Archive for the ‘basketball’ Category

How was your Week?

Posted: June 13, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey
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The Golden State Warriors evened the NBA Finals at 2-2 with a decisive 103-82 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night in Cleveland. Golden State got out to a 7 point lead after the 1st quarter 31-24. They were able to add 5 points to that lead going into halftime by outscoring the Cavaliers 23-18 in the 2nd quarter. Golden State took a 54-42 lead into the locker room at halftime. Cleveland came out and knocked 6 point off of the Warriors lead outscoring Golden State 28-22, but still found themselves trailing 76-70 at the end of the 3rd quarter. The Cavaliers were unable to keep their run going into the 4th quarter and appeared to run out of gas as Golden State pulled away easily adding 15 points to their lead outscoring Cleveland 27-12 in the 4th quarter to get to that 21 point 103=82 victory. Golden State made a change i their tarting line up as Andrew Bogut was removed from the starting line up and Andre Iguodala was inserted into Bogut’s spot. Iguodala  reciprocated by tying for the team lead in points with Stephen Curry. Iguodala and Curry both scored 22 points; Draymond Green scored 17 points and Harrison Barnes also scored in double figures for Golden State with 14 points. Iguodala also tied for the team lead in rebounds with Green and Shaum Livingston. All three players grabbed 8 rebounds in Game 4 while Green tied Curry for the team lead in assists with 6. It ended up being  Timofey Mozgov not LeBron James leading the Cavaliers in scoring with 28 points. James did contribute 20 points, but was 7 of 22 from the field and 5 of 10 from the free throw line while stumbling into a cameraman after being fouled by Bogut. To be fair LeBron was having a bad shooting night before he went tumbling into the first row. Tristan Thompson added 12 points while Matthew Dellavedova scored 10 points, but was a terrible 3 of 14 from the field. Thompson grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers while James added 12 rebounds and Mozgov also had double digit rebounds grabbing 10. James just missed a triple double by 2 assists as he led the Cavaliers with 8 assists. You can add Iman Shumoert and J.R. Smith to the list of Cavaliers who had bad shooting nights in Game 4. Shumpert went 2 of 9 from the field while Smith made just 2 of the 12 shots he took and missed all 8 of the 3-point field goals he attempted The Cavaliers shot 33% from the floor and 14.8% from behind the 3-point line compared to 46.8% from the field and 40% from behind the 3-point line for the Warriors. The series returns to California even at 2 and you have to ask; did the Cavaliers just have a bad shooting night or did the best defensive team (Golden State) in the NBA figure something out?

I mentioned that James went tumbling into the first row of seats under the basket and ran head first into a cameraman. James ended up giving himself a couple of nice cuts on his head which he did bleed from. What I didn’t understand was why wasn’t he removed from the game and tested for a concussion? If an NFL team had left a player on the field who had just hit his head like that the mainstream media would be out with it’s pitchforks and torches calling for everyone involved to be fired. Was it because James is the best player in the game and there was no chance of the Cavaliers making any kind of run with him out of the game. In the post game press conference James mentioned that he didn’t go through the concussion  protocol, but said he had a headache from hitting the camera and cameraman. Now I’m not a doctor or in the medical profession, but I thought that a headache was a  symptom of a concussion. To be honest the entire James tumble looked like a flop until he crashed into the cameraman. I’m thinking that James was trying to get a Flagrant 2 foul called on Bogut and wanted to add a little something to the call and didn’t know were he was on the floor. I doubt James will even show up on any kind of injury report for Game 5.

Speaking of Game 5’s the Chicago Blackhawks and the Tampa Bay Lighting take the ice around 7:00 p.m. for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals with the series tied 2-2. Since this is the NHL, we never heard what Tampa Bay goaltender Ben Bishop’s injury was or is, but it’s being reported that Bishop is “possible” for Game 5. Bishop did not practice Friday and will be evaluated Saturday morning before a decision is made. Tampa Bay’s coach Jon  Cooper said that Bishop’s absence from practice was planned when the decision was made to remove him from the lineup for Game 4 on Wednesday. Bishop left Game 2 and did not play in Game 4. He stopped 36 of 38 shots in Game 3, but noticeably lacked mobility and did not leave the crease to play the puck with his normal frequency. Rookie Andrei Vasilevskiy replaced Bishop in Game 2 and made five saves in the final 7:41 for his first Stanley Cup Playoffs victory. Vasilevskiy, 20, made 17 saves in a 2-1 loss in Game 4, his first NHL postseason start. Vasilevsky would start in goal for Tampa Bay if Bishop is unable to play in Game 5. Tonight’s game is very important to both teams as the winner of Game 5 should win the Stanley Cup. Neither team has won two games in a row in this series and if that holds to form the winner of Game 5 will win it all. Patrick Kane got his 1st point of the series; an assist in Game 4, but even with his scoring slump he’s still the Blackhawks points leader for the playoffs. Kane is one of the best players in the NHL and knows how to score in the playoffs.  In 114 Stanley Cup Playoff games, he has 112 points, including 47 goals. This postseason, he has 10 goals, tied with Jonathan Toews for the team lead, and 21 points in 21 games. In the Final, he was held without a shot in Game 2, but has had three shots in each of the other three games and has been creating chances despite playing with several different linemates in the four games. Did Game 4;s assist get Kane out of his slump? If it did and he’s ready to break out it could bring the 3rd Stanley Cup in 6 seasons to Chicago.

The Houston Astros had lost 7 games in a row and where coming off of a series were they where swept by the Chicago White Sox. Thing didn’t look like they were going to get any better last night (Friday) as “The King” Felix Hernandez was on the mound as the Astros opened their series against the Seattle Mariners. Not only did the Astros end their losing streak they rocked Hernandez. “The King” lasted just 1/3rd of an inning meaning he only got 1 out. Hernandez gave up 5 hits, 8 runs; they were all earned, he walked 2, struck out 1 and gave up 2 home runs. Luis Valbuena and Jason Castro were the Astros who homered off of Hernandez. Last night looks like the worst start of Hernandez’s career and he saw his ERA jump to 3.38 on the season. After getting 8 runs off of Hernandez the Houston offense slowed down, but they didn’t need any more as they costed to a 10-0 victory over Seattle. Brett Oberholtzer (1-1) got the win for Houston pitching 8 innings. Oberholtzer gave up just 3 hits while walking 2 and striking out 5. The Astros other 2 runs were scored on solo home runs. Carlos Correa hit his 2nd home run of the season and Chris Carter hit his 11th home run of the season. The win improves the Astros record to 35-27 with a 2 1/2 game lead over the Texas Rangers in the A.L. West. The disappointing Mariners fell to 27-34 and are 7 1/2 games behind the 1st place Astros.

So how was your week?

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

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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How was your week?

Posted: June 6, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, hockey, horse racing, sports
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Will we see our first Triple Crown winner since 1978 (Affirmed) today at the Belmont Stakes when American Pharoah takes the race track?  At this point American Pharoah needs little introduction. He won the Kentucky Derby by a length and the Preakness Stakes by seven. His top competition in those races, Dortmund and Firing Line, are both skipping the Belmont, making American Pharoah an overwhelming favorite (3/5 betting odds) at the Belmont. He lost the first race he entered, but has won all six since. His name, by the way, is misspelled because it was entered incorrectly into an Internet registry, so he was stuck with it. Dan the Man and Schuamburg Stu believe American Pharoah will win the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown so he is their pick to win the race. Frosted is the other favorite at 5/1 and he’s Mr. Fantasy’s choice to win. Frosted Wood Memorial in April, but has had several good showings, including a fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Joel Rosario is riding Frosted and he did win last years Belmont Stakes on Tonalist. As you can tell my co-hosts didn’t reach while looking for a Belmont winner as they took the favorite and the the horse with the 2nd best odds. I on the other hand have decided to go with Keen Ice who is a 20/1 shot going into the race. Keen Ice finished 7th in the Kentucky Derby, but has a strong bloodline f or the Belmont. Curlin, his sire, finished second in the Belmont. There are a total of 8 horses running in the Belmont Stakes. Besides are picks here are the other horses in today’s race. Materiality (6/1), Mubtaahij (10/1), Madefromlucky (12/1), Tale of Verve (15/1) and Frammento (30/1). Who’s your pick?

Thursday morning I got home and was really looking forward to seeing the highlights of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. As I flipped from morning sports show to morning sports show I was surprised to find that no one was really giving much coverage to Game 1 if at any at all. Of course since ESPN and Fox Sports don’t televise NHL hockey they could care less that the Stanley Cup finals are being played. They’ll bury the story in the middle of their highlight shows were no one may even notice they’re talking about it. Oddly though both network will complain that hockey doesn’t get the coverage it deserves, but yet they don’t cover it. I was able to watch the first 2 periods of Game 1 on television and heard the 3rd period on the radio; so I was able to hear the entire game, but I was hoping to see the 3rd period highlights. Later in the day I was finally able to find some highlights on Comcast Sportsnet which focus on the Chicago teams.

If you saw Game 1 you had to come away thinking that the Tampa Bay Lighting were the better team and even though they were for the most part of Game 1 they ended up losing the game 2-1. Tampa bay went into the 3rd period with a 1-0 lead and had controlled quite a bit of the game, but in the 3rd period they appeared to be playing not to lose instead of playing to win. You have to wonder if nerves or inexperience or possibly both got to the Lighting in that 3rd period. Alex Killorn gave Tampa Bay the lead in the 1st period with a great redirection of the puck by Corey Crawford. Anton Stralman and   Valtteri Filppula assisted on Killron’s goal. That was the only goal of the 1st period; so Tampa Bay took a 1-0 into the dressing room. Neither team was able to put the puck in the back of the net in the 2nd period; so Tampa Bay continued to lead the game 1-0. Teuvo Teravainen was finally able to get the Blackhawks on the scoreboard getting the puck pass Tampa bay goalie Ben Bishop and evening the game at 1-1. Duncan Keith and Andrew Shaw assisted on Teravainen’s goal. It looked as though we were going to get an overtime, but Antoine Vermette scored the game winning goal about 15 minutes into the 3rd period on an assist from Teravainen to put the Blackhawks ahead 2-1 which is how the game ended.

Both goaltenders played well as Crawford stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced while Bishop stopped 19 of 21 shots in goal for the Lighting. Keith as always was the Blackhawks leader in minutes played with 29:15 and Stralman was the Lighting’s minutes leader with 25:29. You’ll hear the announcers say that the Blackhawks are a finesse team, but Brent Seabrook was credited with 7 hits to lead the game in that category.Ondrej Palat was Tampa bay’s leader in hits with 5. Niklas Hjalmarsson of Chicago and Jason Garrison of Tampa Bay each blocked 4 shots to lead their teams in that category. Game 2 is tonight (Saturday) in Tampa Bay.

Now yesterday (Friday) I didn’t have any issues at all finding highlights from Game 1 of the NBA finals game that Golden State won 108-100 in overtime over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers jumped ahead by 10 points at the end of the 1st quarter and looked like they might run away with Game 1. Golden State got themselves back into the game cutting the Cavaliers lead to 3 points going into halftime at 51-48. The game was even by the end of the 3rd quarter at 73 all. Of course the game was tied at 98 apiece at the end of regulation. LeBron James had a chance to win the game for Cleveland at the end of regulation, but missed a tough shot as time ran out. Overtime seemed almost like a different game as Golden State out scored Cleveland 10-2 in the overtime quarter and won 108-100.

Cleveland’s point guard Kyrie Irving limped to the locker room after aggravating his troublesome left knee in overtime. It was later found out that Irving broke his left knee cap. He’ll have surgery and is out for the rest of the finals series. Irving will now join Kevin Love and Andersen Varejao on the sidelines for Cleveland. Is Irving’s injury going to turn out to be too much for Cleveland to overcome. The NBA finals gets the extra day off between game 1 & 2; so they’ll take the court tomorrow (Sunday) for Game 2. Irving’s injury will add even more to LeBron’s work load and going against the team that had the best record in the NBA this season will it be too much for the best player in the NBA to handle. Since the NBA is an offensive league people forget just how good of a defensive team Golden State is. James did score 44 points in Game 1, but without Irving in the line up Golden State will be able to adjust a little more to LeBron and that may make his life a little tougher. It appeared that Golden State was the better team going into this series and with Cleveland losing it’s 2nd best player for the series the question may become; will they be to win a game?

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: June 3, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, hockey, NASCAR, sports
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Chris Olmstead from Beyond the Flag was on the podcast Sunday morning and one of his picks to go to victory lane was Jimmie Johnson. Earlier in the week I had heard one of the Waltrip brothers mention that he thought there might be some troubles on the #48 team. He specifically mentioned what he thought was an issue between Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus. I guess whatever issues there n=might or might not have been it all worked out Sunday. Johnson didn’t have a great car early in the race, but it came around when it matter and he led the last 23 laps on his way to his 4th victory of the season. Kevin Harvick finished 2nd, Kyle Larson was 3rd, Kasey Kahne finished 4th and rounding out the Top 5 was  Aric Almirola. We’re halfway through the NASCAR regular season and the circuit still has to go to Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway twice. There are still 2 road course races at Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International. There’s also a stop at the newest track on the schedule Kentucky Speedway just to go over a few of the races left on the schedule.

Is there anyone out there really surprised that Adrian Peterson showed up at Minnesota Vikings O.T.A.’s this week. I like the statement Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer made when he more or less said that Peterson could play for the Vikings or not play at all. Peterson and his representatives have done a lot of crying this off season as they tried to force the Vikings to trade him. Minnesota held it’s ground and it looks like Peterson will be in a Vikings uniform for the 2015/16 season. Once Week 1 rolls around Peterson’s salary of $12.75 million dollars will be guaranteed. Peterson is trying to get the last 2 years of his deal guaranteed, but that’s brought even more criticism from fans who believed he should be grateful for the organization’s continued support after his legal troubles. This story is just getting started; so I’m sure will hear a lot more complaining if not from Peterson himself, but from the people who represent him.

Are you ready for the Stanley Cup Finals to get started? They’ll drop the puck tonight in Tampa Bay for Game 1 at 7:00 p.m. Central time. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville did quite a bit of line juggling in the Western conference finals against the Anaheim Ducks and you have to wonder if he’ll match up his 4th line of Marcus Kruger, Andrew Desjardins and Andrew Shaw against the Tampa Bay Lighting’s triplet line of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov. I would think that the 1st lines will match up against each other. We should see Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa and Brandon Saad match up with Steven Stamkos, Valtteri Filppula and Alex Killorn. Patrick Kane did skate with Toews during Game 7 of the conference finals; so we’ll have to see if the Blackhawks will continue to keep them together. Tampa Bay will have to decide if they’ll try to match their top defensive pairing of Anton Stralman and Victor Hedman against the line with Kane on it or the Blackhawks top line with Toews on it. The defensive pairings are easier for the Blackhawks just for the fact that Duncan Keith is always on the ice. Keith is normally paired with the underrated Niklas Hjalmarsson, but did skate with Brent Seabrook in the conference finals. The Blackhawks other 3 defenseman Kimmo Timonen, Kyle Cumiskey and Johnny Oduya really need to step up and help the Blackhawks defense. Hedman and Stralman have been getting quite a bit of ice time for Tampa Bay and the Lighting will need their other 4 defenseman Jason Garrison, Braydon Coburn, Matt Carle and Andrej Sustr to factor in this series. Defense and goaltending should become more important as a lot of experts are predicting and offensive series with lots of goal scoring.

How do you feel about Tampa Bay trying to prevent Blackhawks fans from getting tickets to the games in Tampa Bay. They’ve even went so far as to say that you won’t be able to wear Blackhawks gear in the bars and restaurant at Amalie Arena. This has always seemed kind of stupid to me and Dan the Man is convinced that teams do it just for the publicity. The Nashville Predators have been trying to do this with Blackhawks fans for a few seasons now and there still seem to be a good amount of Blackhawks fans at those games. I’m pretty sure when the puck drop for Game 1 and Game 2 in Tampa bay there will be plenty of Blackhawks fans in attendance.

Thursday night the NBA Finals tip off at Oracle Arena as the Golden State Warriors host the Cleveland Cavaliers. Golden State received the best news it probably could’ve gotten as Klay Thompson was medically to play in Game 1. Thompson took a knee to the head in the clinching game against the Houston Rockets and was diagnosed with a concussion. Thompson was diagnosed with the concussion last Friday and missed two days of practice. He returned to the court on Monday and has been symptom free. Thompson completed the NBA’s concussion protocol and will be ready to play on Thursday night. With Thompson being cleared to play both teams should be at full strength. The Cavaliers will of course be missing Kevin Love, but Kyrie Irving should be close to if not 100% for Thursday nights game. 

To no surprise at all the Chicago Bulls hired Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg to replace Tom Thibodeau as their head coach. Hoiberg received a 5 years $25 million dollar contract from the Bulls. Hoiberg went 115-56 at Iowa State and led the Cyclones to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances and back-to-back Big 12 tournament titles. Hoiberg had a 10 year NBA career including 4 seasons with the Bulls. Hoiberg had career averages of 5.4 points per game, 1.6 assists per game and 2.7 rebounds per game. It also looks like the Bulls will get their wish and Thibodeau won’t be getting an NBA head coaching job next season. The Bulls plan all along was to try and shut Thibodeau out of any open head coaching positions and right now only the Denver Nuggets are in the market for a head coach and I don;t believe Thibodeau’s name has been mentioned. It’s was petty of the Bulls to do that to Thibodeau even of they didn’t like him or couldn’t get along with him, but sadly they weren’t above being childish. Thibodeau is due to receive $9 million over the next couple of seasons from the Bulls which was another reason I thought the Bulls would like to see him get another head coaching job. Unless something else opens up or the Nuggets come calling Thibodeau will either have to take an assistant coaching job or sit out and wait for an NBA head coaching opening.

How was your Week?

Posted: May 30, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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The NHL had it’s first of two Game 7’s last night as the Tampa Bay Lighting beat the New York Rangers 2-0 to advance to the Stanley Cup finals. It was a 0-0 game until the 3rd period when Alex Killorn scored a couple minutes into the period to give the Lighting the lead. Ondrej Palat scored the 2nd goal for Tampa Bay about 11 minutes into the 3rd period to ice the game. Ben Bishop made 22 saves for Tampa Bay in the shutout and is 7-1 with a 1.25 goals-against average, a .951 save percentage and two shutouts following a loss in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It was his second shutout of the series and third of the postseason. Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves for the Rangers, who entered 7-0 in Game 7 at home but were denied a return trip to the Cup Final. Lundqvist had won six consecutive Game 7’s, an NHL record. The Stanley Cup finals start on Wednesday and Tampa bay will find out tonight if they will be facing the Anaheim Ducks or the Chicago Blackhawks. Anaheim is the home team tonight; the game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. (Central Time) start time. If form holds in this series the team that scores first will win. No matter how they have gotten there if you’re the first team to out the puck in the net you win. Barry Melrose mentioned in his preview of the game that there could be quite a bit offense tonight. So will we get a 5-4 game or a 2-1 game?

So the NHL gets 3 days off before they start the Stanley Cup Finals on the other hand the NBA has 8 days off between the end of the conference finals and the start of the NBA finals. By the time the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers take the court to start the finals I won’t even care who wins it. The days off may be a blessing for the Warriors as Klay Thompson got a concussion in the series clinching victory over the Houston Rockets and can use these days to rest and get ready. Depending on the what grade of concussion Thompson received will be the final decision on if he’ll be ready for Game 1. Thompson will not return to practice until he is symptom free and is being listed as out indefinitely. The longer break should also help the Cavaliers as well. Guard Kyrie Irving has been slowed by knee tendinitis and a sore foot, and four-time NBA MVP LeBron James has been banged up as well. If you’ve listened to a LeBron James interview you wouldn’t believe it. but neither of those injuries seems as serious as the one the Warriors are facing now. The NBA’s concussion policy requires players to pass a series of steps without experiencing symptoms before they can return. That starts with riding a stationary bike and progresses to jogging, agility work and non-contact team drills, according to the league. Players must start over if they experience any symptoms. The protocol also requires the team physician to discuss the process with Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, the director of the NBA’s concussion program, before a player can return. If Thompson is out for any length of time will the Warriors be able to replace him?

Stephen Strasburg exited his start last night against the Cincinnati Reds after pitching 1 inning. Strasburg showed signs of an injury in the 1st inning, but came out for the 2nd inning before Washington Nationals manager Matt Williams and a trainer came out and removed him from the game. There is no official announcement on Strasburg’s condition or if he’ll miss a start, but in his post game interview he mentioned how he felt he couldn’t get his throwing shoulder loose. This is the second early departure from a start in a row for Strasburg. He pitched just 3 2/3rds innings against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 23rd. Strasburg has made 10 starts this season and is 3-5 with an ERA of 6.55. Strasburg was the #1 overall pick by the Nationals in 2009. When the pick was made there were scouts and baseball experts talking about how Strasburg might win multiple Cy Young awards during his career and he still might. Strasburg did pick up a small share of votes for the Cy Young award last season (2014) and did lead the National League in strikeouts with 242 and games started with 34. In 6 seasons Strasburg has made 119 career starts, but only twice gas he started 30 or more games in a season; remember though he did miss most of the 2011 season. He made just 5 starts in 2011 because of an arm injury that required Tommy John surgery. Strasburg has one more year of arbitration with the Nationals before hitting the free agent market in 2017. There’s a very good chance that Strasburg will go out onto the open market since he is represented by Scott Boras. If this arm issue os something that will cause Strasburg to miss time you have to think it will affect his value a couple of seasons down the road. Then instead of what might he get on the free agent market will we be talking about the fact that he was a bust as a #1 overall draft pick.

Josh Hamilton made his return to the Texas Rangers this week. I’m not sure how I feel about this as I’m in the camp that thinks he should’ve been suspended. He’s appeared in 5 games for the Rangers and has 5 hits in the last 3 games. Hamilton actually hit 2 home runs against the Red Sox last night. Texas is 3-2 with Hamilton on the line up including a 7-4 last night in the game he homered twice in. The Rangers are 24-25, 6 games out of 1st place in the American League West. I don;t think anyone was expecting Hamilton to lead the Rangers to a division title or a World Series win, but this does have a chance to be a good story. Hamilton has a chance to be an example to a lot of people who have the sane issues as he does. The question will be; can he stay clean?

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

So how was your week?

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: May 27, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, hockey, NASCAR, sports
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The Cleveland Cavaliers easily won Game 4 of the Eastern conference finals to sweep the Atlanta Hawks out of the NBA playoffs. While I wasn’t surprised to see the Cavaliers win this series as I like a lot of people had them going to the NBA finals, but I was a little surprised they swept this series. Atlanta was the best team in the Eastern conference during the regular season and I thought they would find a way to win a game or two in this series. Game 4 ended up being the biggest blowout of the series a 30 Cleveland win 118-88. The Cavaliers took a 12 point lead at the end of the 1st quarter 32-20 and that was pretty much the end of the Hawks. Cleveland added 5 points to their lead going into the half at 59-42. The Cavaliers just kept pulling away as they added 8 points to their lead by the end of the 3rd quarter 85-60 and even in the 4th quarter when the game was pretty much decided the Cavaliers still added another 5 points to their lead to get to that 118-88 final score. LeBron James led the Cavaliers in scoring with 23 points, but 5 other Cleveland players scored in double figures. J.R, Smith scored 18 points, Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson scored 16 points, Timofey Mozgov had 14 points and Matthew Dellavedova added 10 points for Cleveland. Thompson pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers and Smith also grabbed 10 rebounds in the Game 4. James lead the Cavaliers with 7 assists. Irving was returning from injury and played just under 22 minutes and it was good for Cleveland to get him into a game before the finals. There was a lot of talk of if he should play or if the Cavaliers should just hold him out until the finals started. As long as Irving came out of Game 4 healthy it was the best thing for him to get a game and some minutes under his belt before the NBA finals start. Jeff Teague led Atlanta in scoring with 17 points in Game 4. Paul Millsap had 16 points and 10 rebounds 8 assists while Kent Bazemore had 12 points and 8 assists, Shelvin Mack and John Jenkins both added 10 points for Atlanta. With Kyle Korver missing Game 4 with an injury Atlanta shot 15.6 % from behind the 3 point line going 5 for 32. The only Atlanta player to make more than one 3 pointer was Jenkins and he had 2. It was a rough end for a team like Atlanta that played so well during the regular season and this will just add to the playoff failures the Hawks have had over the years.

The first chance for Cleveland to learn who it’s finals opponent might be is Friday. Game 5 between the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets tips off at 8:00 p.m. Central time on ESPN with the Warriors leading the series 3 games to 1 and looking to close it out. I’m sure every Golden State fan was relieved to see Stephan Curry come back on the court and play some minutes after the horrible fall he took earlier in Game 4. This was another situation where there was talk of if Curry should’ve returned to the game. I don;t see it being any issues as long as he was medically cleared to return to the game by  a doctor. You’d have to think if Curry isn’t have any lingering issues from the fall you have to think they’ll be able to close out the Rockets tonight, but Houston did come back from being down 3-1 to the Los Angeles Clippers in their last series. Not that my predictions ever work out; so sorry Warriors fans, but I’m taking them to win on Friday.

NASCAR had it’s longest race of the season last Sunday. It was the Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Carl Edwards used a fuel mileage strategy to get a win and propel himself and his Joe Gibbs Racing #19 into The Chase. Greg Biffle also running a fuel mileage strategy had his best finish of the season finishing 2nd. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 3rd, Matt Kenseth finished 4th and Martin Truex Jr. led the most laps (131) during the race, but came in 5th. Now I’m a fan of NASCAR, but I have to say that I don’t enjoy the races that are won with fuel mileage. I understand that strategy is all part of NASCAR and wins are of the up most importance with The Chase set up, but I didn’t enjoy it. NASCAR has had 9 different winners so far this season; so those 9 drivers look good for The Chase. Now the Sprint Cup series goes to Dover International Speedway this Sunday for the Fed-Ex 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks. Will there be a repeat winner? or will NASCAR get it’s 10th different winner this season?

There were a couple of other races on Sunday. Juan Pablo Montoya won the Indianapolis 500 trading the lead with Will Power a few times late in the race before he pulled away for the win. Power had to settle for 2nd place. The F1 series had the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday and for the 3rd consecutive year  Nico Rosberg won. It appeared that Lewis Hamilton was on his way to victory in Monaco, but some poor strategy cost him and he ended up in 3rd place. Besides Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel was the other driver to take advantage of Hamilton’s issues and finished 2nd. I saw very little of the Monaco Grand Prix, but I did get to see quite a bit of the Indianapolis 500. Did you watch ither race? or are you a fan of either of these racing series?

The New York Rangers evened their series with the Tampa Bay Lighting last night with a 7-3 victory. The win by the Rangers forces a Game 7 for this series Friday night at 7:00 p.m. Central time. New York had a 2-1 lead going into the 3rd period and then out scored the Lighting 5 to 2 in that 3rd period to pull away for the win.  Derick Brassard had a hat trick for the Rangers scoring the 1st, 5th and final goals. Nikita Kucherov had both of the Tampa Bay goals in the 3rd period. We’ll see if the Chicago Blackhawks can extend their series against the Anaheim Ducks tonight. Anaheim leads the series 3 games to 2 with Game 6 being played tonight in Chicago. The Game is on the NBC Sports Network starting at 7:00 p.m. Central time. Will we get two Game 7’s in the NHL conference finals?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your Week?

Posted: May 23, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
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It’s Memorial Day weekend and that means the Indianapolis 500 will be run. NASCAR has pretty much taken over any type of racing news, but the Indianapolis 500 is the one still mainstream open wheel race that gets covered. When I was younger I would watch the race, but not so much anymore. While I’ll still try to catch the end to see who wins the race there’s not a connection you might feel for your favorite NASCAR driver with this series for me. While I still recognize some of the names like polesitter Scott Dixon after looking at the starting grid there where only 4 other drivers starting in the Top 10 who’s names I recognized. I’m sure if I followed this racing series a little closer I would know the other drivers in the Top 10, but I don’t even know if their other races are shown on television. While I would never want to see the Indianapolis 500 not be televised this weekend or moved to another network I would like to be able to find the other races in this series easier. 

The Los Angeles Dodgers are in 1st place in the NL West by 1 1/2 games over the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers and Giants just finished a mid-week 3 game series that saw the Giants sweep all 3 game from the Dodgers in that series. Not only did the Giants get a sweep in that series the Dodgers were shutout in all 3 games. San Francisco seems to be getting healthy while Los Angeles is going through some injuries. Even though the Dodgers did win their game last night they still only put up 2 runs. I don;t think anyone thought that offense would be an issues for the Dodgers and when Yasiel Puig returns from his hamstring injury the offense should return to were it was at the start of the season. What I’m wondering is if there’s going to be a move made for a starting pitcher. Los Angeles still has the best 1,2 top of the rotation in baseball with Clayton Kershaw and Zach Greinke in those roles, but there are some questions after that. Brett Anderson has been solid at 2-2 with an ERA of 3.61 in his 8 starts. The 8 starts Anderson has made this season match his total from all of last season and he hasn’t made more than 30 starts in his career. Anderson made 30 starts as a rookie in 2009; so will he hold up over a season in the Dodgers rotation. Brandon McCarthy has been lost for the season and it was announced yesterday that Hyun-jin Ryu will have season ending shoulder surgery. Ryu didn’t make any starts for the Dodgers this season. Carlos Frias has made 6 appearances with 4 of those being starts and is 3-1 with a 2.55 ERA. Mike Bolsinger has made 3 starts for the Dodgers as well and is 2-0 with an ERA of 1.04. Will the Dodgers stick with Frias and Bolsinger at the back of the rotation or will they go out on the trade market and try to find pitching. I’d be surprised to see Cole Hamels in a Dodgers uniform unless the Philadelphia Phillies come way down on what they want in return for Hamels. Now there is another Phillies pitcher that has gotten some attention early in the trade market. Could the veteran Aaron Harang be someone the Dodgers might be interested in. Harang is 4-3 in 9 starts for the Phillies with an ERA of 1.82. I’d be surprised to see Harang still with the Phillies at the end of the season, but which contender or contenders might be interested .

I was a little surprised to see the Cleveland Cavaliers more or less coast to a 12 point win 94-82 in Game 2 of the Eastern conference finals against the Atlanta Hawks. The Cavaliers took a 5 point lead after the 1st quarter 26-21. Cleveland kept the lead at 5 going into halftime 54-49, but pulled away in the 3rd quarter out scoring Atlanta 30-17 and taking a 84-66 lead. The Hawks did out score the Cavaliers in the 4th quarter 16 to 10, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough to get Atlanta back into the game or close to a win. LeBron James led Cleveland and all scorers with 30 points. James also had 11 assists and 9 rebounds missing a triple double by just that 1 rebound. Iman Shumpert (16) Matthew Dellavedova (11) and Timofey Mozgov (10) were the other Cavaliers scoring in double figures while Tristan Thompson grab a game high 16 rebounds for Cleveland. Dennis Schroder led Atlanta with 13 points, but Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver and Al Horford all scored 12 points for the Hawks. Cleveland has a 2 games to 0 lead in the series and they are headed back to Cleveland for Game 3 on Sunday night. Can Atlanta win a game in Cleveland and keep the series alive and return home or are the Cavaliers looking at a sweep. 

If you’re a Houston Rockets fan are you going to end up looking back at this Western conference finals series against the Golden State Warriors and wonder what if. The Rockets lost Game 1 by 4 points 110-106 and had their chances to take that game. Thursday night though might be the heartbreaker for Rockets fans. The Rockets were down 1 point with under 10 seconds to play and they had the basketball. James Harden was doubled teamed and unable to get a game winning shot off as the Rockets lost 99-98 in Game 2. Golden State has a 2-0 lead in this series, but it could just as easily be the other way around and if you’re Houston you have to think those missed chances will cost you this series. The series heads back to Houston for Game 3 tonight and the Rockets are kind of in the same boat the hawks find themselves in. Can they win a game at home to keep the series alive or will they be swept out of the conference finals.

On the podcast we always notice how the NFL finds ways to keep themselves in the news all year long, but lately all I’ve heard is the negative “Deflate Gate” news. I doubt this is the kind of news the NFL wants to generate in the off season and I have to tell you; I’m over this already. While I do think that a 4 game suspension was too much for Tom Brady I have no real interest in this situation. I side with Dan the Man on this when he has said over and over on the Sports Time Radio podcast that this is really the NFL’s fault. With all of the money the NFL makes they couldn’t have someone in charge of the game footballs. That’s enough of that garbage. When does mini-camp start?

Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: May 20, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, horse racing, sports
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Let’s go ahead and start off with the Sports Time Radio fantasy players of the week for Week 6. We went with two Cleveland Indians this week 2nd baseman Jason Kipnis and Corey Kluber. I know it’s early in the season, but it’s the first time we’ve had winners from the same team.

Here’s how we stand right now with our teams of hitting pitchers:

Dan the Man’s team is 10/66 .152 0 HR’s 4 RBI’s and 29 K’s

Mr. Fantasy’s team is 17/85 .200 0 HR’s 2 RBI’s and 26 K’s

My team is 12/82 .146 1 HR 6 RBI’s and 34 K’s

The NHL is in it’s conference finals and both series are tied 1-1 with Game 3 of the New York Rangers vs. the Tampa Bay Lighting is tonight. The series has moved to Tampa Bay and if they can hold home ice they’ll move on to the Stanley Cup finals. The Rangers won Game 1 of the series 2-1, but Tampa Bay took Game 2 by putting up 6 goals in a 6-2 win. The Western conference series is moving to Chicago for Game 3 on Thursday night. The Anaheim Ducks took Game 1 by scoring 2 goals in the 3rd period and pulling away to a 4-1 win. Last night the Chicago Blackhawks evened the series with a 3-2 win in 3 overtimes. At 16:12 of the third overtime Marcus Krueger scored the game winner for the Blackhawks. and ended what was the longest game in Blackhawks history. Corey Crawford made 62 saves for Chicago and  Frederik Andersen made 56 saves for Anaheim. It will be interesting to see how these two teams bounce back with just one day off before Game 3.

The NBA has also just started it’s conference finals, but only the Western conference has gotten under way with the Golden State Warriors taking Game 1  110-106 over the Houston Rockets. Stephan Curry lead all scorers with 34 points making 6 – 11 from behind the 3-point line. Shaun Livingston (18), Klay Thompson (15), Harrison Barnes (14) and Draymond Green (13) all scored double figures for Golden State. Green also grabbed 12 rebounds and was just 2 assists shy of a triple double as he had 8 assists. The Rockets were led by James Harden with 28 points, Trevor Ariza had 20 points and Josh Smith had 17 points. Even though he injured a knee and played just a little over 26 minutes Dwight Howard led the Rockets with 13 rebounds. Harden added 11 rebounds and missed his triple double by just 1 assists as he led the Rockets with 9 assists in the game. The Rockets had the lead after one quarter at 31-24, but Golden State bounced back to take a 58-55 lead at halftime. Golden State added 2 points to their lead after 3 quarters 84-79. The Rockets did out score the Warriors in the final period 27 to 26, but it wasn’t enough to get a win. With the next game on Thursday you have to wonder if Howard will be ready to play. If you’re a Rockets fan are you trying to figure out if Howard doesn’t get injured would you of stolen Game 1. Game 1 of the Eastern conference finals starts tonight in Atlanta as the Atlanta Hawks host the Cleveland Cavaliers. Game 2 is Friday May 22nd in Atlanta as well. The series seems to be being billed as Atlanta’s team concept against LeBron James or I saw someone call it “Hero Ball”. 

The NBA had it’s draft lottery last night and it was the Los Angeles Lakers who moved up at the expense of the New York Knicks. Los Angeles moved up from #4 to the #2 pick while it was New York that fell from #2 to #4. New York had the 2nd best odds going into the lottery last night, but fell to the 4th pick in the draft. Everything else for the NBA lottery held true to form. The Minnesota Timberwovles got the #1 pick, the Lakers are #2, the Philadelphia 76ers are #3, the Knicks are #4, the Orlando Magic are #5, the Sacramento Kings are #6, the Denver Nuggets are #7, the Detroit Pistons are #8, the Charlotte Hornets are #9, the Miami Heat are #10, the Indiana Pacers are #11. the Utah Jazz are #12, the Phoenix Suns are #13 and the Oklahoma City Thunder got the last spot in the draft lottery at #14. The Lakers appear to be the big winner coming out of last night as they along with the Timberwolves will get either Jahlil Okafor or Karl-Anthony Towns at the top of the draft. The Knicks where one of the teams that lost out last night, but in a way so did the 76ers. While Philadelphia did land the 3rd pick most experts have said that there is a drop off between the 2nd and 3rd best players in this draft. Not only that, but Philadelphia had a chance to leave the lottery with 3 lottery picks. If the Lakers pick would’ve landed outside of the Top 5 it would’ve went to the 76ers as part of an earlier trade. Of course we know now that the Lakers are picking 2nd; so they get to keep that draft pick. The 76ers also had a deal with the Heat and if the Miami draft pick would’ve fallen out of the Top 10 Philadelphia would’ve gotten that pick as well. Miami landed right at #10 in the draft and they get to keep their draft pick as well.

The most interesting player in the upcoming NBA draft may be Emmanuel Mudiay who played last season in China.  Mudiay was born in the Republic of Congo, was living in Texas and planned to attend SMU, then signed a pro contract in China amid claims (that his family denied) the move was to escape NCAA heat on academic issues. While an ankle injury cost him most of the season in Guangdong, a healthy Mudiay will pop at the select few individual workouts he performs.

Schaumburg Stu went with the favorite American Pharoah to win the Preakness and he cam through for him winning the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown. I went with Divining Rod who finished 3rd. Mr. Fantasy’s horse Mr. Z ended up in 5th place and Dan the Man’s pick Firing Line finished in 7th place out of 8 horses.  American Pharoah became the 14th horse since 1978 to take the Kentucky Derby-Preakness Stakes and now the question is; can he win the Belmont Stakes?

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

You can also follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week?

Posted: May 9, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, NASCAR, sports
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Derrick Rose banked in a 3-pointer to give the Chicago Bulls a 99-96 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 of their 2nd round playoff series. On the radio there was just as much talk after the game about a couple of other plays as there was Rose’s game winner. Late in the 3rd quarter LeBron James drove to the basket and was clearly tied up by Jimmy Butler for what should’ve been a jump ball. The referees saw it differently and called Butler for a foul. Then on the play right before Rose hit the game winning shot James ran at Rose banged into him and luckily for the Bulls the basketball ended up going out of bounds. I get it; there where 3 seconds left and no referee in the NBA is going to call a foul on the best player in the league in that situation. Fans rooting against the Cavaliers forget how much pull James seems to have. Remember 2 seasons ago he complained that the All-Star break wasn’t long enough and this season they magically had a couple of extra days added to All-Star weekend. Any referee who likes his job and wants to keep it is going to swallow his whistle when it comes to a play like that and James is involved. Was the first play a jump ball; yes. Was the second play a foul; yes. Was either play called correctly; no and they won’t be. I was a little surprised by the Bulls fans being as upset as they were with these two blatantly missed calls. I guess they forgot how the Bulls used to benefit from this same situation when Michael Jordan was wearing a Chicago uniform.

Rose led all scorers with 30 points and finally got to the free throw line in the series making 9 of 10 free throws. Rose was 10 of 26 from the field and 1 of 3 from behind the 3-point line. That means the only 3-pointer Rose hit was the last second bank shot to win the game. Butler had 20 points, Mike Dunleavy scored 16 points and Nikola Mirotic added 12 points off the bench. Pau Gasol was injured and played just a little under 22 minutes in Game 3. James led the Cavaliers with 27 points. James was 8 of 25 from the field and made just 1 of his 7 3-points attempts on the night. Kyrie Irving went 3 of 4 from behind the 3-point line, but those where the only 3 shots he made from the field going 3 for 13 while scoring 11 points. Tristan Thompson was the other Cavaliers starter to score double digit points with 10 while J.R. Smith scored 14 point off the bench included the late 3-pointer that tied the game at 96, .Matthew Dellavedova also came off the cavaliers bench to score 10 points. Game 3 is Sunday afternoon in Chicago with the Bulls holding a 2-1 series lead.

In the late game last night (Friday) the Los Angeles Clippers took a 2 games to 1 lead over the Houston Rockets in their Western conference 2nd round series by winning Game 3 124-99. J.J. Reddick went 5 of 6 from behind the 3-point line and 11 of 14 from the field overall for a game high 31 points. Austin Rivers scored 25 points and Blake Griffin added 20 points as the Clippers shot 55.4% from the field and 44.8% from behind the 3-point line in their win. The Rockets were led by James Harden with 25 points, but shot 39.8% from the field and 33.3% from behind the 3-point line in the game. Harden did hand out 11 assists and Dwight Howard had a double-double 14 each points and rebounds. In true Howard fashion he went 4 of 11 from the free throw line and as a team the Rockets where 18 of 31 (58.1%) from the free throw line. Chris Paul did return for the Clippers and played a little over 23 minutes. Game 3 is Sunday for these two teams in Los Angeles.

Have you ever thought that your favorite NFL team might be cursed or jinxed or something along those lines. If you’re a fan of the Jacksonville Jaquars and I know there are some of you out there you have to be wondering about this. Jacksonville had the 3rd pick in the draft last weekend and they decided to go with a pass rusher to help their defense instead of taking the player that most if not all experts thought was the best player in the draft;; Leonard Williams a defensive lineman. Since Jacksonville wanted a true edge rusher they drafted Dante Fowler Jr. a linebacker/defensive end with the 3rd pick. Well on the 1st day of rookie mini camp Fowler torn the ACL ligament in his left knee and will miss the 2015 season. Fowler was already talked about as a Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate. It was report that Fowler’s left knee bent awkwardly during 11 on 11 drills and he had to be carted off of the field. Fowler was set to play Jacksonville’s “Leo” position in their defense. The Jaquars where also hoping a “high motor” player like Fowler would add to their young defense that finished 6th in the NFL last season with 45 sacks. Even though he;s out of college it looks like Fowler will be taking a red shirt year instead of rushing quarterbacks in the NFL.

The NASCAR circuit heads to the Kansas Speedway for The Spomgebob Squarepants 400 tonight. Joey Logano won the pole in qualifying yesterday  with a speed of 192.397 M.P.H. Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Carl Edwards round out the Top 5 qualifiers for the race. Dan the Man’s favorite driver Clint Bowyer starts 21st. This is the first race where Erik Jones will take over the #18 Jo Gibbs Racing (JGR) car from David Ragan who was filling in for an inured Kyle Busch. Ragan is now driving the #55 car for Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) for what looks like the rest of the race season. Brian Vickers started the season in the #55 car, but has been out with blood clots and there hasn’t been a timetable set for his return. Jeff Gordon is the defending champion and could use a win to lock down a spot in The Chase. Chris Olmstead from BeyondtheFlag.com was unable to join us on the podcast Friday to preview the race and give us his picks, but he will be joining us tomorrow to recap the race. We did receive Chris’s picks via e-mail. Here’s what he said ” I think there is going to be another different winner this weekend so I am going to go with Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon or Kasey Kahne”

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: May 6, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports
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If your favorite team plays in the NL Central and they’re not the St. Louis Cardinals is the best outcome you can hope for 2nd place already this season. When the Cardinals lost Adam Wainwright for the season with a torn Achilles I actually thought they might fall back to the other teams in the NL Central. Instead St. Louis is looking like the best team in baseball. They have the best record in baseball at 20-6 and are currently on an 8 game winning streak. Last night (Tuesday) St. Louis won a game started by Tyler Lyons. Lyons has 13 career starts; he is 2-8 with an ERA of 4.69 over 94 career innings. Now by no means was Lyons great last night against the Chicago Cubs he did keep the game close enough for the Cardinals to find a way to win the game. Lyons pitched 4 1/3rd innings giving up 6 hits, 4 runs 3 of which were earned. Lyons did strikeout 7 Cubs while walking 2 and did throw a wild pitch. Not the starting pitcher stat line you’d want every game for your team, but it was good enough last night. Of course it helps that the bullpen came through with 4 2/3rd scoreless innings. Mitch Harris picked up the win, Kevin Siegrist and Miguel Socolovich each qualified for a hold and Trevor Rosenthal close the game out to get his 9th save of the season. Down the road the Cardinals will have to find someone to be that 5th starter. Before Lyons, Tim Cooney got a start that didn’t go so well. Cooney lasted just 2 1/3rd innings giving up 7 hits, 3 runs all earned while walking 1 striking out 3 and giving up a home run. Will that 5th spot go to Marco Gonzales who almost won the spot out of spring training or will Jamie Garcia step back into the rotation once he recovers from injury. Garcia threw 70 pitches in an extended Spring Training game on Tuesday and is set to go out on a rehab assignment early next week. Gonzales has made 3 starts for Triple A Memphis this season. In 16 innings his ERA is 4.50 giving up 20 hits and 8 runs while walking 3 and striking out 13. Those are a couple of the options St. Louis might use as a 5th starter. There’s also a chance they’ll go out and make a trade a little later in the season, but St. Louis always seems to be able to fill these spots from within their  organization.

On the other end of the standings from the Cardinals, but in the NL East are the Philadelphia Phillies. Philadelphia is 10-18 through this early part of the season, but they still have the best trade piece on their roster. That begs the question; why is Cole Hamels still in a Phillies uniform? Is Philadelphia;s asking price still to high for Hamels? There have been some rumors that the Los Angeles Dodgers have kicked the tires on a deal involving Hamels. The report is that the Phillies asked for two of the three Dodgers top prospects plus. That would mean the Dodgers would have to move two of these three Joc Pedersen, Corey Seager or Julio Urias plus whatever you might have to toss in to fill out the deal. Is Hamels worth that? Don’t forget Hamels is signed through 2018 with an option for 2019. He’ll make $23.5 million every season and the 2019 option is for $20 million. Their is an option that will make his 2019 salary $24 million if it’s reached and there is also a $6 million buy out if his team doesn’t want to pick up that option. That sounds like a lot to ask for a pitcher who in 6 starts is 1-3 with an ERA of 4.14.

How much do the Cleveland Cavaliers miss Kevin Love? The Cavaliers dropped Game 1 of their 2nd round series to the Chicago Bulls at home 99-92. Cleveland will try to even up the series tonight. The Bulls where 10 of 18 (55.6%) from behind the 3-point line and 40 for 80 (50%) from the field. Can just a little better defense from Cleveland or a worse shooting night from the Bulls even this series up. The Bulls about rebounded the Cavaliers 42-39. If Love was healthy would he have altered this total. Love averaged 9.7 rebounds a game during the regular season and 7 per game in the 1st round playoff series. Or is all the Cavaliers need is J.R. Smith to return to the lineup. Smith was serving a suspension from the Cavaliers 1st round series and missed Game 1. Maybe if LeBron James just shoots better the Cavaliers will even this series. James was 9 for 22 (40.9%) from the field and didn’t make any of the his 3-point attempts; he took 3 in the game. James did have 15 rebounds and 9 assists in Game 1. Love injury is tough to factor into this series as it seemed like he never truly fit into the system. Is Cleveland having the best player in the NBA enough to get them past the Bulls in Round 2?

The other game tonight has the Los Angeles Clippers vs. the Houston Rockets. The Clippers took Game 1 of this series on the road 117-101. The other two series are tied at 1-1 as the Atlanta Hawks handed the Washington Wizards their first playoff loss 106-90 in Tuesday’s first game. In the nightcap the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Golden State Warriors 97-90 to give the Warriors their first playoff loss. I’ve never liked the way the NBA handles their playoff scheduling and this is one of the reasons why. The Hawks/Wizards series and the Warriors/Grizzlies series are off until Saturday. So all 4 teams played on Tuesday night and then they’re giving a 3 day break while the Bulls/Cavaliers series and the Rockets/Clippers series come back to play on Friday and then on Sunday. It just seems odd to me that two of the four series play every other day and the other two series manage to get a three day break in between  games 3 and 4. Of course this is part of the reason that the NBA playoffs run so long and by the time they actually crown a champion most of the casual fans no longer care who wins.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to Sports Time Radio on http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your Week?

Posted: May 2, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, Boxing, football, hockey, sports
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The 1st round of the NBA playoffs will wrap up tonight when the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Clippers play Game 7 of their series tonight in Los Angeles. This has been the only interesting series of the first round. Even though the Milwaukee Bucks and the Brooklyn Nets found ways to win a couple games against their higher seeded opponents there was never any real doubt who would win those series. Even though the Washington Wizards where the #5 seed in their series against the Toronto Raptors; Washington was playing better basketball coming into the playoffs and it showed when they swept the series. The majority of these series were boring and uninteresting with the exception of the Spurs/Clippers series. As the NBA playoffs start the 2nd round let’s hope the games get better and more interesting.

Now the NHL has started the 2nd round of their playoffs and 3 out of the 4 games were great to start these series off. The Anaheim Ducks did have an easy time in Game 1 against the Calgary Flames winning 6-2. The Washington Capitals won Game 1 of their series against the New York rangers by scoring a goal in the final seconds of the 3rd period to steal a 2-1 victory. It took double overtime to settle Game 1 of the Montreal Canadiens/Tampa Bay Lighting series.. Nikita Kucherov scored in the 2nd overtime to win the game for Tampa Bay 2-1. The Chicago Blackhawks jumped out to a 3 goal lead in Game 1 of their series against the Minnesota Wild and looked like they would cruise to a victory. Minnesota turned around and scored the next 3 goals to even the game, but the Blackhawks managed to out 1 more puck in the net and take Game 1, 4-3. The 2nd round of the NHL playoffs got off to a great start and hopefully they’ll carry it on through these series.

I’ve always enjoyed watching the NFL draft, but this may be the last season I take the time to do that. I’ve tried watching the coverage on ESPN and the NFL Network and they both stink. They’ve spent way too much time just doing nothing. The picks get backed up 3 or 4 teams and it’s like neither network has never covered a draft before. Now I have no issue when things slow down to salute the military or have someone from a charity the NFL works with come out. It’s nice to see a former player like Jim Kelly or Rick Upchurch get the applause from the crowd for the battles they’re fighting. It’s even funny to see Ickey Woods announce a Cincinnati Bengals draft pick and “Shuffle” for the fans, but the NFL and the networks need to find a way to speed up the announcement of the picks. Rounds 4-7 start in about 4 hours and they are outside today, but luckily they’re going to get some good weather in Chicago for it. They also mentioned that the picks will be announced from the teams war rooms; so I’m interested to see how this works out and if it might speed things up a little.

On the Sports Time Radio podcast yesterday (Friday) we had Zach Alapi from http://www.TheLivingDaylights.co on with us to talk about the Floyd Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao boxing match that takes place tonight. Zach has Mayweather winning this fight by decision, but his staff was split on who would win. 3 of the writers on his website had Mayweather winning, but there where 2 writers who picked Pacquiao to win. On the podcast Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I all have Mayweather winning tonight and just like Zach we see the fight going to distance. On one of the sports networks I get they were actually announcing which celebrities were sitting ringside and all I could fins myself asking was; who cares. This is a fight boxing fans have been waiting for and why does it matter at all who’s sitting ringside. With the price of tickets who else did they think would be in those seats.

The other big event happening today is the Kentucky Derby. It’s the first race in the Triple Crown from Churchhill Downs. I made my pick on Wednesday and I’m sticking with Mubtaahji. Mr. Fantasy likes Danzig Moon and Dan the Man has Firing Line to win. I will caution people not to take our advise on horse racing as we know little to nothing about the sport and I’m pretty sure we all just took a name we liked. I actually do watch the derby, but I’m just interested in the actual race and I can do without all of the pre-race stuff. There are some experts who will tell you that horse racing and boxing are dying sports. Isn’t it interesting that they both ended up having huge events on the same day.

Last night in Fenway Park Alex Rodriguez tied Willie Mays on the all-time home run list with hitting his 660th home run. While this should be a celebrated event for baseball I could care less about it. There’s a pretty good chance that Rodriguez has been using some type of performance enhancing drug his entire baseball career and there were even some reports about him using P.E.D.’s in high school. The high school rumors were never proven, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all. 660 home runs is a great accomplishment for a player who didn’t cheat the game. Is there anyone out there who even cares about this that’s not a New York Yankees fan. It was no real surprise that the Boston Red Sox fans booed Rodriguez when he was announced as a pinch hitter. Mike Shuster is the Red Sox fan who was sitting on top of the Green monster and caught Rodriguez’s 660th home run. Shuster has told the New York Post that he won’t be giving the baseball to Rodriguez. It is being reported to “stay tuned” to this story as Shuster might have a price. A Hall of Fame spokesman said they would accept Rodriquez’s 660th home run ball or “milestone” as the spokesman put it. Maybe they could put a side note on the ball explaining how Rodriguez got to this number, but I doubt they actually would.

Listen to Sports Time Radio on http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

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