Archive for the ‘hockey’ Category

Let’s Call it Wednesday

Posted: May 11, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, hockey, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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I have to say I was a little disappointed when the Pittsburgh Penguins series against the Washington Capitals ended last night. I know that sooner or later they all end, but I was really hoping for a Game 7 out of this one. At first there looked as though we’d have no shot at a Game 7. Phil Kessel gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead in the 1st period. Kessel also scored the next goal of the game on a power play to put the Penguins up 2-0. After Carl Hagelin added a power play goal to make it 3-0 Pittsburgh it seemed as though the game might be over. When Chris Kunitz took a tripping penalty late in the 2nd period it was pretty much a must score power play for the Capitals. T.J. Oshie was able to capitalize and get Washington on the board with a goal on that power play to make the game 3-1 and give the Capitals a lot of momentum heading into the 3rd period. Now 3 goals is still a lot to make up and Matt Murray has been one of the hottest goaltenders in the playoffs; so Washington had a big hill to climb. After Justin Williams cut the lead to 3-2 with a goal the Capitals where back in the game. The Penguins seemed to lose a little bit of their composure and actually ended up taking 3 straight delay of game penalties for flipping the puck over the glass and out of play. Now this could’ve cost the Penguins the game, but Washington only scored 1 power play goal in this time. It was John Carlson who evened up the game at 3-3 and at the least Washington was even. Believe it or not Pittsburgh actually took one more penalty in the 3rd period, but where able to kill it off and we where headed to overtime.The Penguins had a really good chance to win the when there was a bit of a scrum in front of the Capitals net, but some how Washington’s Jay Beagle was able to keep out a rebound attempt to keep the game going.  The about six and a half minutes intl the overtime period Hagelin had a good look at the goal, but Branden Holtby was able to make the save. Unfortunately Nick Bonino was right there on the door step of the goal and was able to put the puck into the net to win the game for Pittsburgh 4-3 and send the Capitals home. It was a huge loss for the Capitals as they won the President’s trophy with 120 points during the regular season and they appeared to be the favorite coming into the playoffs. The victory sends the Penguins into the Eastern Conference finals against the Tampa Bay Lighting.

Now I mentioned wanting a Game 7 and there are two in the Western Conference. First up the St, Louis Blues are at the Dallas Stars tonight in there Game 7 and then tomorrow night the Nashville Predators are at the San Jose Sharks as they face off in a Game 7. While the NHL seems to be 4th on the list of the 4 major sports their playoffs are as exciting if not more than the other 3 major sports.

So who’s been the best fantasy player so far this baseball season. Now we play in two larger category leagues and according to our rankings the best player so far has been the Houston Astros Jose Altuve. Altuve was ranked 14th at the time of our draft; so it’s not a huge jump for him to get to the top. Anthony Rizzo (Chicago Cubs) has moved up from his 13th spot pre-draft to 2nd overall right now. Manny Machado (Baltimore Orioles) has moved up three spots since the draft going from 7th to 3rd. A couple of big draft movers round out the Top 5. Jean Segura (Arizona Diamondbacks) was ranked 205th when our draft came around and he’s moved up to the 4th best fantasy player right now. Rounding out the Top 5 is Daniel Murphy (Washington Nationals) who was ranked 158th as we where drafting and is now 5th.

Pitching wise things haven’t changed t much since we drafted. Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers) was #1 going into the draft and he’s still the top fantasy pitcher. Chris Sale (Chicago White Sox) was ranked #2 as we where headed into our draft and he’s still there. Now as hard as it might’ve been to believe Jake Arrieta (Chicago Cubs) was ranked 3rd heading into our draft and according to our league he’s still at #3. The last two spots are where some guys have moved up since the draft. Johnny Cueto (San Francisco Giants) was ranked 65th overall in our league at the draft, but has moved up to the 4th best fantasy pitcher. The other big mover in our league is Jose Quintana (Chicago White Sox) he was ranked 137th overall and has found his way into the Top 5. Now obviously “It’s just May” and these rankings will change quite a bit; especially the pitching, but it’s always fun to see which players are out performing there pre-season rankings.

The Washington Nationals signed pitcher Steven Strasburg to a 7 year $175 million dollar contract this week. This came as a bit of a surprise as Strasburg is a Scott Boras client and he normally takes his players out onto the free agent market. Strasburg’s contract does have a couple of opt out clauses and some deferred money breaks down something like this.Strasburg gets a $10 million signing bonus payable on July 1, 2019, and salaries of $15 million each in 2017 and 2018, $35 million in 2019, $25 million in 2020, $15 million apiece in 2021 and ’22, and $45 million in 2023. There are salary deferrals of $30 million in 2019, $10 million in 2020 and $30 million in 2023. If he stays for the full seven seasons, Strasburg would get $15 million each year from 2017-23, followed by seven $10 million payments each July 1 from 2024-30. The use of a deferral structure is similar to the $210 million, seven-year deal that the Nationals gave another Boras client, right-hander Max Scherzer, before last season. Strasburg would earn a $1 million performance bonus each year for pitching 180 innings. The new contract has an escape clause: Strasburg can opt out and become a free agent after the 2019 or 2020 seasons. If Strasburg opts out after three seasons, $30 million deferred from his 2019 salary would be paid out in three $10 million installments each July 1 from 2020-22. If he opts out after four seasons, $40 million deferred from 2019 and 2020 would be paid out in four $10 million installments every July 1 from 2021-24.

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: April 27, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, hockey, post season, sports, Uncategorized
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Out of the big four sports I’d have to say that basketball is my least favorite. It always seem to me that the games are just dunks and 3-point shots. I always try to catch a little bit of the game just to keep up with the score and see what’s going on. Now last night was the first time in a long time that I was sorry I missed a game. I noticed that there was a very early start time for the Indiana Pacers/Toronto Raptors game yesterday. I guess it was because they had two Eastern Conference games on the television schedule. The series was tied at 2-2 with Game 5 being played at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre. By the time I actually got to the game it was coming to the end of the 3rd quarter and the Pacers had a 13 point lead 90-77. I had pretty much given Indiana the game which would’ve also given then a 4 games to 3 games lead in the series. Little did I know that the Pacers would score just 9 points in the 4th quarter. Toronto was able to even the score at 92-92 and then after back to back 3-pointers by DeMar DeRozan and Corey Joseph sandwiched around a missed 3-point shot by Indiana’s Monta Ellis the Raptors found themselves with a 98-92 lead. Solomon Hill hit a big 3-pointer for the Pacers to cut Toronto’s lead to 100-99. DeRozen made two free throws to make the score Toronto 102, Indiana 99. The Pacers had the basketball under Toronto’s basket with 2.7 seconds left. Ellis inbounded the basketball to Paul George who you’d expect to take the last shot, but he was double teamed and passed the ball to Solomon Hill who appeared to hit a game winning 3-pointer for the Pacers. After the referees reviewed the play it was ruled that the ball left Hill’s hand after the game clock had expired. With those 3 points taken off the board the Raptors get the win 102-99 and they take a 3 games to 3 lead in the series. You have t wonder if this is the kind of loss that might stick with the Pacers. Not only did they give away a 13 point lead in the 4th quarter they appeared to have saved the game for themselves only to have the referees change that on a review. Will this impact Indiana’s play in Game 6 which isn’t until Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indiana.

DeRozen had what many are saying was his “best playoff performance” leading Toronto with 34 points. Kyle Lowry scored 14 points and had a team high 5 assists while  Jonas Valanciunas added 11 points. Off the Raptors bench Norman Powell and Bismack Biyombo each scored 10 points and Biyombo grabbed a team high 16 rebounds. Paul George had a game high 39 points for the Pacers and also led Indiana in rebounds and assists with 8 of each. George Hill had 15 points while Myles Turner scored 14 points; Turner also grabbed 8 rebounds to tie George for the team lead.  Solomon Hill was the only Indiana player to score double digits points off the bench and he ad 11 points.

The other NBA playoff game last night saw the Atlanta Hawks take a 3 games to 2 lead in their series with the Boston Celtics by winning Game 5 110-83. After the 1st quarter Atlanta found themselves down by 5 points at 20-15, but a 32 point 2nd quarter gave the Hawks a 47-39 lead at halftime. Atlanta continued to put up the point as they had a 42 point 4th quarter to pretty much put the game away. At the end of that 3rd quarter Atlanta led 89-62 and the Celtics never got any closer. Both teams scored 21 points in the 4th quarter to get to the final of 110-83. Atlanta was led by Mike Scott who came off the bench to score 17 points. Jeff Teague and Kent Bazemore each scored 16 points while Kyle Korver scored 13 points and Paul Milsap added 10 points. Milsap and Al Horford led the Hawks with 8 rebounds apiece while Milsap tied with Thabo Sefolosha for the team lead in assists with 6. The Celtics where led by Evan Turner with 15 points. Jae Crowder, Marcus Smart and Jared Sullinger each had 10 points for Boston. Terry Rozier led Boston with 4 assists and Jonas Jerebko grabbed a team high 8 rebounds for Boston. The series heads back to TD Garden in Boston for Game 6 on Thursday night. The home team has won each of the 5 games played in this series; so will Boston be able to hold serve on Thursday night or can Atlanta close them out and move on to the 2nd round.

So besides the two games last night injuries seem to be the story of the NBA playoffs right now. First Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors goes down with a sprained knee in Game 4 against the Houston Rockets. Golden State still won the game (121-94) and have a 3 games to 1 lead in the series. Curry is scheduled to be out at least 2 weeks; so with another win Golden State will go into Round 2 of the playoffs without Curry. Golden State will meet the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers/Portland Trail Blazers series which is tied at 2 games apiece right now. The Clippers where another team that suffered from the injury bug in their Game 4, but they not only lost one player they lost two. First Chris Paul suffered a broken hand in the game. He had surgery on that hand yesterday and has been ruled out indefinitely. Then the Clippers announced that Blake Griffin would miss the rest of the playoffs with a left quadriceps injury. Now it looks as though the Warriors will be able to advance without their best player, but how are the Clippers going to do in a series that’s even and missing their two best players. All four teams are on the court tonight; so we’ll see if the Warriors can close out that series and we’ll see how the Clippers play without Paul and Griffin.

NHL

While the 2nd round of the NHL playoffs gets started tonight with the New York Islanders at the Tampa Bay Lighting there’s still one 1st round series left to be decided. The Anaheim Ducks are hosting the Nashville Predators tonight at 10:00 p.m. on the NBC Sports Network. The winner goes on to face the San Jose Sharks in the 2nd round of the playoffs while the loser heads home. Frederik Andersen has picked up all 3 of the Ducks wins this series and has a Goal Against Average (GAA) of 1.26. You have to think that Anaheim will go with Andersen in net over John Gibson who’s 0-2 with a GAA of 3.08. For Nashville it will be Pekka Rinne in goal since he’s played all 6 games of this series and has a GAA of 2.68. Who do you have winning this Game 7? If it helps you at all Dan the Man had Anaheim winning this series when he made his picks at the start of the 1st round.

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

 

How was your week

Posted: April 23, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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MLB

With the MLB coming up on the 20 game mark of the season it’s difficult to make decisions on how the season is going to go. One thing appears to be certain and that the National League isn’t going to be happy about it. Through 4 starts this season Jake Arrieta looks better on the mound than he did last season. Arrieta is 4-0 in his 4 starts for the Chicago Cubs. He’s thrown 31 innings giving up 15 hits, 3 earned runs and 2 home runs while walking 6 and striking out 26. That translates to an ERA of 0.87 and a WHIP of 0.68 for Arrueta.  On Thursday Arrieta threw his first shutout of the season which just so happened to be a complete game no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds. It looked as though Arrieta didn’t have his best stuff when he no-hit Cincinnati. Arrieta issued 4 walks in this start against the Reds while striking out 6 and throwing 119 pitches over 9 innings of no-hit baseball. This is Arrieta’s second no-hitter as a member of the Cubs.  On August 30th of last season Arrieta no-hit the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 in Dodger Stadium. That no-hitter against the Dodgers was part of a Cy Young award winning season for Arrieta. In 2015 Arrieta went 22-6 with an ERA of 1.77. He made 33 starts covering 229 innings with 4 complete games; 3 of those being shutouts. Arrieta also struck out 236 batters last season while walking just 48 and his WHIP was 0.87. Arrieta picked up 17 of a possible 30 1st place votes as he edged out former Dodgers teammates Zack Greinke (2nd) and Clayton Kershaw (3rd) for the N.L. Cy Young award. While we can’t forget that it’s only April, but with the way his season has started off could Arrieta be a back to back Cy young award winner after this season.

On Thursday, Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers threw a 47 pitch bullpen session and things looked like they where on track for him to make his first rehab start on April 26th as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery. After the bullpen session Darvish himself was dissatisfied with the fact that not all his pitches where he wanted them to be, especially his curveball and his change-up. After the bullpen session and the dissatisfaction that Darvish showed the Rangers have decided to push his first rehab start back to May 1st. The Rangers will still have Darvish pitch on Thursday, but it will be a longer bullpen session. The Rangers are hoping that Darvish can throw a 60 pitch bullpen session or close to 4 innings total. Even with his first rehab start being pushed back this hasn’t thrown off the timetable for his return to the Rangers if things go well. If Darvish looks ready to go he could return to the Rangers rotation as early as May 16th. If Darvish isn’t ready to go after those 3 rehab starts the Rangers could  expand his rehab assignment to a full 30 days and six starts. Texas is off to a 10-7 start and they are tied with the Oakland A’s for 1st place right now. Adding Darvish to a starting rotation that already features a 3-0 Cole Hamels could be the key to another post season appearance for Texas.

Now I was unable to do this in any of my fantasy leagues, but a lot of owners tried to grab Darvish late in their fantasy drafts. They would either have to hide him on their bench until he returns or put him on the disabled list if your league offers that feature. If Darvish returns in May this could turn into a move that might make or break your fantasy season. Depending on where you had to draft Darvish it might be hurting your team right now, but once he returns it’s tough to find an ace through trades or waiver pick ups. In this case you just have to wait for your ace to get healthy.

NFL

The NFL is gearing up for the draft which starts with the 1st round on Thursday. While the draft has taken center stage as far as NFL news goes there was a big move made by the Carolina Panthers.On Wednesday the Panthers removed the franchise tag from cornerback Josh Norman making him and unrestricted free agent. After becoming a free agent it only took Norman 2 days to become the highest paid cornerback in the NFL. On Friday the Washington Redskins announced that they had signed Norman to a 5 year $75 million dollar deal. It’s being reported that $51.1 million dollars in the deal is guaranteed. With an average salary of $15 million dollars a season Norman supplants Patrick Peterson of the Arizona Cardinals; who makes $14.01 million dollars a season; as the highest paid cornerback in the NFL.

Norman makes his regular season debut on ESPN’s Monday Night Football September 12th against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Norman and his new Redskins teammates will appear on Monday Night Football again on December 19th; this time against his former Panthers team. On course signing with the Redskins out Norman in the NFC East where he’ll get to match up with New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. twice a year. The Giants host the Redskins on September 25th and then the two teams meet again on New Year’s Day with Washington being the home team.

Norman had a career-high four interceptions with 16 passes defensed and 56 tackles last season for the Panthers last season, but was looking for a long term deal with Carolina. The Panthers had placed the franchise tag on Norman last month, guaranteeing him $13.952 million in 2016. Norman never signed it and was planning to skip at least the first part of off-season workouts, which begin Monday. There are reports that the Panthers made Norman a contract offer of $11 million dollars, but Norman wanted to be paid in the range of $15 to $16 million dollars a season. Carolina never moved off their offer and on Thursday Panthers General Manager Dave Gettleman said the Panthers chose to rescind Norman’s franchise tag because of the flexibility the team would have without him counting toward its salary-cap number. With the draft starting Thursday does Carolina have an eye on someone to fill Norman’s role with there defense.

NHL

The San Jose Sharks and the Tampa Bay Lighting have advanced to the 2nd round of the NHL playoffs. The Sharks knocked the Los Angeles Kings out of the playoffs winning that series 4 games to 1. The Lighting also won there series 4 games to 1 as they knocked out the Detroit Red Wings. We could see two more series end today. If the Pittsburgh Penguins or the St. Louis Blues pick up victories in their games today they will both win there series and advance to the 2nd round. Then on Sunday we could have three series come to an end. If the Washington Capitals, Dallas Stars and New York Islanders all win on Sunday their series will be over and they’ll all move into the 2nd round. Sadly the Kings where my pre-season pick to win the Stanley Cup. Is your pick or team still alive?

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: April 20, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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NFL

Last week the Tennessee Titans sent the #1 overall pick in next weeks NFL draft to the Los Angeles Rams for multiple draft choices. It appears as tough Los Angeles will use that pick on a quarterback either Jared Goff or Carson Wentz. Now there are reports that multiple teams have contacted the Cleveland Browns in hopes that they would be interested in dealing the #2 pick in the draft. Is there a team out there that wants t move up and make sure they get the quarterback that Los Angeles doesn’t take? It appears as they may be more than one team. Now this is exactly what Cleveland needs. They signed Robert Griffin III (RG III) this off season to be their quarterback; so taking another quarterback with that #2 pick might not be the smartest move. Looking at Cleveland no matter who they would end up taking with that #2 pick is going to turn this team into a contender; they are a few years away from that. What Cleveland needs is players; so if they can deal the #2 pick in the draft for more draft picks it may be the best thing to happen to Cleveland. While multiple draft picks still won;t make Cleveland a contender this season it gives them a chance to rebuild a team that hasn’t made a playoff appearance since 2002 and haven’t won a playoff game since 1994. The difficult part in all of this is it’s Cleveland we’re talking about here and it seems as though they don’t do what’s best for the  organization; so will see how they handle that 2nd pick. It’s doubtful Cleveland would get as much for that #2 pick as Tennessee did for the #1 pick, but even if they moved down in the 1st round and where able to add the extra draft picks; it would seem like the right move for Cleveland. Tennessee received 6 draft picks for the #1 pick; so if Cleveland could get 4 or 5 draft picks to deal the #2 pick; should they take that?

Teams that are still in the market for a quarterback had a new name added to the market as the Houston Texans cut Brian Hoyer yesterday. Hoyer started 9 regular season games for Houston last season and appeared in 11 games total. Hoyer threw for 2606 yards last season with 19 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. I’m sure what most people remember about Hoyer’s 2015 season was the terrible playoff game he had against the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City won that game 30-0. Hoyer was 15 for 34 for 136 yards and he threw 4 interceptions. The playoff game aside Hoyer has made 26 career starts and has a winning record at 15-11. With the late addition of Hoyer to the off season quarterback market you have to wonder how this will affect the contract demands of Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick was the top quarterback left on the market and it appeared as though his contract demands reflected that. Hoyer and Fitzpatrick are very comparable quarterbacks; so will see if the teams that Fitzpatrick turned down or couldn’t come to a contract agreement with contact Hoyer. It didn’t take Fitzpatrick’s former team long to meet with Hoyer as the New York Jets had him in for a visit on Tuesday. It seemed as though Hoyer’s time in Houston was over when they signed quarterback Brock Osweiler to a 4-year $72 million dollar free agent deal this off season. Houston was Hoyer’s fourth career stop. He spent 3 seasons with the New England Patriots, a year with the Arizona Cardinals, 2 seasons with the Cleveland Browns and last season with the Texans. We’ll see where Hoyer’s next stop is and if he’s brought in there as a starter or if he ends up being a back up. On a side note the Texans also cut Hoyer’s back up on Tuesday as they released quarterback B.J. Daniels.

NHL

The St. Louis Blues beat the Chicago Blackhawks last night 4-3 to take a 3 games to 1 lead in the opening round playoff series. The Blackhawks are the defending Stanley Cup champions; so you have to think that if a team could comeback from a 3 games to 1 hole it would be the Blackhawks. If the Blackhawks are going to comeback in this series they might have to do it without Andrew Shaw. Shaw was sent off for interference at 17:56 of the third period. While sitting in the penalty box; Shaw pounded on the glass with his stick and then yelled what looked like a slur toward someone on the ice.  Shaw scored a goal in the second period and had two assists in the game, but when he was asked about the incident Shaw said he “didn’t remember”. The NHL said they are investigating the incident. The NHL has a working relationship with the You Can Play Project. The Project aims to ensure equality, respect and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation. The You Can Play Project immediately reached out to the NHL. Coincidently the Blackhawks highlighted its partnership with the You Can Play Project. Defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson and goaltender Scott Darling participated in a video supporting the group’s mission. The nest game in this series is on the schedule for Thursday night in St. Louis; so you’d expect the NHL to rule quickly on the Shaw incident. If there’s a suspension involved with this and the Blackhawks just one loss away from elimination Shaw may have played his last game for the 2015-16 season.

NBA

Do the Golden State Warriors need Stephen Curry to win their 1st round series against the Houston Rockets? The Warriors did win Game 2 of the series as Curry sat out with an injured ankle. Curry had an MRI on Tuesday and the test didn’t show anything of concern. Curry is listed as questionable for Thursday nights Game 3, but should he play is the question. Golden State is up 2 games to none on the Rockets; so there is a bit of a cushion right now for Golden State to rest Curry. Even without Curry I don’t think Golden State would lose a 1st round series to the Rockets, but they’re going to need him down the road in the playoffs. It seems to make sense to rest him and not bring him back until he’s 100%, but that will be Golden State’s head coach Steve Kerr’s decision. Curry did try to warm up before Game 2; so you think he might try the same thing before Game 3 and then Kerr will make his decision on Curry’s game status.

Listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

1st round NHL predictions

Posted: April 14, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in hockey, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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On the Wednesday edition of Sports Time Radio, Dan the Man made his predictions for every 1st round NHL playoff series. Too be fair, Dan made his picks before any pucks where dropped in last nights games. Here’s who Dan is going with in the 1st round.

The Detroit Red Wings over the Tampa Bay Lighting. Tampa Bay won Game 1, 1-0

The Pittsburgh Penguins over the New York Rangers. Pittsburgh won Game 1, 5-2.

The Chicago Blackhawks over the St. Louis Blues. St. Louis won Game 1, 1-0.

There are 4 Game 1’s tonight and in those series Dan went with.

The Washington Capitals over the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Florida Panthers over the New York Islanders.

The Dallas Stars over the Minnesota Wild.

The Los Angeles Kings over the San Jose Sharks.

There is also a Game 1 on Friday. For that series Dan has:

The Anaheim Ducks over the Nashville Predators.

Do you agree or disagree with Dan? Feel free to leave your comments here or you can let Dan know on the Sports Time Radio podcast Monday – Friday from 5:00 pm until 6:00 pm central live on BlogTalkRadio.com (646)-478-3753

On Twitter @SportsTimeRadio @DanZeeeMan and @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: April 13, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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NBA

The NBA wraps up there regular season tonight and there are still a couple things to be decided. The big story is the Golden State Warriors going for the 73rd win tonight. That would set a new record for wins in a season if they get it. The Warriors play host to the Memphis Grizzlies tonight. Memphis is currently the 7th seed in the Western Conference, but record wise they are tied with the Dallas Mavericks; so a win might be the difference between the Grizzlies opening the playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs (which they would as the 7th seed) or the Oklahoma City Thunder. It will be a difficult game for the Grizzlies to win as Golden State is 38-2 at Oracle Arena this season. Memphis has had it’s share of injuries this season as leading scorer Marc Gasol to a foot injury that ended his season after 52 games. Point guard Mike Conley hasn’t played since March 6th and it doesn’t appear that he’ll play tonight against Golden State. Memphis does still have Zack Randolph (Z-Bo) and Lance Stephenson has played better in Memphis than he has in his stops with the Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers. No one expected Golden State to lose to the Boston Celtics or the Minnesota Timberwolves at home, but you have to wonder if Memphis has enough quality healthy players to make this a game. It would be a bit of a surprise if they could and you have to expect that the Warriors will cruise to their 73rd victory and a new NBA record.

Tonight is also the last game in the great career of Kobe Bryant. Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers host the Utah Jazz. Not only is it an important game because Bryant is ending his 20 year NBA career, but the Jazz find themselves tied for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Utah is tied with the Houston Rockets for that final playoff spot and the Rockets hold the tiebreaker over the Jazz. Houston is hosting the Sacramento Kings tonight and if they win they’ll claim that final Western Conference playoff spot, but if the lose they’ll open the door for the Jazz to grab it. I don’t think I can say anything about Bryant that hasn’t already been said. Bryant is an 18 time All-Star and won the MVP of that game 4 times. Bryant has won 5 NBA Championships and was voted finals MVP in 2 of those 5 finals. Surprisingly Bryant won just 1 league MVP Bryant is the 3rd highest scorer in NBA history with 33,583 points trailing only Karl Malone who is 2nd and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar the career scoring leader. Bryant has had his injury issues the last few seasons, but tonight will be his 66th game of the season. He is averaging 16.9 points per game to go along with an average of 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. It’s been a down year for the Lakers as they are 16-65 entering tonight’s game. Since it’s looking like it’s a must have game for the Jazz can Bryant’s teammates send him off with one more win?

NHL

The NHL playoffs start tonight with 3 of the 8 opening round series getting started. On this evenings'(Wednesday) podcast of Sports Time Radio Dan the Man will give you his predictions for the opening round. Not only will he be picking which team he thinks will win the series, but how many games that series will go. Tonight starts with the Detroit Red Wings at the Tampa Bay Lighting followed by the New York Rangers at the Pittsburgh Penquins and the nightcap is the Chicago Blackhawks at the St. Louis Blues. Thursday night start with the Philadelphia Flyers at the Washington Capitals. I can guarantee you that Dan will be taking the Capitals to win this series since they where his pre-season pick to win the Stanley Cup. Then it’s the New York Islanders at the Florida Panthers after that we’ll get the Minnesota Wild at the Dallas Stars with the nightcap being the San Jose Sharks at the Los Angeles Kings. Now the Kings where my pre-season pick to win the Stanley Cup; so will see if Dan picks them to advance. There is one series that won’t open until Friday night as the Nashville Predators are at the Anaheim Ducks for their Game 1 while the other teams that play tonight will be playing their Game 2. I haven’t heard why the Nashville/Anaheim series is starting later than the other ones, but I guess they’ll all even out down the line. Since you’ll be able to get Dan’s picks tonight; who do you have winning the Stanley Cup?

NASCAR

Kyle Busch took the win Saturday night in the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. With the win Busch joined Jimmie Johnson as the only drivers with 2 victories this season. Busch got the win with Dale Earnhardt Jr. finishing 2nd, Joey Logano who was the pole sitter finished 3rd, Johnson came home 4th and rookie Chase Elliott rounded out the Top 5 in 5th place. The Sprint cup drivers are headed to Bristol Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Food City 500. Can Busch or Johnson be the first guy to get his 3rd win this season or might we see someone new get their 1st win of the season and qualify for The Chase. Of course we might also see Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin or Brad Keslowski get their 2nd victory of the season.

Tony Stewart was awarded the Major General Thomas Sadler Award while the Sprint Cup series was at Texas Motor Speedway. Stewart received the award for his charitable contributions to the Texas chapter of the Speedway Children’s Charities organization. During Stewart’s acceptance speech fans had hoped that he might reveal when he would return to the #14 car. However Stewart did give any timetable for his return. He suffered a serious back injury in an all-terrain vehicle accident just prior to the start of the season and has been out of the driver’s seat recovering. Stewart made it clear in his speech that he looked forward to being back in the car competing alongside those active drivers. He has been doing rehabilitation work for his back injury. The thought was that Stewart would return right around the time of the All-Star race, but right now no one knows for sure.

 

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: March 30, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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So counting today it’s just four days until the 2016 Major League Baseball season starts. The St, Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates start the season off at Noon followed by the Toronto Blue Jays taking on the Tampa Bay Rays. The night game features a rematch of last seasons World Series as the New York Mets take on the Kansas City Royals. All these games will be broadcast on either ESPN or ESPN-2. Now as you look at the schedule for Sunday April 3rd you’ll notice there’s a fourth game on the schedule. It has the Chicago Cubs taking on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. This is just an exhibition game and while these two teams will open the regular season against each other on Monday this games doesn’t count in the standings. Now this is an incredibly stupid game scheduling. If you;re the Cubs or the Angels there’s no way you can play even one of the guys on your 25 man roster in this game. Why is this game even here? Just imagine if one of these tams starters got injured in this stupid game the day before the season is schedule to actually start. I would love to hear MLB try to explain why they put this game hear because I’m sure they have a very stupid reason for it, but it’s always good for a laugh when they try to make sense of something like this.

With the regular season getting ready to start we’ll be making our predictions for the 2016 season. I believe that Dan the Man and Schaumburg Stu have there’s all ready to go. I am in the process of finishing mine and I believe we’re still waiting on Mr. Fantasy to turn his in. I will get them all organized and they will appear right here in the Saturday blog as well SportsTimeRadio.com

Last night the Minnesota Wild beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 to sweep the season series; winning all 5 games the teams have played against each other. Unfortunately the Wild’s dominance of the Blackhawks this season wasn’t the story of the game. With 9:27 left in the 1st period Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith was ejected for swinging his stick and catching Minnesota Wild center Charlie Coyle in the face. Keith was assessed a match penalty for intent to injure and is suspended until the NHL can review the play. Keith has had an incident like this before was knocked to the ice by Coyle and retaliated by swinging his stick while laying on the ice. Coyle was left with blood dripping down the bridge of his nose. The penalty left the Blackhawks shorthanded for five minutes, though the Wild did not score during the extended power play. The ejection left the Blackhawks without two key defensemen since Brent Seabrook missed the game because of illness. Keith has had an incident like this before. He was previous suspension, in the 2013 playoffs for swinging his stick and hitting Los Angeles Kings forward Jeff Carter in the face. The Blackhawks have 5 games left in the regular season. Friday night against the Winnipeg Jets, April 3rd against the Boston Bruins, April 5th against the Arizona Coyotes, April 7th against the St. Louis Blues and April 9th against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Now I wouldn’t be surprised if the NHL keeps Keith out for the rest of the regular season. Now Keith is one of the best defenseman in the NHL and the Blackhawks would miss him in those 5 games. This may not be the worst thing for Keith. He plays a lot of minutes for the Blackhawks and the time off might be good for him heading into the playoffs. The Blackhawks are trying to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. A feat that hasn’t been done since the Detroit Red Wings did it in 1996-97 and 97-98 seasons.

The Washington Capitals have clinched the President’s trophy. The President’s Trophy is an award presented by the NHL to the team that finishes with the most points during the NHL regular season. As the team with the best regular season record, the President’s Trophy winner is guaranteed home-ice advantage in all four rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, provided they advance that far. However, it does not guarantee that success; only eight of these winners have gone on to win the Stanley Cup. The last team to win both the President’s Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same season was the 2012–13 Chicago Blackhawks. The Capitals last won the President’s trophy in the 2009-10 season, but they where beaten in the Quarterfinals by the Montreal Canadiens. I mentioned us making picks a little earlier and in case you don;t remember Dan the Man had the Capitals winning the Stanley Cup at the start of the season.

If you’re a New York Mets fan you had to be a little concerned when the news came out that Matt Harvey was going to miss his last spring training start. The reason that was giving was that Harvey had a non-baseball related issue. At that time there was also a chance that Harvey would miss his schedule opening day start against the Kansas City Royals. As it turned out Harvey was dealing with a blood clot in his bladder as well as a bladder infection. Now the Mets play their last spring training game today against the Washington nationals and luckily for Harvey his medical issues have cleared up and he’s going to start the game today and will be on schedule to start opening day for the Mets. Harvey is schedule to pitch 2 innings against the Nationals and then Noah Syndergaard who was originally schedule to make today’s start will take over on the mound. Harvey is 1-1 with a 6.30 ERA in three starts this spring while Syndergaard has a 2.04 ERA in four appearances.

It seemed like there where reports all winter long that the Texas Rangers might add a catcher. Well they waited until the end of spring training to make a deal. The Rangers acquired catcher Bryan Holaday from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for catcher Bobby Wilson and righthander Myles Jaye. Holaday who is from Dallas has had a terrific spring training, but he found himself 3rd on the Tigers depth chart at catcher behind starter James McCann and off-season acquisition Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Holaday was out of minor league options; so the Tigers could expose him to waivers and hope he wasn’t claimed by another team or deal him; which they choose to do. Holaday was recently scratched from Monday’s game to get a thumb issue checked out, but was cleared for action. The Houston Astros where another team that had been reported to be looking for a catcher this spring. On Monday they completed a deal with the San Diego Padres for catcher Eric Kratz. The Padres/Astros trade is believed to have expedited the deal between the Tigers and the Rangers for Holaday.

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: March 2, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, fantasy, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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Stephen Curry sat out last nights games because of the left ankle he hurt on Saturday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. With Curry out of the Warriors line up the game may not have went the way anyone expected it to go, but Golden State still got a win over the Atlanta Hawks 109-105 in overtime. It was the 6th win in a row for Golden State and they also stayed perfect at home (Oracle Arena) this season. The last loss Golden State had at home was January 27, 2015 (113-111) against the Chicago Bulls. Golden State was up 32-26 after the 1st quarter and extended the lead to 59-48 at halftime and it started to look like the Warriors would cruise to another home win. The Warriors managed just 16 3rd quarter points and Atlanta was able to cut the lead to 5 at 75-70. Of course since the game went into overtime it means that Atlanta outscored Golden State 27-22 in the 4th quarter. The Warriors put up 12 points in overtime to Atlanta’s 9 points to get the victory. With Curry out injured Klay Thompson stepped up to lead the Warriors in scoring with 26 points. While the Warriors have become known for “small ball” last night there center Andrew Bogut chipped in 19 points. Bogut made 8 of the 9 shots he took from the field. Draymond Green had   15 points and led the team on rebounds with 13 and assists with 9. Harrison Barnes was the 4th Warriors starter to score in double digits with 12 points. Marreese Speights added 10 points off of the Golden State bench. Speights went 2 for 2 from behind the 3-point line making both of them in the 4th quarter. Golden State turned to Shaun Livingston as a starter and Leandro Barbosa off the bench to help fill the void with Curry out. Livingston played the bulk of the minutes (34), but Barbosa added the offense with 11 points. Livingston added 6 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assist and 2 steals in the game. Atlanta was led in scoring by Paul Milsap with 19 points. Al Horford and Dennis Schroder (off the bench) each had 17 points. Kent Bazemore had 15 points and tied with Horford for the team lead in rebounds with 9. Kyle Korver and Mike Scott each had 11 points and did their damage from behind the 3-point line. Korver went 3 of 6 while Scott was 3 of 5 from behind the 3-point line. Jeff Teague was the Hawks team leader in assists with 6.With the win Golden State improved to 54-5 on the season. Atlanta fell to 33-28 and are holding on to the #5 seed in the Eastern Conference right now. Atlanta will stay in California and play the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. Golden State will play host to Oklahoma City on Thursday. It’s a rematch of Saturday nights game that the Warriors won 121-118 in overtime.

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

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

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

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

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How was your week

Posted: February 27, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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Friday night Kyle Lowry scored a career high 43 points including the game winning shot with 3.8 seconds left in the Toronto Raptors 99-97 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The win was also Toronto’s 10th in a row at home tying a franchise record. Lowry was 15 of 20 from the floor. He made 11 of his 15 free throw attempts while picking up 4 steals, 5 rebounds and handing out a team high 9 assists. Lowry’s night proved to be even bigger as Toronto’s leading scorer DeMar DeRozan struggled. DeRozen scored just 6 points going 1 of 11 from the field in the game. Terrence Ross came off the bench t score 15 points. Toronto’s big man Jonas Valanciunas and Bismack Biyombo each scored 11 points. Valanciunas also grabbed a team high 9 rebounds. I’m sure if you asked any player on the Raptors or their head coach Dwayne Casey they’d tell you this was just another regular season game. You do have to wonder if getting a win over the Cavaliers the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference might give some confidence to the #2 seed in the East. The Cavaliers where led in scoring by LeBron James wit 25 points. James had a chance to win the game for Cleveland with a last second shot, but was unable to get the shot to drop. James also handed out a team high 7 assists. James was 9 of 18 from the field and made 5 of the 9 3-point shots he took. Kevin Love added 20 points for the Cavaliers while J.R. Smith had 13 points and Kyrie Irving scored 10 points. Tristan Thompson led the Cavaliers in rebounding grabbing 10 of them. With the win the Raptors improved to 39-18 just 2 games behind the Cavaliers (41-16) for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Would the Raptors moving into that #1 seed help them in a playoff match up against the Cavaliers? I guess having home court couldn’t hurt.

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

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

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

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

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

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to Sports Time Radio at BlogTalkRadio.com

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: February 17, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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I hope you’re ready for the NASCAR season to start because this Sunday Chase Elliott will lead the field to the green flag on the pole for the Daytona 500. Elliott who’s a rookie and is taking over the #24 car from Jeff Gordon ran a lap of 196.314 m.p.h. just narrowly edging out Matt Kenseth who ran a lap of 196.036 m.p.h. and will start 2nd. Elliott who is just 20 years old used the same chassis as Gordon did last season and got the same result Gordon got last year; the pole position. Elliott and Kenseth are the only drivers whose positions for the Daytona 500 are now locked in. The balance of the field will be filled and ordered in Thursday night’s 150-mile Can-Am Duel qualifying races. Elliott’s first Sprint Cup pole was a milestone in many other respects. At 20 years, 2 months and 17 days, he is the youngest-ever winner of a Daytona 500 pole, supplanting Austin Dillon (23 years, 9 months 27 days in 2014). This was the 10th Daytona 500 pole for Hendrick Motorsports and the third for the #24 Chevrolet, with Gordon winning the previous two in 1999 and 2015.  The qualifying times of the #4 and #14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolets, driven by Kevin Harvick and Brian Vickers, were disallowed after NASCAR discovered track bar infractions during post-qualifying inspection. Those cars will start from the rear in their respective Duels. Another car with qualifying issues was The #78 Furniture Row Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. Truex Jr. failed to post a time after NASCAR inspectors noticed that one of the roof flaps was out of compliance. The car was on the 5-minute clock at the time and the problem could not be corrected in time to make a qualifying run. As a consequence, Truex will start from the rear of the field in the second Can-Am Duel. Chris Olmstead from http://www.BeyondtheFlag.com will join The Big Jack and Mr. Fantasy during the Sunday morning edition of Sports Time Radio to breakdown Sunday’s Daytona 500 and give you his Top 3 drivers you might see in victory lane.

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

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

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

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

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