Archive for the ‘basketball’ Category

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: December 16, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, fantasy, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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We’re through 14 weeks in our NFL picks. For Week 14 Dan the Man and I went 10-6 while Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy went 8-8. For the season I’m in the lead with a record of 125-82. Dan the Man is in 2nd place with a record of 120-87. Schaumburg Stu is in 3rd place with a record of 114-93. That means Mr. Fantasy finds himself in the cellar, but by only 1 game with a record of 113-94. Week 15 starts tomorrow (Thursday) night and then there’s also a Saturday game this week; so will see how are picks go this week.

What’s the worst division in the NFL? Is it the NFC East where 3 teams are tied for the lead with records of 6-7. Or is it the AFC South where 6-7 is also the record you need to lead that division as 2 teams have. It’s looking like 8-8 or a 7-9 record will send a team into the playoffs. I don;t have so much of an issue with teams from these divisions making the playoffs. I believe that you should get something for winning your division even if it’s a bad division. I don’t like the fact that these teams get to host a playoff game. I’d be surprised to see either of these divisions winners getting past the wild card weekend of the playoffs, but you never know. Maybe the Indianapolis Colts could make some kind of run if their quarterback Andrew Luck comes back healthy. If the New York Giants win the NFC East could they get something going in the playoffs and win a game or two. I’m not as sold on teams like the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins or Houston Texans getting a playoff win. The difficult part is I’m not sure if there’s a good way to reconfigure the playoffs when teams win divisions with .500 or below records. I’d be open to listening to ideas if you guys have any.

Patrick Kane’s scoring streak came to an end last night at 26 games. Kane’s Chicago Blackhawks where shutout by the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 on Tuesday night to end the streak. It was the longest scoring streak in the NHL since Mats Sundin picked up a point in 30 straight games during the 1992-93 season. Kane’s 26 game scoring streak ranks as the 6th longest scoring streak in NHL history. Guy Lafleur (1976-77), Wayne Gretzky (1984-85), Mario Lemieux (1985-86), Paul Coffey (1985-86) and Steve Yzerman (1988-89) had points streaks of 28 games. Gretzky had a 30 game scoring streak in 1982-83. Sundin had his 30 game streak in 1992-93. Gretzky also had a 39 game scoring streak in 1985-86. Lemieux had a scoring streak of 46 games in 2989-90. Gretzky has the longest scoring streak in NHL history at 51 games in 2983-84. While it was a great streak for Kane it’s hard to believe he was 25 games away from catching Gretzky.

With the NHL season coming up on it’s halfway point the Dallas Stars have  the most points in the league with 48. The Washington Capitals are 2nd and the leader in the Eastern conference with 44 points. The Montreal Canadiens are 3rd with 43 points. The New York Rangers are 4th with 42 points and the New York Islanders round out the Top 5 with 41 points. While the Stars have looked like the best team in the NHL you’ll notice that the next 4 teams are all from the Eastern conference. The Western conference has won the last 4 Stanley Cups and 5 out of the last 6. Is Dallas the team in the Western conference to keep that going or will one of those Eastern conference teams step up and take the Cup home.

We have a fantasy hockey league associated with the Sports Time Radio podcast. We do an auction style draft for hockey and this season we put in a minimum  of 3 starts per week for a teams goaltenders. This rule has been difficult for some owners to work with. It’s just Dan the Man and I who are playing in the 16 team league. Dan is currently 8th overall in the standings while my team is 3rd right now. With his 26 game scoring streak Patrick Kane has been the  top player in our league. Tyler Seguin and his teammate Jamie Benn of the Stars are ranked #2 and #3. Taylor Hall of the Edmonton Oilers ranks as the 4th best player and rounding out the Top 5 is Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks. Sadly for Dan and I none of these 5 players are on our teams.

With the Golden State Warriors running off to a record 24-0 start and even after just dropping their 1st game they’re still getting a lot of the headlines. With all this interest in Golden State the San Antonio Spurs have quietly gotten off to a 21-5 start to the season. As Tim Duncan’s and Tony Parker’s careers head towards the finish the Spurs have seem to become Kawhi Leonard’s team. Leonard leads San Antonio in scoring averaging 20.8 points per game. Leonard is also averaging 7.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2 steals and just over 1 block a game while turning the basketball over an average of 1.3 times per game. Leonard is also averaging more minutes than any other San Antonio player at 33 minutes per game. San Antonio went out in the off season and made a big free agent signing bringing in LaMarcus Aldridge. Aldridge is the 2nd on the Spurs in scoring with an average of 15.8 points per game. Aldridge does lead the team in rebounding averaging 8.8 rebounds per game. Aldridge also plays the 2nd most minutes on the Spurs with an average of 29.2 minutes per game. Now when you talk about the Spurs you’re use to using the names Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili; they’re all still there. Duncan is playing 26.5 minutes per game and is averaging 9 points per game. Duncan is also grabbing an average of 8.3 rebounds per game and is the team leader with 1.4 blocked shots per game. Point guard Parker is averaging 26.7 minutes per game. He averages 12.8 points per game and is the Spurs leader in assists with 4.9 per game. With Danny Green filling the role in the starting line up Ginobili is back to his 6th man role. Ginobili is averaging just 19.6 minutes per game, but is scoring 10.8 points per game. As the NBA season moves along will the Spurs be able to continue to control the minutes of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili and will this pay off for them come playoff time. If things go as planned will we see a San Antonio Spurs vs. the Golden State Warriors Western conference finals match up?

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week?

Posted: December 12, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Golden State Warriors improved to 24-0 last night (Friday) with a 124-119 victory over the Boston Celtics in double overtime. It was the 2nd time Golden State has went to overtime to keep the streak alive, nut their first double overtime game. On November 14th the Warriors needed overtime to beat the Brooklyn Nets 107-99. Klay Thompson missed this game with a sprained ankle and the Warriors could’ve used his shooting touch. Golden State shot 39.3% from the floor (42 for 107) in the game. It was an even tougher night from behind the 3-point line where the Warriors shot 29.0% going 9-31. Even shooting poorly Golden State was able to build a 7 point lead 82-75 at the start of the 4th quarter. The Celtics outscored the Warriors 28-21 in the 4th quarter and both tams had chances to win the game late, but neither could score and they headed to overtime tied at 103.  Neither team could get anything going in the 1st overtime. They each managed to score 7 points and we headed to the 2nd overtime period tied at 110. Golden State was able to take advantage of a couple of Boston misses and built a small lead. They where able to hold on by making their free throws late in the 2nd overtime. Golden State scored 14 points in the 2nd overtime while Boston scored just 9 points to get them their 24th straight victory to start the season 124-119.

Stephen Curry scored 38 points to lead the Warriors, but didn’t shoot very well. Curry was 9 of 27 overall, but did go 6 of 13 from the 3-point line and did make all of his 14 free throw attempts. Curry also tied for the team lead in assists with 8. With Thompsom out Draymond Green tried to fill that scoring void. Green played a game high 50 minutes and scored 20 points and tied Curry with 8 assists. Andre Iguodala saw increased playing time with Thompson out. Iguodala played 44 minutes and scored 13 points. Festus Ezeli and Shaun Livingston also came off the Warriors bench to score 12 points. Ezeli also had a team high 12 rebounds. Golden State shot 39 free throws in the game compared to just 16 for Boston.

Kelly Olynyk came off the Celtics bench and went 11 of 21 shooting overall, 3 of 6 from the 3-point line and 3 of 4 on free throws to lead Boston wit 28 points. Avery Bradley scored 19 points before fouling out while Isaiah Thomas 18 points and a team high 10 assists and Jae Crowder 15 points where the Celtics starters who scored in double figures.Besides Olynyk Evan Turner (13 points) and David Lee (10 points) scored in double figures off the Boston bench. Jared Sullinger grabbed a game high 13 rebounds for Boston.
Golden State wraps up their road trip tonight as they’re in Milwaukee to play the Bucks. Milwaukee has lost it’s last 2 games including a 90-83 loss to the Toronto Raptors Friday night. Milwaukee is 9-15 on the season, but with Thompson’s injury and Golden State coming off a double overtime game could tonight be the night they suffer there first loss?
There was another close game on Thursday night as the Arizona Cardinals beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-20. With the victory the Cardinals improved to 11-2 and clinched a playoff berth in the NFC. Minnesota fell to 8-5 good for 2nd place in the NFC North right now 1/2 game behind the Green Bay Packers.

There was quite a bit of discussion about the end of this game and who to place the blame for the Minnesota loss on. The Vikings had the football last and with about 12 seconds or so on the clock they decided to run 1 more play instead of try a 48 yard field goal to tie the game. Minnesota quarterback Teddy Bridgewater dropped back to pass and was sacked by Arizona defensive lineman Dwight Freeney. Freeney was also able to strip the football from Bridgewater. The Cardinals recovered the fumble, but with the Vikings out of timeouts they wouldn’t of been able to get the field goal unit set up in time to even make an attempt to tie the game. This is where all the debate starts. Is it Teddy Bridgewater’s fault for not throwing the football away? Or is it Mike Zimmer and the Vikings coaching staffs fault for the play call? While all these experts where trying to assign blame to someone they where all assuming that Blair Walsh would’ve made the 48 yard field goal to tie the game in the closing seconds. maybe it’s just me, but I don’t remember 48 yard field goals being gimmes, but they sure acted like it was. Now on the ill fated play it’s been pointed out that Bridgewater took a 5-step drop. In most late game situation like that you’ll see the quarterback take a 3-step drop and try to get rid of the football quickly. As the play develops it looks like Bridgewater wants to throw the football down the field instead of an out to the sideline. A shot at the end zone would be an interesting play call in that situation, but I don’t know if that’s what the Vikings where going for. While Bridgewater is dropping back to throw the Arizona defense does a great job of keeping him in the pocket and only allowing him a little room to step up. Now let me remind you that while Freeney might be at the end of his career he does have 115 1/2 career sacks and leads the Cardinals in that category this season with 4. Arizona signed him for just this type of play and they monitor how many snaps he takes so he’s ready for this type of situation. Freeney used a spin move to beat Vikings left tackle Matt Kalil giving himself a clear path to Bridgewater. With the Arizona defense doing there job and containing Bridgewater in the pocket there was nowhere for him to go. Bridgewater tries to step up into what little room he has and throw the football, but Freeney was able to close the distance and strip the football while he was taking Bridgewater down. So if you still feel the need to find fault in the Minnesota loss maybe it was Dwight Freeney’s fault they lost.

 

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can also follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Matt Kalil

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: December 9, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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It’s tough for me to get to watch the Golden State Warriors with my work schedule unless they’re playing on the weekend. Luckily for me last night they had their game against the Indiana Pacers shown on NBA-TV; so I got to sit down and watch 3 quarters of the game. The Warriors actually struggled shooting the basketball early in the game before finding their shot and putting up a 44 point 1st quarter. Golden State had a 16 point lead after the 1st quarter 44-28. Golden State out scored Indiana 35-32 in the 2nd quarter for a 79-60 lead at halftime. Golden State came out after the half and added 9 points to their lead by out scoring the Pacers 32-23 in the 3rd quarter. Golden State had a 111-83 lead at the start of the 4th quarter and this is where I had to stop watching.  What I missed was the Pacers putting up a 40 point 4th quarter while Golden State only managed to score 20 points in the 4th quarter. While Indiana was able to take a big chunk out of the Warriors lead it was still an 8 point Golden State win 131-123 for their 23rd straight win to start the season.

Klay Thompson led Golden State in scoring with 39 points. Thompson went 13 of 21 from the field. Thompson picked up the bulk of his points from behind the 3-point line where he went 10 of 16 in the game. Stephen Curry had a double-double with 29 points and a team high 10 assists. Andrew Bogut also had a double-double for Golden State with 14 points and a team high 10 rebounds. Brandon Rush (13) and Festus Ezeli (12) also scored in double figures for Golden State. Golden State shot 44.4% from the 3-point line going 16-36.

Paul George led the Pacers in scoring with 33 points and also handed out a team high 6 assists. C.J. Miles added 24 points while George Hill and Chase Budinger (off the bench) scored 12 points apiece. Jordan Hill came off the Pacers bench to score 12 points while Solomon Hill grabbed 9 rebounds to lead Indiana. The Pacers also shot well from behind the 3-point line going 14 for 33 (42.4%) in the game.

Golden State is 5-0 on this road trip and 13-0 on the road which is a new record. They’re off until Friday when there road trip takes them to Boston to face the Celtics. They have a back to back over the weekend after Friday in Boston the warriors turn right around Saturday and face the Milwaukee Bucks to wrap up this road trip. Will one of these games see the end of the Golden State winning streak? Or will they return to California 25-0?

We’ve seen quite a bit of player movement during the baseball winter meetings in Nashville Tennessee and the meetings aren’t over. We’ve covered most of the teams moves on the Sports Time Radio podcast, but after we went of the air last night a couple of more deals where announced.

The Arizona Diamondbacks where finally able to work out a deal with the Atlanta Braves involving Shelby Miller. The Diamondbacks will send outfielder Ender Inciarte along with right handed pitcher Willie Blair and last years #1 overall pick shortstop Dansby Swanson to Atlanta. In return the Diamondbacks receive Miller and left handed pitcher Gabe Speier. The Braves where able to pick up and outfielder they seemed to have been looking for. They also got a couple of young prospects to work towards their goal of being a contending team when they open that new ballpark in 2017. The Diamondbacks add a young starter for their rotation that features the newly signed Zack Greinke and the returning Patrick Corbin. I’ve heard this question thrown out there a couple times after this deal was made so I’d like your answer. Are the Arizona Diamondbacks the best team in the National League West?

The other 2 deals made last night feature the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs turned out to be the surprise team in the Ben Zobrist free agent derby as he inked a 4 year $56 million dollar deal last night. Most if not all reports had the San Francisco Giants, New York Mets and the Washington Nationals being the main team interested in Zobrist services. With the signing of Zobrist the Cubs made a corresponding move by trading Starlin Castro to the New York Yankees for pitcher Adam Warren and infielder Brendan Ryan. Looking at this deal it appears that the Yankees real got the better of it and you have to wonder if the Cubs just wanted to ship Castro anywhere once they signed Zobrist. Don’t forget that I actually predicted last year that Castro would end up with the Yankees. Does it count a year late? The Yankees get a 3-time All-Star and a career .281 hitter who seems to have found his position at 2nd base. In return the Cubs get a journeyman infielder (Ryan) who’s a career .234 hitter and the right handed throwing Warren who is 13-15 over his 3 seasons in the majors, but does have a very good ERA of 3.39. Will the Cubs try to force Warren into their rotation or did they give up a quality player for a middle reliever?

There are a couple of deals we may see get done today. The Seattle Mariners are trying to make another deal as reports are they are very close to working out a deal with the Milwaukee Brewers for left handed hitting 1st baseman Adam Lind. I’ve also seen multiple reports that the Chicago White Sox are having “serious” discussions with the Oakland A’s on 3rd baseman Brett Lawrie. Maybe one or both of these deals get done or possible we get a free agent signing or two.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can also follow me on Twitter@Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: December 2, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
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Week 12 in the NFL ended up being our best week of picks so far. Schaumburg Stu and I went 13-3 while Dan the Man was 11-5 with Mr. Fantasy going 10-6. Dan the Man is still in first place overall with a record of 104-72. I’ve moved into 2nd place a game behind Dan the Man with a record of 103-73. Schaumburh Stu has made his way out of the cellar with a record of 98-78; so that means it’s Mr. Fantasy who has found his way to the bottom of the standings with a record of 97-79. Will have to see if we can carry some momentum going into Week 13.

During the Monday Night game the Cleveland Browns lost their starting quarterback Josh McCown to an injury. Austin Davis was the back up quarterback for the game as Johnny Manziel had been demoted to the #3 quarterback spot. Davis was solid in relief of McCown going 7 of 10 for 77 yards and 1 touchdown. Davis also ran the football 1 time for 7 yards. Now as it turned out McCown has a broken collarbone and is done for the season. What do the Browns do? Do you play out the string with Davis as your #1 quarterback? Or is it time to turn the remainder of the season over to Manziel and see what he can do. It appears as though Browns head coach Mike Pettine isn’t a big fan of Manziel. Now if for some reason Davis starts any of the Browns final 5 games at quarterback it’s time for them to trade Manziel. On the Tuesday edition of Sports Time Radio I boldly predicted that Manziel will be wearing a different uniform next season. While there are quite a few teams in the NFL that could use a quarterback the best landing spot for Manziel is with the Dallas Cowboys. Don’t forget that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wanted to draft Manziel in the 1st round of the 2014 draft. Dallas had the #16 pick; Manziel went #22 to Cleveland who traded up to get him. Jones was talked out of picking Manziel and the Cowboys selected offensive lineman Zack Martin with the 16th pick. Cowboys quarterback is out for the season and as he’s getting older (35) he seems to be getting hurt more often. If Romo is healthy it gives Manziel the opportunity to learn behind him and then take over when Romo retires. The question would be; what would the Cowboys have to give up in a trade for Manziel? At this point I’m thinking the Browns might take a 3rd or possible a 4th round draft pick for Manziel. Maybe it takes a combination of lower round draft picks to get the deal done, but it’s a move the Cowboys need to make. Unless you’re under the impression that Matt Cassell is the Cowboys future starting quarterback. Of course at 33 Cassell isn’t much younger than what Dallas has now in Romo. This may be the first time I’m rooting for Jerry Jones.

Also on the Tuesday edition of Sports Time Radio Dan the Man predicted that the Philadelphia 76ers would get their 1st win of the season and they did. The 76ers beat the Los Angeles Lakers 103-91 to improve there record to 1-18. The Lakers had a 7 point lead 33-26 after the 1st quarter. Los Angeles went into halftime with an 8 point lead 58-50. The 76ers outscored the Lakers by 13 points in the 3rd quarter 30-17 to take the lead at 80-75 after 3 quarters. Philadelphia was able to extend their lead by outscoring the Lakers again in the 4th quarter 23-16 to get the game to it’s final score 103-91. Robert Covington led the 76ers with 23 points. Jerami Grant and Nerlens Noel (off the bench) scored 14 while Isaiah Canaan, Jahlil Okafor and Hollis Thompson (off the bench) each had 12 points. Noel also grabbed a team high 9 rebounds while T.J. McConnell led the 76ers in assists with 6. This was Kobe Bryant’s last trip to Philadelphia and he led the Lakers with 20 points, but didn’t shoot very well. Bryant was 7 of 26 on the night and 4 of 17 from behind the 3-point line. Jordan Clarkson scored 19 points. Julius Randle had 12 points and a team high 11 rebounds while D’Angelo Russell also had 12 points to go with a team high 4 assists. The Lakers didn’t get a lot of help from their bench. There bench scored 23 points in 72 minutes of play. In comparison the 76ers got 40 points from there bench, but to be fair the Philadelphia bench played 25 more minutes than the Lakers bench did. This was the first of back to back games for Philadelphia. Tonight the 76ers are on the road against the New York Knicks. Will it be 2 in a row for the 76ers?

First it was Jordan Zimmerman getting a 5 years and $110 million from the Detroit Tigers. Then yesterday David Price signs a deal for 7 years and $217 million with the Boston Red Sox. Who’s the next free agent pitcher to sign? There are some reporting that Zack Greinke will make his decision by this weekend. Most reports have Greinke getting a deal similar to Price’s. It’s also being reported that Greinke has narrowed his choices down to the Los Angeles Dodgers or the San Francisco Giants. Could a 3rd team sneak in with a bigger money offer and sign Greinke? Or is he going to stay in the National League West? If Greinke does make a decision and signs with a team this weekend and with Price already locked up will teams start to panic and over pay some of the other top pitchers. Johnny Cueto turned down a 6 year 120 million dollar deal from the Arizona Diamondbacks, With Price and Greinke signed is Cueto in line to cash in big. Then after Cueto; how much extra money could pitchers like Mike Leake, Jeff Samardzija, Scott Kazmir and Wei-Yin Chen end up getting. I guess we’ll have to wait and see who cashing in with what team.

You can listen t the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: November 28, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, fantasy, football, sports, Sports Time Radio
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For Thanksgiving the NFL gave us 2 blowouts and an upset. The day in football started out with a game I thought would be closer than it turned out to be as the Detroit Lions blew out the Philadelphia Eagles 45-14. In the second game the Dallas Cowboys where a 1 point favorite going into it. I hope you bet what would’ve been the underdog and took the 1 point and went with the Carolina Panthers. Even before Tony Romo got injured and had to leave the game Carolina was far and away the better team in this game and easily won 33-14. The third game of the night brought us an upset as the Chicago Bears went into Lambeau Field and defeated the Green Bay Packers 17-13.  Green Bay had 4 chances inside the Bears 10-yard line with under a minute to go in the Chicago defense kept the Packers out of the end zone to win the game.

Believe it or not we actually pick 2 out of the 3 games correctly for a 2-1 start to our week in picks. Schaumburg Stu, Dan the Man, Mr, Fantasy and I all had Detroit, Carolina and even though we all live in the Chicago suburbs we had Green Bay. Of course I think us living in the Chicago suburbs may have made us pick Green Bay to win that game.

Fantasy football wise in Thanksgiving if you had Matthew Stafford as your quarterback you got off to a good start. Stafford scored right around or in the 40 point range depending on how your league is scored. No matter how it’s scored he was the best quarterback on Thanksgiving.Cam Newton came in right around the 20 point mark while Mark Sanchez, Jay Cutler and Aaron Rodgers all finished in the 12 to 15 point range. Matt Cassell actually outscored Tony Romo as Cassell end up at about 10 points and Romo was in the negatives if your league scores negative points. With the way our longest running league is scored Stafford had 37.54 points. Then it was Newton (16.66), Sanchez (11.88), Cutler (11,40), Rodgers (11.34), Cassell (10.76) and Romo with -4.38 points.

Eddie Lacy was the top fantasy running back on Thanksgiving. Lacy ran for 105 yards and caught a touchdown pass as well. Lacy totaled 25.15 points in our fantasy league. Two Lions running backs came in 2nd and 3rd on the day. Joique Bell scored 17.45 points and Theo Riddick scoced 17.05 points. Bell rushed for 57 yards, but out one in the end zone. Riddick rushed for just 6 yards, but caught 5 passes for 62 yards and a touchdown. Carolina’s Jonathan Stewart scored 15.20 fantasy points with 68 rushing yards and the Bears Jeremy Langford scored  15.05 points 48 rushing yards and a touchdown to round out the Top 5 running backs.

It’s not a big surprise that the Lions had the 2 highest scoring wide receivers on Thursday. Calvin Johnson led the way with 33.30 fantasy points. Johnson caught 8 passes for 93 yards and scored 3 touchdowns. Golden Tate was 2nd with 16,43 points. Tate caught 7 catches for 50 yards and 1 touchdown. Cole Beasley is a free agent right now in our longest running league. Beasley scored 14.90 points on 6 catches, 44 yards and a touchdown. Jordan Matthews and Alshon Jeffeys tied for 4th with 14.25 points. Jefferys had more catches 7 to 3 and more yards 90 to 60, but Matthews scored a touchdown and Jefferys didn’t. Randall Cobb rounds out the Top 5 receivers with 11.92 points catching 6 passes for 74 yards.

Greg Olsen of Carolina was the top scoring tight end on the day with 10.75 fantasy points. We start 2 tight ends a week in our league and no one has Philadelphia tight end Trey Burton who ended up being the 2nd highest scoring tight end on the day with 8.90 points. The other Philadelphia tight end Brent Celek was tied with Zach Miller of the Bears for 3rd with 8.50 points. Jason Witten was 4th with 6.60 points and Richard Rodgers was 5th with 6.00 points.

Carolina’s Graham Gano was the best kicker to have as he totaled 20 points on the day.  Matt Prated (Detroit) and Mason Crosby (Green Bay) each had 10 points. Dan Bailey had 7 fantasy points for the Cowboys while Robbie Gould put up 5 in the Bears victory. The eagles Caleb Sturgis came in at the bottom of the kicker list with 2 points on the day.

It was Carolina’s defense that led in fantasy scoring with 22.62 points. They where followed by the Bears (13.26), Detroit (12.90), Green Bay (6.57(, Dallas (3.57) and Philadelphia (-2.38); I’m hoping you didn’t play Philadelphia’s defense.

As far as my team. I had Jay Cutler, Eddie Lacy and Green Bay’s defense; so I ended up with a total of 43.12 fantasy points. I am off to a little better start than I was projected to have. My outlook for the day was 37.87 points; so all in all it was a good fantasy day for my team.

The Golden State Warriors improved to 17-0 last night with a 135-116 win over the Phoenix Suns. The Warriors set the tone for the game with a 44 point 1st quarter. Stephen Curry led the way for the Warriors with 41 points. Curry was 11 for 20 from the field going 9 of 16 from behind the 3-point line. Draymond Green grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out 10 assists to lead Golden State in those categories. Green also had 14 points on the night for a triple-double.  Leandro Barbosa came off the Golden State bench to score 21 points while T.J. Warren came off the Suns bench to lead them in scoring with 28 points. The Golden State 17th win to start the season was the first of back to back games as tonight they host the 6-11 Sacramento Kings. Will it be 18-0 for Golden State? Or can the Kings be the team that hands then their 1st loss?

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

You can also follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 25, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, fantasy, football, hockey, sports, Sports Time Radio
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Week 11 went much better for us as everyone ended up over .500 picking the NFL games. I managed to win the week going 10-6 while Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy all went 8-6 for the week. Overall Dan the Man is still in the lead with a record of 93-67. I’m in 2nd place 3 games behind Dan the Man at 90-70. Mr. Fantasy is in 3rd place with a record of 87-73 and Schaumburg Stu is still in the cellar with a record of 85-75. There are no byes in Week 12; so we’ll have a full slate of games to pick starting with 3 games tomorrow.

Thanksgiving is definitely a football holiday and it starts with the Philadelphia Eagles at the Detroit Lions. They have an 11:30 a.m. kickoff where I live. Game 2 has the undefeated Carolina Panthers at the Dallas Cowboys. I found it interesting that in the Las Vegas betting line Dallas was the favorite in this game. This game is scheduled to kickoff at 3:30 pm cst as long as the first game doesn’t run long. The night in the NFL wraps up with a big time rivalry game. It’s the Chicago Bears at the Green Bay Packers at 7:30 pm central. I have not received Mr. Fantasy’s picks for the Thursday games, but I can tell you that Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu and I like Detroit to win Game 1, Carolina to stay undefeated in game 2 and the Packers to night game 3. We’ll see if Mr. Fantasy reads this before he sends me his picks and tries to make up some ground by going a different way with his picks.

The Golden State Warriors set the NBA record for victories to start a season last night by easily beating the Los Angeles Lakers 111-77 at the Oracle Arena. The game was almost never in doubt as Golden State took a 30-11 lead after the 1st quarter. Los Angeles did cut into the lead at little going into halftime as they outscored Golden State 27-24 in the 2nd quarter. Golden State still sent into the half leading 54-38. Golden State pretty much put the game away in the 3rd quarter outscoring the Lakers by 18 points 35-17. Golden State ended the 3rd quarter with a 89-55 lead and the record looked to be there’s. Both teams scored 22 points in the 4th quarter to get the final score of 111-77 and the Warriors had there 16th straight win to start the season. Stephen Curry led Golden State with 24 points going 10 of 21 from the floor, but just 4 of 12 from behind the 3-point line. Draymond Green added 18 points led the team in assists with 5 and tied for the team lead in rebounds with Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli with 7. Leandro Barbosa came off the Golden State bench to score 13 points while Klay Thompson also snuck into double digits with 11 points. Julius Randle was the only Lakers stater to score in double digits. Randle scored 10 points and tied for the team lead in scoring with Larry Nance Jr. and Louis Williams. Randle along with Kobe Bryant, Roy Hibbert and Tarik Black tied for the team lead in rebounding with 6. Metta World Peace led the Lakers in assists with 3. As for Bryant he was 1 for 14 from the floor going 1 of 7 from behind the 3-point line. He also went 1 of 2 from the free throw line for a total of 4 points in the game.

Now that the Warriors are at 16 straight wins to start this season the question becomes; how many more can they win. They have a back to back set of games this Friday and Saturday. They play in Phoenix against the Suns on Friday and then they come home to play the Sacramento Kings Saturday. There last game of November is Monday on the road against the Utah Jazz. You’d have t think that Golden State has a very good chance of having an undefeated month. That Monday game in Utah is the first of 7 games in a row on the road as the Warriors head east. Will that road trip be their downfall and they’ll drop a game then.

There where 2 games in the NHL last night and when there is a small amount of games I like t make Dan the Man pick the winners of those games on the Sports Time Radio podcast. He had been doing better with these picks, but that ended last night as he lost both games. The Ottawa Senators scored 7 goals against the Dallas Stars last night; 5 of which cam against Dan the Man’s fantasy goalie Anti Niemi on their way to a 7-4 victory. Mike Hoffman and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each scored 2 goals for the Senators while Jamie Benn had 2 goals for Dallas. I the late game the Anaheim Ducks beat Dan’s pick to win the Calgary Flames 5-3. Michael Frolik netted 2 of the 4 Calgary goals while Rickard Rakell and Corey Perry each scored 2 goals for the Ducks. If you’re a fantasy hockey player hopefully you had Anaheim center Ryan Getzlaf in your line up as he assisted on all 5 goals Anaheim scored.

There are 13 games on the NHL schedule tonight; so I won’t make Dan pick that many games on today’s edition of Sports Time Radio, but it will give you a lot of choices for daily fantasy. The nationally televised game tonight is the Philadelphia Flyers at the New York Islanders. It’s what the NBC Sports Network advertises as rivalry Wednesday.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can Follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Happy Thanksgiving!

How was your week?

Posted: November 21, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, fantasy, football, sports
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The Jacksonville Jaquars beat the Tennessee Titans Thursday night 19-13. With the win Jacksonville improves to 4-6 and is a 1/2 game out of 1st place in the AFC South. If the Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts lose on Sunday Jacksonville will be in a 3-way tie for 1st place. As for our pick Schaumburg Stu and I had Jacksonville; so we start off the week 1-0. Dan te Man and Mr. Fantasy picked Tennessee to win; so they’re 0-1 to start Week 11.

Fantasy wise on Thursday night there looks like there where a couple of solid plays. Blake Bortles went 21 for 30 for 242 yards. He threw 1 touchdown; 1 interception and did fumble once. Bortles did run the football 2 times for 9 yards. Not a huge total, but it could add a point or two for your team. Marcus Mariota went 22 for 35 for 231 yards. Mariota didn’t throw a touchdown pass, but he also didn’t throw an interception either. However he did have 5 rushing attempts for 29 yards and a touchdown. While it’s not giant fantasy numbers for either quarterback their stats aren’t going to hurt you.

I doesn’t look like the running game for either team will be a lot of help to you this week. T.J. Yeldon led Jacksonville in rushing with 54 yards on 14 carries; he also had 3 receptions for 28 yards. Denard Robinson added 27 yards on 7 carries, but neither player got into the end zone. Antonio Andrews was Tennessee’s leading rusher with 78 yards on 15 carries plus 2 catches for 16 yards. Dexter McCluster had 2 carries for 0 yards, but did catch 2 passes for 18 yards. While David Cobb returned for injury and carried the football 4 times for -3 yards.

Each tam had a receiver go over 100 yards in the game. Allen Robinson (Jacksonville) had 5 receptions for 113 yards while Tennesse’s tight end Delanie Walker had 8 catches for 109 yards. Other than Robinson no other Jacksonville receiver put up huge numbers. Brian Walters had 2 catches for 35 yards and just missed connecting on what would’ve been either a long gain or a touchdown pass, but he under threw the football. Julius Thomas had 5 receptions for 28 yards and caught a touchdown pass. Allen Hurns had 3 catches for 19 yards. Clay Harbor caught 2 passes for 17 yards and Rashad Greene had 1 catch for 2 yards. Dorial Green-Beckham had 3 receptions for 40 yards. Harry Douglas (16 yards), Phillip Supernaw (16 yards and a fumble) and Anthony Fasano (14 yards) each had 2 catches and Jalston Fowler added 1 catch for 2 yards.

Jacksonville’s kicker Jason Myers had a good fantasy night going 4 for 4 on his field goal attempts with a long of 36. He also made his only extra point attempt. Ryan Succop went 2 for 3 on his field goal attempts with a long of 49 yards and he hit his only extra point attempt.

Telvin Smith led Jacksonville with 9 tackles while Aaron Colvin, Jared Odrick, Andre Branch and Ryan Davis each recorded a sack. Cody Sensabaugh and Wesley Woodard tied for the Tennessee team lead in tackles with 6. Woodard along with Avery Williamson, Brian Orakpo and Jurrell Casey each had a sack.

The Golden State Warriors improved to 14-0 winning Thursday night 124-117 over the Los Angeles Clippers coming back from being down 23 points at one point in the game. Then last night the Warriors beat the Chicago Bulls 106-94. The Bulls led by 1 after the 1st quarter 29-28, but that was the only lead they had at the end of any quarter. Golden State led 50-47 at halftime; then 77-73 at the end of the 3rd quarter before adding 8 points to their lead in the 4th quarter to get to the 106-94 final score. Stephen Curry led Golden State in scoring with 27 points, but had a tough shooting night. Curry was 9-20 from the floor and just 3-11 from behind the 3-point line on the night. Jimmy Butler was the Bulls and the games leading scorer with 28 points. Butler went 11-21 from the field and 2-4 from behind the 3-point line. Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green and Festus Ezeli each grabbed 9 rebounds to lead Golden State. Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic each had 10 rebounds to lead the Bulls. Green also led the Warriors in assists with 5 while Butler was the Bulls leader in assists with 7. Derrick Rose sat this game out with a sprained ankle.

With 14 straight wins to start the season you have to start wondering when the Warriors might lose a game. They have 5 games left in November and they all look winnable. Sunday night they play in Denver against the Nuggets. Tuesday they’re at home against the Los Angeles Lakers. Friday they play in Phoenix against the Suns. They go back to back, but are at home Saturday against the Sacramento Kings. They wrap up the month on Monday the 30th in Utah against the Jazz. Of course in the NBA any team can lose on a given night, but looking ahead you’d think that Golden State would be favorite to win all of these games. Maybe it would take a Kobe Bryant flashback type of game or a DeMarcus Cousins 50 point type of game to hand Golden State there first loss.

If you’re a fan of the Atlanta Braves do you believe them when they say they want to win more games in 2016 then they did in 2015. While it’s easy for someone in the front office to come out and say that the off season moves they’ve made seem to tell a different story. First they sent Andrelton Simmons to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and then yesterday Cameron Maybin was traded to the Detroit Tigers. Maybin made his major league debut with the Tigers in 2007. In return for Maybin the Braves got 2 left handed pitchers in Ian Krol and Gabe Speier. Krol appeared in 33 games last season all in relief; he was 2-3 with and ERA of 5.79 while Speier made 33 relief appearances in Class A where he was 4-2 with a 2.86 ERA. Now there’s also been talk that the Braves had had talks about trading Shelby Miller. With the moves they’ve made so far; do the Braves look like they’ll win more than the 67 games they did in 2015?

After the way the deal between the Oakland A’s and the Toronto Blue Jays went last season. Where the A’s sent now AL MVP Josh Donaldson to Toronto for Brett Lawrie, Kevin Graveman, Sean Nolin and Franklin Barreto you thought that these teams might be done dealing with each other, but no. Yesterday in a swap of pitchers the A’s sent Jessie Chavez to the Blue Jays for Liam Hendricks. Chaves appeared in 30 games making 26 starts. He was 7-15 with an ERA of 4.18 and had 1 save. Hendricks was 5-0 in 58 games last season all in relief with an ERA of 2.92. By picking up another starting pitcher you have to think the Blue Jays are covering themselves in case they can’t re-sign David Price or another top free agent starter.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can also follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 11, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, fantasy, football
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Yesterday New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that daily fantasy sites FanDuel and DraftKings are to be considered illegal gambling in his state. Both sites have been asked to stop accepting wagers from New York residents. Here’s the statement that FanDuel released. “Fantasy sports is a game of skill and legal under New York State law,” FanDuel said in a statement. “This is a politician telling hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers they are not allowed to play a game they love and share with friends, family, coworkers and players across the country. The game has been played — legally — in New York for years and years, but after the Attorney General realized he could now get himself some press coverage, he decided a game that has been around for a long, long time is suddenly now not legal. We have operated openly and lawfully in New York for several years. The only thing that changed today is the Attorney General’s mind.” DraftKings also released a statement; “We are very disappointed that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman took such hasty action today, particularly since he did not take any time to understand our business or why daily fantasy sports are clearly a game of skill,” DraftKings said in a statement. “We strongly disagree with the reasoning in his opinion and will examine and vigorously pursue all legal options available to ensure our over half a million customers in New York State can continue to play the fantasy sports games they love. “We continue to see a number of other officials, including Senator [Joe] Negron in Florida, Representative [Mike] Zalewski in Illinois and the Federal Trade Commission, take a reasoned, informed and measured approach to the daily fantasy sports business. We hope this trend continues along with due consideration for over 56 million sports fans across the country who enjoy playing fantasy sports. We remain committed to working with all relevant authorities to ensure that our industry operates in a manner that is transparent and fair for all consumers. “New York’s actions today are an unfortunate example of a state government stifling innovation, technology and entrepreneurship and acting without full and fair consideration of the interests of consumers.”  In October, the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the state’s attorney general ruled that daily fantasy meets the definition of sports gambling and requires a license to operate within the state. Both companies immediately stopped doing business in Nevada. Both companies were virtually free from scrutiny until this fall, when they flooded the TV market with advertising at the start of the football season. The scrutiny escalated when Ethan Haskell, a DraftKings employee, won $350,000 by finishing in second place in an NFL contest on FanDuel. Although a third-party investigation commissioned by DraftKings found Haskell did not have proprietary information to pick his winning lineup, the revelation that employees could play daily fantasy for money caught many off guard, including MLB, a DraftKings investor. Plenty of other states have been active in figuring out the future of daily fantasy. Last month, a representative in Illinois put forth the first daily fantasy regulation bill, and officials from New Jersey and Pennsylvania held hearings on daily fantasy sports this week. A federal grand jury has convened in Florida, according to multiple legal sources. Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and Washington prohibit fantasy sports for money. Several additional states do not allow some forms of daily fantasy.

Week 9 in the NFL is in the books. Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy tied at 7-6 while Schaumburg Stu and I finished at 6-7 for the week. On the season Dan the Man is in the lead at 79-53. Mr. Fantasy is in 2nd with a record of 76-56. I am currently in 3rd place with a record of 74-58 while Schaumburg Stu is in the cellar with a record of 71-61. Let’s see if Week 10 goes better for us.

I had the Indianapolis Colts going to the Super Bowl out of the AFC this season. The Colts are 4-5, but are in 1st place in the AFC South. Now it looked like they might be on the right track with a 27-24 win over the Denver Broncos. It was the Broncos 1st loss of the season. So just as it seemed like the Colts could be turning things around it was announced that Andrew Luck will be out 2 to 6 weeks with a lacerated kidney and a partial tear of an abdominal muscle. It hasn’t been the best of seasons for Luck as he was sidelined with a shoulder injury earlier in the year and has reportedly been playing with broken ribs in recent weeks. Luck isn’t expected to need surgery and some reports are saying the Colts expect him t be out a month. With Luck out Matthew Hasselback takes over as the starting quarterback for Indianapolis. Hasselback started Week 4 and Week 5 while Luck was out with his shoulder injury and won both of those games. If Luck is out 6 weeks he would return for the final game of the regular season against the Tennessee Titans. If it is the 6 week time period that Luck will be out Hasselback will quarterback the Colts against the Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaquars, Houston Texans and Miami Dolphins. Luckily for the Colts they are probably in the weakest division in the NFL; so Hasselback should be able to keep them in playoff contention while Luck is out.

The Miami Heat sent James Ennis and Mario Chalmers to the Memphis Grizzlies for Beno Udrih and Jarnell Stokes. It was the earliest trade in the NBA since 2008. Miami was able to dump a little salary in the deal as Chalmers makes $4.3 million a season while Udrih makes $2.17 million. Stokes and Ennis have identical 1-year veteran’s minimum deals. Stokes deal is fully guaranteed while Ennis and the Heat reworked his contract before the season; so he has a partial guarantee. Memphis has gotten off to a 3-4 start and there was some concern which helped this deal move along this early in the season.

Baseball’s General Mangers are meeting this week, but nothing major has come out of these meetings except a bunch of rumors. There has been one minor trade as the Minnesota Twins sent catcher Chris Herrmann to the Arizona Diamondbacks for minor league 1st baseman Daniel Palka. What may have been the biggest news that came out this week is that St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn will under go Tommy John surgery and will miss the entire 2016 season. Let’s see if all these rumors turn into some deals or if we’ll have to wait for something to happen.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week?

Posted: November 7, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, fantasy, football
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Thursday night football for Week 9 featured an AFC North match up. The undefeated Cincinnati Bengals hosted the Cleveland Browns. It was a close game for a half as the Bengals had just a 14-10 lead going into the locker room at halftime. Cincinnati put 17 2nd half points up and Cleveland failed to score; so the Bengals where able to pull away for a 31-10 victory. With the win Cincinnati improves to 8-0 on the season. Cleveland fell to 2-7 with the loss.

If Andy Dalton is your fantasy football quarterback you’ll be happy with the numbers he put up for you on Thursday night. Dalton went 21 for 27 and while he threw for just 234 yards he had 3 touchdowns. Dalton also had 6 rushing attempts for 5 yards; so that might be worth a point for you. Johnny Manziel got the start under center for Cleveland and while he did throw a touchdown pass his passing numbers weren’t great. Manziel was 15 for 33 for 168 yards and that touchdown. Manziel did run the football 4 times for 31 yards; so if you played Manziel in your fantasy league his numbers might end up being solid for you.

Neither team had a standout runner for you fantasy team, but a couple Cincinnati running backs had decent nights. Giovani Bernard led the Bengals in rushing Thursday night. Bernard had 13 carries for 72 yards and added 1 reception for 14 yards. Jeremy Hill ran the football 15 times for 52 yards for Cincinnati. Hill also had 1 reception,but it went for 0 yards. Cleveland’s leading rusher was Isaiah Crowell who carried the football 10 times for 38 yards. Crowell did add 3 receptions for 26 yards for his fantasy owners.

Receiving wise I really hope yoou had Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert in your line up. Eifert caught 5 passes for 53 yards on Thursday night, but 3 of his catches went for touchdowns. Mavin Jones tied Eifert for the team lead in receptions with 5 catches. Jones totaled 78 receiving yards on the night. A.J. Green didn’t have a great night for his fantasy owners. Being a top wide receiver Green is always expected to put up big points in fantasy, but the Browns held him to 4 receptions for 53 yards. If you’re in a deeper fantasy league and happened to have Mohamed Sanu in your line up he paid some dividends for you. Sanu had 3 catches for 25 yards, but added a 25 yard touchdown run. While Duke Johnson Jr. couldn’t get anything going in the run game (3 carries for 0 yards) he ended up being the Browns leading receiver with 2 catches for 38 yards, but he did score the Browns only touchdown of the night. Johnson Jr. caught a 12 yard touchdown pass from Manziel in the 2nd quarter for the Browns only touchdown in the game. Gary Barnidge who had been putting up big fantasy points from the tight end position with Josh McCown playing quarterback caught just 2 passes for 35 yards with Manziel starting. Dwayne Bowe; yes that Dwayne Bowe had 3 receptions for 31 yards and Travis Benjamin also added 3 catches for 22 yards on the night.

If your fantasy league scores individual defensive players Carlos Dunlap had 2 sacks for the Bengals; Geno Atkins also had a sack. Karlos Dansby had 11 tackles (a game high) for Cleveland while Desmond Bryant and Paul Kruger each recorded a sack for the Browns.

Both field goal kickers where perfect on the night as Mike Nugent hit a 28 yard field goal and converted all 4 of his extra point attempts. Travis Coons only had 1 extra point attempt; which he made. Coons also kicked a 27 yard field goal.

It was a turnover free game as there where no fumbles and either Dalton or Manziel threw an interception. When was the last time there was a turnover free Thursday night game?

Baseball is getting set for the off season and this week teams where making decisions on who they’d extend qualifying offers to, who’s option wouldn’t be picked up and which players would be bought out. So many of these decisions have to be made by teams that there are too many to go over. What I can go into was the trade that happen this week. The Seattle Mariners sent shortstop Brad Miller, 1st baseman/outfielder Logan Morrison and reliever Danny Farquhar to the Tampa Bay Rays for starting pitcher Nathan Karns, reliever C.J. Riefenhauser and outfielder Boog Powell. While it appears that the Mariners got the best player (Karns) in this trade Tampa Bay picked 2 players that could start for them in 2016 and a solid bullpen piece. Karns started 26 games and made 1 relief appearance last season. He was 7-5 with a 3.67 ERA as a rookie. Riefenhauser pitched in 17 games last season throwing 14 innings. He was 1-0 with an ERA of 5.52. Powell split the 2015 season between Double A (Durham Bulls) and Triple A (Montgomery Biscuits). Powell played a total of 117 games last season. He hit .295 with 3 home runs, 40 RBI’s and stole 18 bases. Miller played in 144 games for the Mariners last season. He hit .258 with 11 home runs and 46 RBI’s with 13 stolen bases. Miller spent the majority of his time at shortstop. but also played 2nd base, 3rd base and all 3 outfield positions. Morrison played in 146 games last season. He hit .225 with 17 home runs and 54 RBI’s. Farquhar had a rough year out of the Seattle bullpen. He went 1-8 with an ERA of 5.12 in 43 games covering 51 innings. In 2014 Farquhar’s ERA was 2.66 in 66 games and in 2013 he picked up 16 saves as Seattle’s fill in closer. Is it possible that this trade might actually help both teams.

The Golden State Warriors are off to a 6-0 start in defense of their NBA title. Golden State picked up that 6th win last night over the Denver Nuggets 119-104. Stephen Curry went 12 of 22 from the floor and 8 of 16 from behind the 3-point line for a game high 34 points. All the Golden State starter scored in double figures led By Curry. Harrison Barnes had 21 points, Klay Thompson scored 18 points, Festus Ezeli scored 16 points and was a perfect 7 for 7 from the field while Draymond Green added 12 points. Reigning MVP Curry is off to a great start to his season. Curry is averaging 35.5 points per game, 6.5 assists per game and is even grabbing 5.3 rebounds per game through 6 games. The Warriors haven’t scored less than 112 points in a game this season and they’ve only had 1 win by less than 15 points. The Los Angeles Clippers loss to the Warriors by 4 points 112-108 last Wednesday night. It’s still very early in the NBA season, but Golden State is the only undefeated team left in the league. Don’t forget they’re doing this with their head coach Steve Kerr out injured. Even this early in the season you have to ask; are the Warriors on their way to repeating?

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketme

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 28, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football
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I’m not sure if we could’ve gotten a better Game 1 to start the World Series off with. The scoring started off with something I never thought I would see. A inside the park home run by Kansas City Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar in the bottom of the 1st inning to give the Royals an early 1-0 lead. The New York Mets came back with single runs in the 4th, 5th and 6th inning off of Kansas City starter Edinson Volquez for a 3-1 lead. With the way Matt Harvey had settled down after the home run in the 1st it looked like the Royals could be in trouble. Harvey had some issues in the bottom of the 6th giving up a double and a couple of singles that led to the Royals being able to tie the game up 3-3 after 6. Both starters exited the game after pitching 6 innings; so it became a bullpen game. With 2 outs in the top of the 8th Juan Lagares singled and stole 2nd. Wilmer Flores hit what looked like an inning ending ground ball to 1st, but Eric Hosmer made an error and Lagares came around to score. Honestly with Jeurys Familia on the mound for the Mets in the bottom of the 9th inning I really thought they where going to get a big Game 1 win in Kansas City, but with 1 out in the inning Alex Gordon hit a solo home run to center field to tie the game at 4-4. Familia got the next 2 Royals hitters and Game 1 was headed to extra innings. Neither team threatened in the 10th as all 3 Mets hitters struck out swinging and 2 of the 3 Royals hitters struck out in the bottom of the inning. Lagares led of the top of the 11th with a single and was sacrificed to 2nd, but was stranded there as the Mets went strikeout, walk, strikeout to end the inning. The Royals got an infield single with 2 outs in the bottom half of the inning, but didn’t threaten. All 3 Mets hitters struck out in the top of the 12th inning. Kansas City got an infield single by Paulo Orlando who was sacrificed to 2nd. An intentional walk put runners on 1st and 2nd. A ground out to 1st moved the runners up, but was the 2nd out of the inning and the next batter flew out to center field to end the inning. All the Mets could manage in the top of the 13th was a 2 out walk. The Royals did get a lead off single to start the bottom of the inning, but after that they had a pop out and 2 ground outs to end the inning. The Mets went down 1, 2, 3 in the top of the 14th. Escobar started the bottom of the inning for the Royals by reaching safely on a throwing error by Mets 3rd baseman David Wright. Ben Zobrist singled to right field and Escobar went to 3rd base. Lorenzo Cain was intentionally walked to load the bases for Hosmer. Hosmer was 0 for 3 as he stepped to the plate to fave Bartolo Colon, but he did hit a sacrifice fly earlier in the game to drive in a run. Hosmer hit a deep fly ball to Mets rightfielder Curtis Granderson. It looked as though Escobar would score easily to win the game for the Roayls and while he did score the game winning run Granderson made the play at home plate much, much closer than anyone thought it would be. Colon took the loss for the Mets pitching 2 1/3rd innings giving up 1 run on 3 hits and he did walk 3, but they where all intentional. Chris Young who is scheduled to start Game 4 for Kansas City worked 3 innings in relief and got the win. Young pitched 3 innings in relief walking 1 ans striking out 3. So the longest game in World Series history ends in a 5-4 win for the Royals after 14 innings.

Game 2 is tonight in Kansas City and the Mets will send Jacob deGroom to the mound to start. The Royals will counter with Johnny Cueto as they look to win both games at home. deGroom has won all 4 of his post season starts and has an E.R.A. of 1.80 over 20 innings. He has also struck out 27 batters, but has given up 2 home runs. Cueto has also made 3 post season starts, but is 1-1 with an E.R.A. of 7.88. Cueto has logged just 16 innings in his 3 starts and has giving up 15 hits. After a long Game 1 that saw the Mets use 5 pitchers and the Royals use 6 pitchers in relief you have to think that both managers would like to get into the 7th inning with there starter, but it is the World Series and if a pitcher is struggling you can’t stay wit him. It looks like the Mets have an advantage in starting pitching tonight, but this is why the Royals dealt for Cueto at the trade deadline, but will he come through for them?

Over shadowed for me by Game 1 of the World Series was the start of the NBA season. There where 3 games on the schedule; 2 of which where on national television. It started with the Chicago Bulls getting a 97-95 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Nikola Mirotic led the Bulls with 19 points, Yaj Gibson led the team with 10 rebounds and Derrick Rose led the team with 5 assists. LeBron James led the Cavaliers in scoring with 25 points, Tristan Thompson grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the team and Mo Williams had team high 7 assists. The game you didn’t see on national television saw the Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks 106-94. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 21 points to lead the Pistons, Andre Drummond had 19 rebounds to lead the team and Reggie Jackson handed out 5 assists to lead Detroit. Dennis Schroder came off the Atlanta bench to lead the team with 20 points, Paul Milsap grabbed a team high 8 rebounds and Schroder, Jeff Teague and Al Horford tied for the lead in assists with 4. The 3rd and final game of the night saw the defending champion Golden State Warriors beat the New Orleans Pelicans 111-95. Stephen Curry looked to be in MVP form as he scored 40 points and handed out 7 assists to lead Golden State in both categories, Harrison Barnes led the tam with 9 rebounds. Anthony Davis scored 18 points to lead New Orleans, Davis and Ryan Anderson each grabbed 9 rebounds t tie for the team lead in that category and Ish Smith had 9 assists to lead New Orleans.

Schaumburg Stu won our pick contest for Week 7 in the NFL going 9-5. Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy tied at 8-6 and I was at the bottom going 7-7. Dan the Man held on to his 1 game lead overall at 64-41. Mr. Fantasy is 63-42 while Schaumburg Stu and I are tied at 58-47. Let;s see what Week 8 has in store for us.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast in BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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