the Capitals have to be careful just to get to the finals themselves.

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to Sports Time Radio at BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your week

Posted: February 20, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, MMA, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

Did you have it being the Portland Trail Blazers? Well it was the Trail Blazers who handed the Golden State Warriors their 5th loss of the season 137-105 behind 51 points from Damien Lillard. The Trail Blazers jumped out to a 42-31 lead after the 1st quarter and never looked back. The 137 points were the most by a Golden State opponent this season, and the 32-point margin of defeat was the Warriors most lopsided loss this season. While Lillard’s and the Trail Blazers offensive numbers will be what everyone see’s it was there defense that stepped up and helped them get this win. Golden State had 20 turnovers in the game with 13 of them coming in the 3rd quarter alone. Lillard made 9 of the 12 3-point shots he took and was 18 for 28 from the field overall to get to that 51 point total. C.J. McCollum added 21 points for the Trail Blazers. McCollum went 3 of 4 from behind the 3-point line and was 9 of 18 from the field in the game. Mason Plumlee and Gerald Henderson (off the bench) each added 12 points while Maurice Harkless had 11 points and tied for the team lead in rebounds at 8 with Ed Davis. It was McCollum and Lillard who ended up tied for the team lead in assists with 7 apiece. The Trail Blazers actually made a better percentage of their shots from behind the 3-point line than they did from the field. Portland made 17 of the 30 (56.7%) 3-pointers they shot while they where 52 of 97 (53.6%) from the field overall. Stephen Curry led Golden State in scoring with 31 points, but more importantly may be the fact that he played just over 26 minutes in the game. Klay Thompson added 23 points while Draymond Green had 14 points and was the team leader in rebounds with 12 and assists with 8, but also had 9 turnovers in the game. Mareese Spreights was the only other Golden State player to score in double figures with 10 points.

Lillard became the first player to have 50 points, 7 assists and 6 steals since the steal became a statistic in 1973-74. Curry had his 101st road game in which he made a 3-pointer. He’s the only player ever to reach the triple digit of that streak. He also has made a 3-pointer in 124 consecutive games;  putting him just 3 games behind the NBA record. On a side note Trail Blazers guard Brian Roberts who was traded twice at the deadline this week made his debut. Roberts scored 7 points in just under 5 minutes of action.

The Trail Blazers get a day off before hosting the Utah Jazz on Sunday while the Warriors have to turn right around and face the Los Angeles Clippers Saturday night in Los Angeles. Could Golden State actually drop a 2nd game in a row t the Clippers tonight?

While there wasn’t that star player type traded at the deadline there where a few teams that made moves that could help them down the stretch and into the playoffs. I liked the addition of Randy Foye to the Oklahoma City Thunder bench. While Foye is averaging a career low 6 points this season he is playing just under 20 minutes a game. I a better offense he should get that scoring average closer to his career number of 11 points a game. The other move that might not only help the team this season it might add to the off season drama was when the Clippers added Jeff Green. The interesting part t this is that Green plays pretty much the same position as Blake Griffin. In Memphis Green was expected t be more of an offensive force where with the Clippers he’ll be able to easily slid into the line up with Chris Paul running the show. Green averages 14.1 points per game in his career, but you’d think in an uptempo Clippers offense that number will go up. The team I thought was the big winner at the trade deadline was the Detroit Pistons. Now they did lose their first game out of the gate after the trade deadline last night 98-86 to the Washington Wizards. The Pistons added Tobias Harris from the Orlando Magic along with Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton from the Houston Rockets at the trade deadline and while Harris was Detroit’s leading scorer last night with 21 points neither Thornton or Motiejunas played. With the trade and the travel Montiejunas and Thornton should make their debuts for the Pistons Sunday when the play host to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pistons are currently 27-28 and in 9th place in the Eastern Conference, but are just a 1 1/2 behind the Chicago Bulls for the 8th and final playoff spot. If it doesn’t take the Pistons to long to gel with the new additions they should be able to get themselves into the Eastern Conference playoff picture and might even be a threat to the top teams. If you have to say there where any losers at the trade deadline it would be any of the contending teams that didn’t make moves to get better. With the exception of the Thunder and the Clippers no other contending team made a move that might help them in the smallest way to catch the teams at the top right now like Golden State or the San Antonio Spurs. With about 30 games in the regular season we’ll see how this plays out for these teams, but right now do you see any other team besides Golden State holding up the Larry O’Brien trophy in the end?

The Bellator MMA promotion went back in time to get there main event for the Bellator 149 card. The main event was Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock and the tag line for the fight was that it would end their feud. With the ending of this fight I don’t really think anything was solved and you have to wonder if they’ll try this fight one more time. Gracie was awarded a first round TKO victory, but it appeared as though it was a knee to the groin that sent Shamrock to the canvas. As the two fighters where in a clinch the 49 year old Gracie threw a knee at the 52 year old Shamrock that appeared to catch him in or around the groin area. Shamrock went to the mat and Gracie knelt over him throwing punches until referee Jacab Mantalvo stopped the fight at 2.22 of the 1st round. A stat hat some people might find strange; this was the first knockout of Gracie’s career. The semi-main event was a match up of You Tube sensations as Kimbo Slice (Kevin Ferguson) faced off against Dada 500 (Dhafir Harris). The end came on the 3rd round as an exhausted Harris  collapsed to the canvas following a punch from Slice; that didn’t appear to connect. Harris who is 38 years old and hasn’t fought professionally since 2011; landed his fair share of punches in the bout, but he was visibly winded early in the first round. The 42 year old Slice didn’t look much better. The two leaned on one another, exhausted, throughout the fight and the referee was forced to separate them numerous times due to inactivity. Harris was never knocked down from any of the shots, but the amount of shots he took eventually took an effect and he collapsed awkwardly in a heap. Harris was taken out of the cage by stretcher, but Bellator officials said he was able to sit and receive oxygen shortly after going backstage. The end of this fight received quite a bit of booing from the crowd.

I haven’t been invested in watching MMA in quite a while; so I really don’t know what to think about this card. Do you want to see a Shamrock/Gracie rematch?

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

E-mail us SportsTimeRadio@Hotmail.com

 

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: February 17, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

I hope you’re ready for the NASCAR season to start because this Sunday Chase Elliott will lead the field to the green flag on the pole for the Daytona 500. Elliott who’s a rookie and is taking over the #24 car from Jeff Gordon ran a lap of 196.314 m.p.h. just narrowly edging out Matt Kenseth who ran a lap of 196.036 m.p.h. and will start 2nd. Elliott who is just 20 years old used the same chassis as Gordon did last season and got the same result Gordon got last year; the pole position. Elliott and Kenseth are the only drivers whose positions for the Daytona 500 are now locked in. The balance of the field will be filled and ordered in Thursday night’s 150-mile Can-Am Duel qualifying races. Elliott’s first Sprint Cup pole was a milestone in many other respects. At 20 years, 2 months and 17 days, he is the youngest-ever winner of a Daytona 500 pole, supplanting Austin Dillon (23 years, 9 months 27 days in 2014). This was the 10th Daytona 500 pole for Hendrick Motorsports and the third for the #24 Chevrolet, with Gordon winning the previous two in 1999 and 2015.  The qualifying times of the #4 and #14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolets, driven by Kevin Harvick and Brian Vickers, were disallowed after NASCAR discovered track bar infractions during post-qualifying inspection. Those cars will start from the rear in their respective Duels. Another car with qualifying issues was The #78 Furniture Row Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. Truex Jr. failed to post a time after NASCAR inspectors noticed that one of the roof flaps was out of compliance. The car was on the 5-minute clock at the time and the problem could not be corrected in time to make a qualifying run. As a consequence, Truex will start from the rear of the field in the second Can-Am Duel. Chris Olmstead from http://www.BeyondtheFlag.com will join The Big Jack and Mr. Fantasy during the Sunday morning edition of Sports Time Radio to breakdown Sunday’s Daytona 500 and give you his Top 3 drivers you might see in victory lane.

The NBA doesn’t take the court for action until Thursday, but the trading deadline is also Thursday and we’ve had a couple of deals already. The Detroit Pistons sent Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova to the Orlando Magic for Tobias Harris. Both teams are currently out of playoff position and have been looking to get back in. With Harris, who is 23 and averaging 13.7 points and 7.0 rebounds this season, the Pistons get a young power forward with shooting range, but the team will also take on the rest of the 4-year, $64 million deal he signed last year. Detroit is 27-27, a 1/2 behind Charlotte in the competition for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Pistons expect Harris to bolster their chances of reaching the postseason for the first time since 2009. The Magic, who had one of the youngest rosters in the league, get veterans to help with a run toward the playoffs, which 1st coach Scott Skiles has been pushing for in recent weeks. They are expected to have additional trade talks about adding more veteran players.

Bare with me here as there was also a 3-team deal and I’ll try to explain it the best I can. The Miami Heat received Brian Roberts from the Charlotte Hornets. The Memphis Grizzlies received Chris Andersen and a 2nd round pick from the Miami Heat. The Grizzlies also received P.J. Hairston and a 2nd round draft pick from the Charlotte Hornets. While Courtney Lee went from the Grizzlies to the Hornets. Okay; so Miami got 1-player, Charlotte got 1-player and Memphis got 2-players and 2-draft picks.

The question is will we see a big name player get dealt. Dwight Howard’s name has been mentioned quite a few times this week; so maybe he’s the guy to go. While it’s difficult to find a quality big man in the NBA is Howard the guy to get a playoff contender over the top. If Howard is dealt to an Eastern Conference team like most of the rumors are; can he help the team he’s traded to get past the Cleveland cavaliers in the playoffs? The other big name that may or may not be on the trading block is the Los Angeles Clippers Blake Griffin. There was a lot of talk about Griffin going to the New York Knicks for Carmelo Anthony, but Anthony has a no trade clause in his contract. Anthony also came out this week and said he won;t be going anywhere; so I’m guessing that deal isn’t going to happen. I really think that the best landing spot for Griffin would be the Cavaliers. A Griffin for Kevin Love deal might work well for both teams. The Cavaliers are looking to play a more up tempo style and Griffin would fit right into that. While Griffin isn’t the outside shooter that Love is he could take up some room in the paint and allow LeBron James to spend some more time on the perimeter. While Love might not look like the best fit for the Clippers style Imagine Chris Paul leading the break for Los Angeles and there’s nothing there. Love would be the perfect fit to trail that play and hit a 3-pointer in transition. Cleveland has said that they wouldn’t deal Love unless they got a star player in return and Griffin fits that bill. Love played his college basketball at UCLA and was born in Santa Monica, California. Would a return home to another contending team be alright with Love? Griffin could probably use a fresh start after his incident with the assistant equipment manager that saw Griffin break his hand. I guess we just have to wait and see if either team tries to make this deal before Thursday’s deadline.

Shayne Gostisbehere of the Philadelphia Flyers extended his record point streak by an NHL rookie defenseman to 13 games Tuesday with a first-period goal against the New Jersey Devils . Gostisbehere scored with 2:37 remaining in the period. Gostisbehere 13 game point streak is the second-longest in the NHL this season, behind the 26 games of Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane. It is the longest by an NHL defenseman in almost 20 years, since Brian Leetch had a 14-game streak for the New York Rangers.and the longest by any Flyers rookie. The longest point streak by an NHL rookie since 1987-88 is 20 games by forward Paul Stastny of the Colorado Avalanche. Colorado Rockies defenseman Barry Beck held the rookie defenseman record with two 10-game point streaks during the 1977-78 season.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

How was your week

Posted: February 13, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

It’s NBA All-Star weekend or I guess I should say All-Star week. I find it a little odd that the NBA of all the major sports has the longest All-Star break. If you remember last season LeBron James cried quite a bit about how the All-Star break wasn’t long enough and he couldn’t spend time with his family. Of course this is the same guy that when he had time off ended up in Miami. If I remember right his family lives in Cleveland. I think he used the excuse that he was in Miami to see a certain doctor, but I don;t think anyone believed that. Now in no way am I saying that that basketball isn’t a physical sport. With all the running and the jumping has to be tough on the knees and ankles. I’m just not sold on it being tougher than playing in the NHL which got just 3 or 4 days off for their All-Star break. I have to wonder if it’s even as tough as playing Major League baseball with the long season and the fact that you play in the heat of the summer. Baseball also gets just 3 or 4 days off for their All-Star break. The NBA season is long enough as it is; do they really need an extended All-Star break?

Like I said it is All-Star weekend for the NBA and it kicked off yesterday wit 2 games I could care little or nothing at all about. The first game is the celebrity game which has a few former players mixed in along with a couple of WNBA players as well. All this game really proves is that all the entertainers playing in it made the right career choice. I was actually a little interested to see the Rising Stars Challenge until I turned it on. I thought the format might be interesting with the best young American players against the best players from the rest of the world. Now the game is just for first or second year NBA players, but when I turned it on I quickly realized that even these players knew they where n an All-Star game. Just like the All-Star game that will be played on Sunday there was ZERO defense played in this game was the World team won 121-112. I thought maybe the young players would try and play an actual game of basketball and not just let guys dunk at will and throw up 45 foot 3-pointers; sadly I was very, very wrong. It took me about 2 minutes of actual game action to realize this game was a joke and went and found something else to watch. So Friday is a complete waste of time for the NBA All-Star weekend and everyone knows that the game on Sunday will be a joke; so the only hope is the Saturday night events will be worth watching.

All-Star Saturday night kicks off with the Shooting Stars event. I was unable to find out who’ll be competing in this event, but if I remember right it’s a former NBA player teamed up with a current NBA player and a current WNBA player and they have to make a series of shots from different areas of the court ending with a half court shot. The team that makes all their shots in the fastest time wins this event. Then they move on to the Skills Challenge which features the players skills in ball handling, passing and shooting. This is the first season that more than just guards will compete. Patrick Beverly (Rockets) is the defending champion, but he is injured and won;t be in this seasons competition. Here’s the list of the players competing. DeMarcus Cousins (Kings), Draymond Green (Warriors), Anthony Davis (Pelicans), Karl-Anthony Towns (Timberwolves), Jordan Clarkson (Lakers), C.J. McCollum (Trailblazers), Isaiah Thomas (Celtics) and Emmanuel Mudlay (Nuggets). Dan the Man is picking Cousins to win this event. Next is the 3-point shootout with Stephen Curry (warriors) back to defend his title. Curry is up against Devin Booker (Suns), J.J. Reddick (Clippers), Kyle Lowry (Raptors), James Harden (Rockets), Khris Middleton (Bucks), C.J. McCollum (Trailblazers) and Klay Thompson (Warriors). Dan likes Thompson to unseat his teammate Curry in this event. With what the NBA game has turned into I’m a little surprised that the Slam Dunk contest still wraps up All-Star Saturday night, but it does. Zach LaVine (Timberwolves) is back to defend Slam Dunk his title against Aaron Gordon (Magic), Andre Drummond (Pistons) and Will Barton (Nuggets). Dan likes the big man Drummond to win this event. Tune into Sports Time Radio 5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. live at http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com and we’ll review how Dan the Man did with his picks. Do you agree with Dan’s picks? or do you have someone else winning these competitions.

Major League Baseball made history on Friday and not in a good way. Jenrry Mejia of the New York Mets became the first player to receive a lifetime ban for failing 3 drugs tests. Not only was this Mejia’s 3rd positive test, but his 3rd positive test in a year. It was reported that Mejia tested positive for Boldenone, which athletes have used to increase muscle mass and once was popular for use in horse racing. He is just the 2nd player to ever test positive for Boldenone and he’s done it twice. Mejia is just 26 years old and may apply to commissioner Rob Manfred for reinstatement in one year. If reinstated, he would have to sit out a minimum of two years before being able to pitch again in the majors. If an application is made and denied, Mejia could ask baseball’s arbitrator to end the ban, claiming the penalty is without “just cause.” The arbitrator cannot reduce the ban to less than two years. MLB suspensions are honored by affiliated leagues in other countries, such as in Japan, South Korea and Mexico. However, suspended players are allowed to compete in winter leagues, such as in Mejia’s native Dominican Republic. Independent leagues are not compelled to honor MLB suspensions but may choose to do so.There are a few comparable cases, but nothing quite like Mejia’s. Josh Hamilton who was in the minor leagues at the time had some issues and was suspended several times for drug abuse from 2003-05, but was allowed to return each time. During a time when there was not a drug agreement, Steve Howe was suspended for life by Commissioner Fay Vincent in 1992 after the pitcher’s seventh drug- or alcohol-related incident. Arbitrator George Nicolau said doctors concluded Howe suffered from attention deficit hyperactive disorder and cut the suspension to time served, which was 119 days. I’m not sure what Mejia was thinking, but he has talent and I’m sure will get another chance if he’s reinstated. You just have to wonder how a player can be so, so stupid to fail 3 tests in a year.

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: February 10, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

The Denver Broncos won Super Bowl 50 over the Carolina Panthers 24-10 on Sunday. Denver used the best defense in the NFL to shutdown the Cam Newton led Panthers offense. Newton was sacked 6 times threw an interception and was hit 13 other times on top of the sacks. It was the first time all season that the Carolina offense was shutdown like it was in the Super Bowl. The Broncos defense actually had 7 sacks on the night, but one of them was on Ted Ginn Jr. on a trick play that the Panthers where trying to run. Newton ended the game 18 of 41 for 265 yards. Newton also ended the game as the Panthers leading rusher. Newton had 45 yards on 6 rushing attempts. The Carolina offense also fumbled the football 4 times losing 3 of them. Carolina’s receivers where producing, but they just couldn’t string any plays together because of the pressure Newton was under all game. Corey (Philly) Brown, Greg Olson and Ginn all had 4 receptions in the game. Brown went for 80 yards and looked like he was in position to be the key to Carolina’s offense, but had to leave the game with concussion symptoms. Carolina’s defense played a good game as well and actually kept them in it. Peyton Manning was 13 for 23 for just a 141 yards with 1 interception. Manning was also sacked 5 times. Even Denver’s running game couldn’t really get going. C.J. Anderson did carry the football 23 times for 90 yards and 1 touchdown; he only averaged 3.9 yards per carry. To be fair Anderson’s rushing touchdown was a gift from the Broncos defense and if T.J. Ward would’ve been able to stand up he would’ve scored that touchdown. Emmanuel Sanders was Manning’s main target as he had 6 receptions for 83 yards. Anderson did add 4 catches as well, but went for just 10 yards on those catches. With the game playing out the way it did you knew that someone from the Broncos defense would be the MVP The award went to Von Miller who had  tackles, 2 1/2 sacks and a forced fumble. Miller set the tone for the game as he just took the football away from Newton down on the goal line and Malik Jackson recovered it in the end zone for the 1st score of the game. Miller was far and away the best player on the Broncos and deserved the award. I believe that if the Panthers would’ve found a way t comeback and win the game Kony Early would’ve been the MVP. Early had 3 sacks and 1 interception for the Panthers defense. Of course I was happy to see Miller get the MVP as he was my pick in the Saturday blog.

Our Super Bowl predictions where decent this season. Mr. Fantasy and I had Denver winning and I mentioned that I some how got the MVP right. Sadly Dan the Man and Schaumburg Stu had Carolina winning. No one got the final score right, but Mr. Fantasy did have Denver’s point total correct. Overall for our playoff predictions Mr. Fantasy and I went 8-4, but since he got Denver’s point total right he would win the tiebreaker. Dan the Man went 7-5 for the playoffs and Schaumburg Stu finished at 6-6 overall.

With the game being a defensive battle there where a lot of people complaining that they didn’t like it. I’m sure everyone and even the NFL expected more of an offensive battle, but both defenses controlled the action. Neither team had an answer for the others pass rush and turnovers made the difference in the game. I don’t have the energy to go through the post game stuff that went on wit Cam Newton, but what I want to know is did you enjoy the game?

The Ottawa Senators made a deal yesterday with the Toronto Maple Leafs to try to get themselves into the playoffs. It was a 9-player deal between the 2 teams with the center piece being Dion Phaneuf going from Toronto to Ottawa. Along with Phanuef the Senators received forward Matt Frattin, forward Casey Bailey, forward Ryan Rupert and defense prospect Cody Donaghey from the Maple Leafs. In return the Maple Leafs got defenseman Jared Cowen, forwards Colin Greening, Milan Michalek and Tobias Lindberg, and Ottawa’s second-round pick in the 2017 NHL draft. What may have been the biggest key to the deal for the Maple Leafs is that Ottawa was willing to pick up the remainder of Phanuef’s contract which has 5 years still on it and is a salary cap hit of $7 million. As it appears Toronto will rebuild with the extra salary cap room will the Maple Leafs go after free agent to be Steven Stamkos now of the Tampa Bay Lighting. Phaneuf spent the first four-plus years of his career in Calgary before being traded to Toronto in January 2010. The three-time All-Star has 45 goals, 151 assists and is a minus-30 in his career. This may be the first of a few deals the Maple Leafs are involved in if they’re going to try and clear some salary cap room.

The Senators are currently 25-23-6 on the season for 56 points. That puts them 5 points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins and 6 points behind the Boston Bruins for a Eastern Conference wild card spot. Ottawa has won it’s last 2 games putting up 11 goals total in those games. The Senators will play 3 games in 4 days starting tonight against the Detroit Red Wings in Detroit. They head home for Thursday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche and then Ottawa has a day off before going back on the road to play the Columbus Blue Jackets. That’s a tough set of games; so we’ll have to see if the Senators can make up some ground in the wild card race over these next 4 days.

Is anyone else confused by the Sacramento Kings. At the start of the season there was talk that they where going to fire head coach George Karl. That move seemed to stem from Karl’s suggestion of trading Sacramento’s best player DeMarcus Cousins. The team got off to a good start and the firing talk went away. Well as soon as the team hit a bad stretch the talk of removing Karl as coach came right back. There where quite a few reports that Karl would be removed over the All-Star break which is this weekend. Then there was a report yesterday that Karl met with the Kings owner and he would remain coach for the rest of the season. I guess at this point in time; why would Karl want to coach this team? Sacramento is 21-31 and is 5 games out of the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Here you go; say the Kings rebound and get themselves into that #8 seed and make the playoffs. How do you think they would do against the Golden State Warriors in the 1st round of the playoffs?

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com and today (Wednesday) Schaumburg Stu is filling in for Dan the Man.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: February 6, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

We have what looks like another quality match in the NBA tonight. These Saturday marquee match ups that ESPN has been running out there to us look good and hopefully tonight’s will produce a good game. Will get to see the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Golden State Warriors. It seems like every time the Warriors is in one of these type of games they end up winning by 30 points; can Oklahoma City be that team that stays in the game with the Warriors. Golden State should easily be the favorite since they’re 45-4 overall and a perfect 22-0 at Oracle arena where the game will be played tonight. Oklahoma City is 38-13 on the season and are currently 3rd in the Western Conference. Both teams are 9-1 over the last 10 games. Golden State has won their last 8 games in a row while Oklahoma City is coming into tonight’s match up having won their last 5 games in a row. Oklahoma City maybe the only team in the NBA that can score with Golden State. Golden State is far and away the highest scoring team in the NBA averaging 115.4 points per game, but did you know that Oklahoma City is the 2nd highest scoring team on average in the NBA with 109.7 points per game. Oklahoma City’s scoring defense on average is actually a little better than Golden State’s. The Thunder give up 101.6 points per game on average while the Warriors average giving up 102.7 points per game. What does Oklahoma City have to do tonight to hand Golden State their first home loss of the season. Kevin Durant averages 27.4 points per game this season. Does he need to go for 40 or 50 points tonight for Oklahoma City to win this game? What about Russell Westbrook who averages 24 points per game, 7.6 rebounds per game and 10 assists per game this season and has 8 triple-doubles. Westbrook’s 8 triple-doubles put him 2nd in the NBA this season; who is he tailing? That would be Draymond Green of Golden State who has 10 triple-doubles to lead the league. Does Westbrook need his 9th triple-double of the season for Oklahoma City to win this game? Would big games by Durant and Westbrook even be enough for Oklahoma City to get a win or would they need someone else or possible two someone else’s to step up and have a big night. While Serge Ibaka (12.8), Enes Kanter (11.8) and Dion Waiters (10.0) all average in double figures for Oklahoma City can they elevate their game enough to help the Thunder get a big win. On the Friday Sports Time Radio podcast Dan the Man took Golden State to win this game. Now Dan doesn’t play the betting line he just makes picks, but if you’re a betting man Golden State is anywhere from a 8 1/2 to a 9 point favorite in the game. The over/under for the game which is the combined score of both teams is between 230 and 231.5 total points.Where are you pout your money tonight?

The Sacramento Kings have dropped their last two games and 6 out of there last 7 games. On Wednesday they lost a home game 107-102 to the Chicago Bulls. Well the Bulls are going to be a playoff team and even though it’s a home game and the Kings had their chances to win the game; so not a bad loss, but a loss just the same. Then last night the Kings gave up 128 points to the Brooklyn Nets in their 128-119 loss. The win improved the Nets record to 13-38. The Nets are 14 out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference. The only team that Brooklyn has a better record than are the 7-43 Philadelphia 76ers. With these two losses the talk has started again if George Karl is the right coach for Sacramento. It seems as Sacramento might try and stay with Karl until the All-Star break which is just 3 games away. The Kings face the Boston Celtics on Sunday, the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday and then the 76ers on Wednesday heading into the All-Star break. These 3 games are on the road and there’s a chance that Sacramento will go into the All-Star break on a 5 game losing streak. Even if Sacramento goes 2-1 in these 3 games would that be enough to save Karl’s job. Would a loss to Philadelphia doom Karl? If Sacramento makes a change it is unlikely assistant coach Nancy Lieberman would take over. It looks more like they would elevate assistant coach and former Kings forward Corliss Williamson to interim coach. It was roughly this time a year ago that the Kings struck a deal to hire Karl away from ESPN to replace then-interim coach Tyrone Corbin. A five-game winning streak in mid-January improved Sacramento’s record to 20-23 and lifted the Kings into the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference, but the 1-6 nosedive has left them 3 1/2 games behind the Utah Jazz for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive has made it known that he expected the team to push for a playoff berth this season and bring an end to a postseason drought dating to 2006. Karl’s job appeared to be in trouble in early November, but he survived those storms. If the 64-year-old is ultimately dismissed now; it would be Sacramento’s third coaching change since December 2014. Mike Malone was fired after an 11-13 start last season, and Karl was brought in on a four-year, $15 million deal after Sacramento went 7-21 under Corbin.

Now on tomorrow’s (Sunday) edition of Sports Time Radio Mr. Fantasy and I will let you know who Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy himself are taking to win Super Bowl 50 this Sunday. Not only will you learn who they think will win the game, but what they think the final score will be and who’s going home with the MVP trophy. I am actually going to go ahead and give you my picks right here for Super Bowl Sunday. I’m going with the Denver Broncos to pull off the upset and beat the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50. I do believe that it will be a close game and that a field goal will decide it. I’m going with a final score of Denver 27 Carolina 24. It’s always easy to pick the quarterback of the Super Bowl winning team to take home the MVP but I asked everyone to be creative and find someone else too pick; so I’ll stay away from Peyton Manning as MVP. So I am going to go out on a limb and say that for the first time since Super Bowl 35 a defensive player will win the MVP By the way that player was Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens. My choice for MVP of Super Bowl 50 is Von Miller!

Listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketme

 

Older Entries
Newer Entries