Sports Time Radio

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: April 12, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

It’s the last day of the NBA regular season and there are three games that still have playoffs implications. The Chicago Bulls host the Brooklyn Nets while the Miami Heat will host the Washington Wizards and the Indiana Pacers host the Atlanta Hawks. The Nets are the worst team in the NBA record wise at 20-61 while the Wizards and the Hawks are locked into a playoff spots; so there isn’t much of anything for these teams to play for tonight. Now it hasn’t been announced if Washington plans to sit any of it’s players out of tonight’s game, but Brooklyn has already said that they’ll sit six players against the Bulls tonight. Trevor Booker, Jeremy Lin and Brook Lopez will all skip the game for rest. Quincy Acy will miss the game with an ankle injury. Joe Harris will miss the game the a shoulder injury and Sean Kilpatrick will be out do to a hamstring injury. Someone is goin to have to explain to me how a team that isn’t going to be in the playoffs needs to rest three players the last game of the season.

The Bulls and the Pacers have simple paths to get into the playoffs. All they have to do is win and they’re in. Now if either the Bulls or the Pacers where to lose and Miami wins the Heat would go into the playoffs and either Chicago or Indiana would stay home. So out of the 14 games o the NBA schedule tonight these are the three games that matter the most.

Now players taking a game off for rest in the NBA is becoming a bigger and bigger issue as the season goes on. Now with no possible chance of improving their playoff spot the Milwaukee Bucks left four players at home for their game on Boston against the Celtics tonight. Tony Shell, Khris Middleton, Matthew Dellavedova and Giannis Antetokounmpo all stayed behind as the Bucks traveled to Boston. The Cleveland Cavaliers had announced earlier in the week that LeBron James would miss the final two regular season games to rest up for the playoffs. Even M.V.P. candidate Russell Westbrook sat out the Oklahoma City Thunder’s final regular season game Tuesday night. Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott and Andre Roberson also skipped the final game for rest. So there are quite a few players who are taking the final game or more off to get ready for the playoffs.

Now I understand that the ultimate goal of any NBA team is to win the title, but as a ticket buying fan these rest days are tough to swallow. NBA tickets are expensive and if you take your family to a game between tickets, parking if you drive there and then if you buy souvenirs for you or your children you’re going to spend quite a bit of money. Now imagine this is the only game you’ll be able to afford to attend this season and you get there and find out that your favorite player or the one player your kids really wanted to see play is sitting out because he needs to rest. This isn’t going to sit well with the man or woman who’s at their job 40 plus hours a week just so they can afford a ticket to this chosen game. Sadly there isn’t an NBA player out there who is going to care that a family bought tickets so the kids could see him play and he took the night off for rest.

Now NBA commissioner Adam Silver has address this situation, but there’s really nothing he can do about it. If you noticed what the Cavaliers did for their game on Monday against the Heat was list James out with an injury. It would be very easy for an NBA team to just announce that a certain player is going to miss a game with a very minor injury. It would work the same way as giving the player a might off for rest without having to announce it that way. The only way the NBA or it’s players union will find a way to fix this issue is when it starts to affect the leagues attendance.

Now if you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast or I’m sure that I’ve written about it here before, but I’m a fantasy sports player. I participate in both daily and season long fantasy leagues. I play on FanDuel and on the two hour Sunday podcast Mr. Fantasy and I actually go over the FanDuel rankings and put a line up together and discuss who’s a good play, a bad play and who might be that sleeper kind of player for that day. Now I’m not a big bettor on the site. I don’t think I’ve ever played in more than a $2 or possibly $3 dollar tournament. It’s more a fun activity for me than a way of me trying to make a living. Now this season Mr. Fantasy has taken a more Sabermetic approach to how he’s building his line up and he’s off to a good start. I always try different methods of putting a line up together; especially early in the season. I’ve had some success with my line ups so far this season. I know no one likes to give away their secrets, but I’m always interested in listening to how other people put their daily fantasy line ups together. If you feel like sharing just go ahead and leave it in the comments or feel free to e-mail me at SportsTimeRadio@Hotmail.com

Speaking of daily fantasy; I hope when you put your line up together for yesterday you included New York Mets outfield Yoenis Cespedes. Cespedes went 4 for 6 with 5 RBI’s and 3 runs scored. 3 of his 4 hits where home runs and his other hit was a double. On the night Cespedes was worth 69.1 points on FanDuel. That may be the highest total a position payer has ever put up since I started playing on the site. I’m sure if you had Cespedes in your daily fantasy line up last night you at least got your money back.

You can listen to the Sports Time radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com or you can listen to the podcast any time you want @TuneIn.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Chicago Bulls 122 Orlando Magic 75

Posted: April 11, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

It was another match up for the Chicago Bulls against a team that was under .500 and even though the Bulls lost to the Orlando Magic 98-91 the last time these two teams met on March 8th. This win was never really in doubt as the Bulls coasted to a 47 point 122-75 victory.

Aaron Gordon hit the first basket of the game to give Orlando a 2-0 lead and that was pretty much the bright side for the Magic. Believe it or not Orlando never led in the game again. The Bulls scored 12 straight points and 18 of the games next 20 points to take a 18-4 lead with 6:05 left in the quarter. The Magic managed just 13 points in the 1st quarter as the Bulls built what turned out to be an insurmountable 21 point lead 34-13 after just one quarter.

While Orlando did have a better offensive 2nd quarter scoring 24 points they where unable to match the Bulls who put up 30 points in the quarter. Orlando only managed to cut the Bulls lead to under 20 points one time in the 2nd quarter and it was very early on in the quarter. The Bulls where able to add six points to their lead as they went into halftime with a 64-37 advantage.

The 3rd quarter was another solid if not spectacular offensive output for the Magic. Orlando scored 22 points in the 3rd quarter and while that’s a decent number they Bulls scored 28 points to build on their lead. This was the only quarter in the game where the Bulls didn’t reach 30 points. Not a whole lot of drama left as the Bulls where able to push their lead up over 30 points. By the end of the 3rd quarter the Bulls had a 33 point lead 92-59.

The Magic didn’t do themselves any favors in the 4th quarter as their offense struggled again managing to score just 16 points. The big question for the Bulls would be if they would give their starters the quarter off and try to get them some rest. Chicago is tied for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but a lead like this gives them the chance to get their starters a quarter of rest before the final game of the regular season. While Dwayne Wade did play early in the quarter the rest of the Bulls starters where on the bench. Even with the starters sitting the Bulls added 14 points to their lead and easily cruised to a 122-75 win.

Robin Lopez was the games high scorer with 18 points. Lopez also led the Bulls in rebounding with 8. Jimmy Butler and Jerian Grant each had 17 points while Grant also handed out a game high 11 assists. Nikola Mirotic scored 16 points while Dwayne Wade added 13 points as all of the Bulls starters score in double figures. Off the Bulls bench Bobby Portis added 10 points.

Believe it or not the 75 points scored by the Magic wasn’t their lowest offensive output this season. Back in November they scored 69 points in a game against the Indiana Pacers.Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier each had 14 points to lead the Magic. Vucevic also grabbed a game high 10 rebounds. Elfrid Payton scored 11 points and handed out a team high 4 assists while Aaron Gordon added 10 points.

Chicago improves to 40-41 with the win. If the Bulls win their final regular season game Wednesday night at home against the 20-61 Brooklyn Nets they’ll be a playoff team. It looks as though the Bulls would be the 8th seed, but there is a chance they could move up to the 7th spot. Don’t forget that the Nets just beat the Bulls (107-106) in there last meeting on Saturday night. Orlando falls to 28-53 with the loss. The Magic will also wrap up their regular season on Wednesday night as they host the 37-44 Detroit Pistons.

Brooklyn Nets 107 Chicago Bulls 106

Posted: April 8, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

With an eight point lead and just under six minutes to play it looked as though the Chicago Bulls where going to escape with a win over a sub .500 team. Which is still the biggest issue this team has had all season. The Brooklyn Nets had other ideas as they came back on the Bulls to pull out a 107-106 win Saturday afternoon at the Barclays Center.

Brooklyn scored six of the games first eight points before the Bulls came back to tie it at six all. The Nets went on a 19 to 4 run to build a lead of 15 points with 3:31 left in the quarter. It took the Bulls to the very end of the quarter to cut the Nets lead to under ten points. Chicago needed two Jimmy Butler 3-pointers sandwiched around a Brooklyn basket in the final :29 seconds to cut the Nets lead to seven points 32-25 after one quarter.

The 2nd quarter didn’t feature much offense as the teams combined to score 39 points with the Bulls outscoring the Nets 20-19. The Nets took a 14 point lead with 10:37 left to play in the quarter, but the Bulls managed to work that lead down to just three points with 6:24 left in the quarter. The Bulls where never able to tie the game or take the lead in the 2nd quarter and the Nets where able to push their lead back to six points 51-45 going into halftime.

Brooklyn pushed it’s lead to nine points early in the 3rd quarter at 55-46, but Chicago scored the games next nine point and tied the game 55 all with 7:35 left in the quarter. There where four ties before the Bulls could take the lead for good in the quarter at 66-65 with 4:54 left to play. Chicago built it’s lead to nine points, but the Nets got the final bucket of the quarter to make it a seven point game 82-75 heading into the 4th quarter.

Brooklyn cut the Bulls lead to four points very early in the 4th quarter, but Chicago held then off and built the lead back to seven points. Chicago managed to keep their lead right around that seven or eight point range and with a 97-88 lead with 4:24 left in the game it looked like the Bulls would end up with a win. Brooklyn scored the next 10 points to change that as they took a 98-97 lead with 2:21 left to play. Chicago took the lead back and pushed it to three points, but a Nets 3-pointer tied the game at 101 all. The teams traded baskets before Brooklyn was able to take a bit of control and take a four point lead at 107-103. A Jimmy Butler 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded made it a 107-106 game.

On a side note Butler was the only Bulls player to score in the final 4;24 of the game.

Caris LeVert and Spencer Dinwiddie (off the bench) tie for the Nets top scoring honors with 19 points apiece. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson posted a double-double with 16 points and a game high 12 rebounds. Brook Lopez scored 13 points while Jeremy Lin added 12 points and handed out a game high 7 assists.

Jimmy Butler was the games top scorer with 33 points. Robin Lopez had 16 points and a team high 8 rebounds. Jerian Grant added 15 points and handed out a team high 5 assists while the returning Dwayne Wade scored 14 points in 25 minutes of game action.

The win was Brooklyn’s 20th making them 20-60 on the season. The Nets get a day off before they travel to Boston to face the 50-29 Celtics on Monday night. The Bulls drop to 39-41 with the loss. Chicago will also get a day off as they return home to face the 28-51 Orlando on Magic Monday night.

How was your week

Posted: April 8, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in sports

Now I’m never going to try and claim to be a golf experts, but The Masters in the one tournament that I will actually watch. I didn’t catch much of the first two days of play, but I kept up with the leaderboard. On Friday I had some bad luck trying to catch some action as every time I turned it on they where either at commercial or talking to each other in the clubhouse. Today (Saturday) is called “moving day” so will see if there’s someone outside of the Top 5 that can make a run at or to the top of the leaderboard.

Now going into today’s round there’s a four way tie for 1st place. Charley Hoffman, Sergio Garcia, Thomas Pieters and Rickie Fowler are all -4 under par and tie for the lead. There where some other names I recognized. Justin Rose is -1 under par and tied for 3rd place. Fred Couples is also in that group at -1 under in 3rd place. Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson are all Even par and tied for 4th place. I have to admit when there are names I know on the leaderboard I’m a little more interested.

Now I have no idea who will end up winning the tournament, but I know there will be a new champion. Last years winner Danny Willett missed the cut after the first two rounds. Willett is the first defending champion not to make the cut since 2004 (Mike Weir), but he has quite a bit of company. Besides Willett 10 former Masters champions missed the cut and won’t be teeing off this weekend.

Now we’re just a few games into the 2017 baseball season; so there’s no need to panic. While it’s always better to see your favorite team get out of the gate quickly. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen for your team. So if you root for the San Francisco Giants (1-4) or the Seattle Mariners (1-4) don’t panic, but also if you’re a fame of the 4-0 Minnesota Twins or the 3-0 Baltimore Orioles don’t start buying our playoff tickets just yet. While wins and losses don’t concern me at all this early in the season what I do worry about are the players getting off to a slow start.

Now I don’t think that a player like Jose Altuve will hit .143 this season there is a little concern on when he will start to hit. If you took a shot with Albert Pujols as a late fantasy pick he’s hitting .050 to start the season. The 2016 National League M.V.P. is hitting .063 to start the season. Now all these players are just about 20 at bats or so into the season and while there’s no chance at all that any of these players will end up hitting what they’re hitting right now the longer they take to get going the more their fans are going to be concerned and if they take too long to get going the panic will start. Of course with the bad there’s the good, but the same thing applies. Don’t get caught up with what these guys are hitting because they’re not going to hit .500 for the season. Nomar Mazara (.588) the Texas Rangers young outfield, J. T. Realmuto (.583) the Miami Marlins catcher, Zach Cozart (.538) the Cincinnati Reds shortstop and Matt Kemp (.500) the Atlanta Braves outfielder are all hitting .500 or better to start off the season. While this is great for that players team and of course the fans that root for them. None of these guys have more than 17 at bats this season; so don’t expect them to stay at or above .500 for a long period of time.

Luckily there haven’t been any serious injuries to start the season off, but there have been some pitchers who made their first start of the season and then headed to the disabled list. Junior Guerra who was the opening day starter for the Milwaukee Brewers made his start and then went to the disabled list with strained right calf. After Garret Richards made his start for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim he headed to the disabled list with a right bicep strain. After getting a big free agent contract this off season it took Rich Hill of the Los Angeles Dodgers just one start to make his way onto the disabled list. Hill was put on baseballs new 10-day disabled list with a blister on his left middle finger. With these type of injuries it looks as though will see all of these top of the rotation starters return after their 10 days on the disable list is up. If you own Richards or Hill in your fantasy league make sure to keep an eye on them because the injuries they have can reoccur very easily.

Sunday is the final day of the NHL regular season and barring any major shake ups here are the 1st round playoff series we’ll see.

In the Eastern Conference the Montreal Canadiens against the New York Rangers. Montreal won two of the three games these teams played this season, but one of them was in a shootout. The Rangers actually have 100+ points on the season, but are going to get into the playoffs as a wild card. The Ottawa Senators face the Boston Bruins. These teams met four times during the regular season with Ottawa winning all four games. The Washington Capitals take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Washington won the President’s trophy, but Toronto did manage to win one of the three games in the regular season series. Toronto hasn’t been in the playoffs in 12 years. The Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. These teams split their regular season series 2-2 with two of the games going into overtime. Both of these teams are 100 point teams on the season and one of them will be out after one round.

Over in the Western Conference will see.

The Anaheim Ducks against the Calgary Flames. Anaheim won four of the five match ups between these two teams in the regular season. The Edmonton Oilers face the San Jose Sharks. Edmonton took three of the five games these two teams played this season and one of the Sharks win was in overtime. The Chicago Blackhawks face the Nashville Predators. The Blackhawks are the highest scoring team in the Western Conference with 108 points. Nashville managed one win in the five match ups these teams played this season. The Minnesota Wild face off against the St. Louis Blues. While Minnesota was the better team in the regular season point wise the Blues won the season series three games to two, but one of the St. Louis wins was in a shootout.

The 1st round of the NHL playoffs always seems to produce an upset or two; so will have to see which higher seeded team may be headed home after one round.

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

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Chicago Bulls 102 Philadelphia 76ers 90

Posted: April 7, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

If you’re a Chicago Bulls fans you know that Thursday nights game are the type of games that have been giving the Bulls trouble all season. For some reason the Bulls struggle against teams under .500 and on Tuesday night they where beaten easily by the sub-.500 New York Knicks and in their last game against the Philadelphia 76ers the 76ers won easily 117-107. This time none of those Bulls issues came up as they look to lock down an Eastern Conference playoff spot with a 102-90 win over Philadelphia.

There where a couple of ties early in the 1sy quarter before the Bulls where able to take a bit of a lead. Chicago built a five point lead on two occasions , but Philadelphia was able to come back and cut the lead to one point with 5:03 left in the quarter. An 8 to 3 run pushed the Bulls lead to six points, but again the 76ers fought back cutting the lead to two points with 2:34 left in the quarter. Philadelphia didn’t score the rest of the 1st quarter as the Bulls finished on an 8 to 0 run to take a 27-17 lead after one quarter.

The teams traded baskets early in the 2nd quarter, but the Bulls did manage to add four points to their lead and with 8:11 left in the quarter Chicago was ahead 40-26. Philadelphia went on a 17 to 7 run to cut the Bulls lead to four points 47-43 with 2:49 left in the quarter. The Bulls did manage to add a couple of points to their lead before halftime as they went into the locker room with a 53-47 lead.

The Bulls really established their lead in the 3rd quarter. Right from the start the Bulls scored 7 of the first 10 points to push the lead into double digits at 60-50 with 10:27 left in the quarter. Philadelphia was only able to knock the lead under double digits three times in the quarter and the Bulls led at one time by 16 points. At the end of the quarter Chicago added seven points to it’s halftime lead as they took a 13 point lead 80-67 heading into the final quarter.

Philadelphia was never able to get closer than 10 points. With 7:52 left in the game Chicago was ahead 84-74, but the 76ers where never able to get the lead under double digits and even though they did outscored the Bulls in the final quarter (23-22) it didn’t make enough of a difference as Chicago was able to cruise to a 102-90 victory.

Nikola Mirotic led all scorers with 22 points for the Bulls while Jimmy Butler posted a triple-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Butler assists total was a game high. Jerain Grant scored 15 points while Joffrey Lauvergne added 14 points off the bench. Bobby Portis also came off the Bulls bench to post a double-double with 12 points and a game high 11 rebounds.

Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot was the 76ers leading scorer with 18 points. Justin Anderson added 17 points while Richaun Holmes added 10 points and tied for the team lead in rebounds with 10. Nik Stauskas added 13 points off of the 76ers bench. T.J. McConnell led the 76ers in assists with 8 assists while Dario Saric tied for the team lead in rebounds with 10.

With the win the Bulls improve to 39-40 on the season and they are still holding onto 7th place in the Eastern Conference. Chicago gets a day off before they face the team with the worst record in the NBA; the 19-60 Brooklyn Nets in Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon. Philadelphia falls to 28-51 with the loss. The 76ers also get a day off before they host the 40-39 Milwaukee Bucks Saturday night.

New York Knicks 100 Chicago Bulls 91

Posted: April 5, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

The Chicago Bulls four game winning streak came to a screeching halt last night in a manner you’d expect as they dropped a 100-91 decision to the New York Knicks. If you’ve spent any time watching the Bulls this season this is exactly the type of game they have lost. The Knicks have been eliminated from the eastern Conference playoffs race and where 19 games under .500 coming into this game. Add all that up and they had no trouble at all ending the Bulls winning streak.

The 1st quarter was played pretty evenly as there where six ties between the two teams in the quarter. The biggest lead either team had in the quarter was five points. New York had two five point leads in the quarter at 19-14 and the other at the end of the 1st quarter at 29-24. The biggest lead the Bulls could build in the quarter was four points and that was very early in the game when they where ahead 8-4.

The Knicks immediately built their lead to 17 points in the 2nd quarter. New York went on a 15 to 3 run to start the quarter and take a 44-27 lead. Shortly after their run the Knicks lead reached 20 points at 49-29 with 3:42 left to play. The Bulls spent the rest of the quarter trying to cut into the Knicks lead. The Bulls did knock six points off of the New York lead as they went in at halftime down 14 points 54-40.

The quarter started off pretty even with the Knicks holding their 14 point lead at 60-46 with 8:06 left in the quarter. The Knicks then scored the next nine points in the game and took a 23 point lead at 69-46 with 6:03 left to play. The Knicks where able to keep their lead at 20 points 76-56 with 2:14 left in the quarter. Chicago finished the quarter on a 8 to 4 run to get the Knicks lead down to 16 points at 80-64.

With the outcome of the game pretty much determined the Bulls had their best offensive quarter of the game scoring 27 points. It was the only quarter in this game where the Bulls actually outscored the Knicks. New York scored 20 points in the 4th quarter. The closest the Bulls got was with :07 seconds left in the game at 98-91, but the Knicks scored the final two points of the game to get it to it’s final of 100-91.

Carmelo Anthony was the Knicks leading scorer with 23 points. Courtney Lee had 14 points while Maurice Ndour added 13 points and tied for the game high in rebounds with 12. Coming off the Knicks bench Justin Holiday scored 12 points while Mindaugas Kuzminskas added 11 points. Kyle O’Quinn also grabbed 12 rebounds to tie Ndour for the game lead in rebounds.

Jimmy Butler was the games high scorer with 26 points. Nikola Mirotic added 21 points and grabbed a team high 10 rebounds. Robin Lopez added 11 points and Anthony Morrow came off the Bulls bench to contribute 15 points. Rajon Rondo handed out a game high 9 assists for the Bulls.

Chicago drops to 38-40 with the loss, but they are still holding onto 7th place in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls get a day off before they head to Philadelphia to face the 28-50 76ers on Thursday night. The win makes the Knicks 30-48 on the season. New York also gets a day off before they host the 47-31 Washington Wizards Thursday night.

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: April 5, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

The Major League Baseball season started on Sunday with three games, but I’m a little confused if that was considered opening day or not. It seems as though it’s open to your interpretation, but I’m not sure if the fans, the experts and the reporters should be allowed to make that choice. It use to be very simple; there was a parade in Cincinnati and the Reds played the first game of the season. It was also a school holiday ion Cincinnati; which I’m sure the kids miss. So we had the three games on Sunday and then I saw an article about a writers take from opening day and all he talked about was the Monday games. Now it was the first game of the season on Monday for the teams that where playing; so it was their opening day, but it wasn’t baseballs opening day like this writer said it was. Now the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers game got delayed; so they didn’t start the season until Tuesday and while that was opening day for those teams no one implied that it was the opening day of the season. I was always under the impression that opening day was the day that the first games of the season was played. Now maybe it’s just me being picky about the wording they use for this, but it bothered me that they where trying to stretch out opening day to try to make it seem special. Now this isn’t necessary as a teams first home game is always special no matter if it’s played on the first day of the season or if they have to wait a day to get started. As you know I’m not a professional reporter or a television personality, but it almost seems like they’re trying to get something past you by trying to describe everything as opening day. Maybe this is just another situation where it’s just me.

Now I’ve been under the weather this week and I’ve been having trouble sleeping; so I’m up in the middle of the night trying to find something to watch on television. Naturally I gravitate to the sports channels and since baseball started I look for baseball highlights. Now what would’ve technically been early Tuesday morning I was watching some highlights and the game with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Oakland A’s came up. Now I get it this isn’t a marquee game; so I didn’t expect a ton of highlights. Now this was a game that the A’s won 4-2, but the highlight they chose to show was a Mike Trout home run. Interestingly in the game Khris Davis of Oakland hit two home runs, but I didn’t get to see either of them in the highlight package. I only found out Davis hit two home runs when I looked at the box score. This make absolutely no sense to me at all. I understand that everyone loves Mike Trout and they’ll be looking for ways to give him the M.V.P. award no matter what kind of a season anyone else in the American League has, but really you couldn’t mention a player who hit two home runs. When you think about it; it’s kind of sad. It seems as though networks will push their own agenda over showing what went on in a baseball game. Now I’ve said this and have wrote this a million times Mike Trout is the best player on baseball, but he wasn’t the M.V.P. last season. Trout had a very good 2016, but it wasn’t better than the season Mookie Betts or Jose Altuve had and both of their teams made the playoffs. Now how many times have you heard someone dissuade a great season a player is having because he’s on a losing team. I guarantee that you didn’t hear that one time last season even though the Angels where under .500 and nowhere close to being a playoff team. In a sense it cheapens the game of baseball, but sadly this is another one of those situations where I’m the only one on this bandwagon and I just don’t have the platform to get my point across. Even if I did I’m sure they would just make up another sabermetric stat to disprove me.

We’ve already had two games cancelled today. The White Sox and the Tigers are cancelled for the second time in their three game series and the other Chicago team the Cubs have been cancelled as well. The Cubs where suppose to wrap up a three game series against the St, Louis Cardinals this afternoon. The Kansas City Royals at the New York Yankees is the only game now with a Noon start time; so we’ll have to wait and see if they get all of the night games in.

With the NBA season winding down it looks like there could be up to four teams with an under .500 record that will make the playoffs. It appears as though the final two teams that get into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference will be under .500 and the final team in the Western Conference will be under .500. There is an outside chance that the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference will be an under .500 as well. The Atlanta Hawks are currently that 6th seed and they’re 39-38 on the season; so it will be close.

Does it bother you to see teams with losing records make the playoffs? I don’t have too much of an issue with this as the first round of the NBA playoffs is pretty much a joke anyway. When was the last time we saw a first round upset that wasn’t a 5th seed beating a 4th seed. It’s not the ideal situation when these type of teams make the playoffs, but in the scheme of the playoffs does it matter? I think the bigger problem with the NBA playoff is the fact that all of these series are now seven games.

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

I’m on Twitter @Burketime

Chicago Bulls 117 New Orleans Pelicans 110

Posted: April 2, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

The Chicago Bulls picked up their 5th win in a row Sunday afternoon with a 117-110 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. The Bulls have also won six of their last seven games and what might be even more impressive they won back to back games on the road. That’s one of the tougher things to do in the NBA.

Chicago scored six of the games first eight points, but New Orleans quickly came right back to tie the game at six all. The Bulls then went on an 11 to 2 to take a 17-8 lead with 5:50 left in the quarter. The Bulls where never able to push their lead into double digits and when Solomon Hill hit a lay up the Pelicans where within two at 23-21. The Bulls scored the final five points of the quarter to take a 28-21 lead after one quarter of play.

The Bulls started the 2nd quarter by scoring the first seven points and pushing their lead to 14 points 35-21. The closest the Pelicans could was five points at 45-40 with 5:05 left to play. The Bulls then scored 11 straight points to take a 16 point lead at 56-40. New Orleans was unable to cut down the Bulls lead and they needed a 3-pointer by Dante Cunningham just to bring the lead back down to 16 points (63-47) headed into halftime.

The 3rd quarter was the Pelicans best quarter of the game, but the Bulls did get out to a 19 point lead at 74-55 before New Orleans started to cut into it. The Pelicans spent the majority of the quarter trying to get the Bulls lead under 10 points and when former Bull E’Twaun Moore hit two free throws with 3:34 left in the quarter New Orleans was down eight points at 79-71. The Bulls did push their lead back into double digits on two occasions, but DeMarcus Cousins hit two free throws for the last two points of the quarter to make it an eight point game again 87-79 heading into the 4th.

Now Chicago has had issues all season beating teams with under .500 records, but when Bobby Portis hit a 3-pointer to give the Bulls a 19 point lead 100-81 with 8:36 left to play; this didn’t look like one of those games. First New Orleans went on a 10 to 2 run to cut the Bulls lead to 11 at 102-91 with 6:52 left to play. The Bulls built the lead back to 14 points with 4:43 left to play and it was looking like they might cruise to a victory. Not so fast; New Orleans went on a 16 to 7 run to make it a five point game with just :15 seconds left to play. Chicago added a couple of free throws to seal a victory 117-110 that ended up much closer than it looked to be.

Jimmy Butler was the games high scorer with 39 points while Rajon Rondo was the only other Bulls starter to reach double figures with 10 points. Rondo also handed out a game high 9 assists. Luckily for the Bulls Bobby Portis came in off the bench to score 21 points and grab a team high 11 rebounds. Joffrey Lauvergne also scored in double digits off the Bulls bench getting 15 points.

Anthony Davis was the Pelicans top scorer and posted a double-double. Davis had 30 points and 11 rebounds. DeMarcus Cousins also had a double-double for New Orleans with 26 points and a game high 18 rebounds. Jrue Holiday had 17 points and a team high 6 assists while Jordan Crawford came off the New Orleans bench to add 15 points.

With the win the Bulls improve to 38-39. Chicago will get a day off before they play their second of four consecutive roads games. The Bulls travel to New York to take on the 29-48 Knicks on Tuesday night. The Loss drops New Orleans record to 33-44 on the season. The Pelicans will also get a day off before they host the 36-40 Denver Nuggets Tuesday night.

Chicago Bulls 106 Atlanta Hawks 104

Posted: April 2, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

Jimmy Butler scored the final four points of the game including hitting two free throws with just :02 seconds left to give the Chicago Bulls a 106-104 win over the Atlanta Hawks. It was the Bulls 3rd win in a row and 4th in their last 5 games. The win also catapulted the Bulls into 7th place in the Eastern Conference.

Chicago took the lead in the 1st quarter and built a seven point lead at 17-10 on a Rajon Rondo lay up with 6:5 left in the quarter. Atlanta then went on a 9 to 2 run to tie the game at 19 all with 2:44 left to play. The Bulls did score four of the final six points of the quarter to take a 23-21 lead after one quarter.

While the Bulls where able to hold onto the lead for the entire 2nd quarter they cold never really get to big of a lead on Atlanta. The Biggest lead the Bulls could build was eight points at 52-44 very late in the quarter when Rajon Rondo scored with just :26 seconds left. Dwight Howard got a tip in for the Hawks just before the buzzer to make it a 52-46 game going into halftime.

The Bulls where able to push their lead to double digits twice in the 3rd quarter the last time was 9:17 left to play at 61-51. The Hawks then came back with a 21 to 10 run to take the lead at 72-71 with 2:47 lead in the quarter. There where five lead changes and three ties down the stretch of the 3rd quarter before Atlanta was able to take a five point lead 84-79 heading into the 4th quarter.

Atlanta scored the first five points of the 4th quarter to make their lead 10 points at 89-79. It took the Bulls almost the rest of the quarter to cut into the Atlanta lead and then when Jimmy Butler hit a 3-pointer with 1:59 left to play the game was tied at 102. Dennis Schroder gave the Hawks the lead back at 104-102 when he hit a short jumper, but Butler evened the game again when he scored on a lay up with :32 seconds left. After an Atlanta time out Schroder lost the basketball out of bounds with :25 seconds left. As the Bulls where looking for the last shot Kent Bazemore fouled Butler with just :02 seconds left to play. Butler went to the line and made both free throw giving the Bulls a 106-104 lead and when Tim Hardaway Jr’s 3-point attempt missed the Bulls as time expired the Bulls had their 3rd win in a row and where back in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Jimmy Butler was the games high scorer with 33 points. Butler also handed out more assists than anyone else with 8. Rajon Rondo had 25 points and a team high 11 rebounds. Paul Zipser added 10 points while Denzel Valentine came off the Chicago bench to score 13 points.

Dennis Schroder was Atlanta’s top scorer with 29 points and he also handed out a team high 6 assists. Tim Hardaway Jr had 20 points while Dwight Howard and Ersan Ilyasova had had 13 points. Howard also grabbed a game high 12 rebounds.

Chicago improved to 37-39 on the season with the win and they’ll turn right around and try to keep their winning streak going as they head to New Orleans to face the 33-43 Pelicans at 5:00 p.m. c.s.t. Sunday. Atlanta is 39-37 after the loss and this was the first of back to back games for Atlanta as well. The Hawks travel to Brooklyn to face the team with the worst record in the NBA the 17-59 Nets Sunday afternoon.

Our 2017 MLB predictions

Posted: April 1, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

The Major League Baseball season opens tomorrow afternoon; so we’re going to take a look at our predictions for the 2017 season. I almost got all four of us to make predictions; so here’s what we came up with.

A.L. East

Schaumburg Stu has: 1) Boston Red Sox 2) Baltimore Orioles 3) Toronto Blue Jays 4) New York Yankees 5) Tampa Bay Bays.

Mr. Fantasy has; 1) Red Sox 2) Blue Jays 3) Orioles 4) Yankees 5) Rays

Dan the Man has: 1) Red Sox 2) Blue Jays 3) Yankees 4) Orioles 5) Rays

I have the A.L. East like this: 1) Red Sox 2) Yankees 3) Blue Jays 4) Orioles 5) Rays

A.L. Central

Schaumburg Stu has: 1) Cleveland Indians 2) Detroit Tigers 3) Kansas City Royals 4) Minnesota Twins 5) Chicago White Sox

Mr. Fantasy has 1) Indians 2) Tigers 3) Royals 4) White Sox 5) Twins

Dan the Man has 1) Indians 2) Tigers 3) Royals 4) White Sox 5) Twins

I have the A.L. Central like this: 1) Indians 2) Tigers 3) Royals 4) Twins 5) White Sox

A.L. West

Schaumburg Stu has 1) Houston Astros 2) Texas Rangers 3) Seattle Mariners $) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 5) Oakland A’s

Mr. Fantasy has 1) Rangers 2) Astros 3) Mariners 4) Angels 5) A’s

Dan the Man has 1) Astros 2) Mariners 3) Rangers 4) Angles 5) A’s

I have the A.L. West like this 1) Mariners 2) Astros 3) Rangers 4) Angels 5) A’s

N.L. East

Schaumburg Stu has 1) Washington Nationals 2) New York Mets 3) Miami Marlins 4) Atlanta Braves 5) Philadelphia Phillies

Mr. Fantasy has 1) Nationals 2) Mets 3) Marlins 4) Braves 5) Phillies

Dan the Man has 1) Mets 2) Nationals 3) Braves 4) Phillies 5) Marlins

I have the N.L. East like this 1) Nationals 2) Mets 3) Phillies 4) Braves 5) Marlins

N.L. Central

Schaumburg Stu has 1) Chicago Cubs 2) Pittsburgh Pirates 3) St. Louis Cardinals 4) Milwaukee Brewers 5) Cincinnati Reds

Mr. Fantasy has 1) Cubs 2) Pirates 3) Cardinals 4) Brewers 5) Reds

Dan the Man has 1) Cubs 2) Pirates 3) Cardinals 4) Brewers 5) Reds

I have the N.L. Central like this 1) Cubs 2) Cardinals 3) Pirates 4) Brewers 5) Reds

N.L. West

Schaumburg Stu has 1) San Francisco Giants 2) Los Angeles Dodgers 3) Arizona Diamondbacks 4) San Diego Padres 5) Colorado Rockies

Mr. Fantasy has 1) Giants 2) Dodgers 3) Diamondbacks 4) Padres 5) Rockies

Dan the Man has 1) Dodgers 2) Giants 3) Diamondbacks 4) Rockies 5) Padres

I have the N.L. West like this 1) Giants 2) Dodgers 3) Diamondbacks 4) Rockies 5) Padres

Wild Card teams

Schaumburg Stu has in the A.L. Baltimore Orioles & Detroit Tigers in the N.L. Los Angeles Dodgers & Pittsburgh Pirates

Mr. Fantasy has in the A.L. Toronto Blue Jays & Houston Astros in the N.L. Dodgers & New York Mets

Dan the Man has in the A.L. Blue Jays & Seattle Mariners and in the N.L. Washington Nationals & St. Louis Cardinals

My wild card teams in the A.L. are Tigers & Astros and in the N.L. Cardinals & Dodgers

In the World Series Schaumburg Stu has the Cubs and the Red Sox with the Cubs winning.

Mr. Fantasy has the Giants and the Indians with the Indians winning.

Dan the Man has the Dodgers and the Red Sox with the Dodgers winning

I have the Giants and the Red Sox in the World Series with the Red Sox winning.

As for the individual awards; here’s what we have.

MVP winners

Schaumburg Stu N.L. Anthony Rizzo A.L. Mike Trout

Mr. Fantasy N.L. Kris Bryant A.L. Jose Altuve

Dan the Man N.L. Kris Bryant A.L. Gary Sanchez

My MVP’s are N.L. Paul Goldschmidt A.L. Mookie Betts

Cy Young

Schaumburg Stu N.L. Kyle Hendricks A.L. Corey Kluber

Mr. Fantasy N.L. Noah Syndegaard A.L. Corey Kluber

Dan the Man N.L. Madison Bumgarner A.L. Chris Sale

My Cy Young winners are N.L. Johnny Cueto A.L. Justin Verlander

Rookie of the Year

Schaumburg Stu N.L. Dansby Swanson A.L. Yoan Moncada

Mr. Fantasy N.L. Hunter Renfroe A.L. Jharel Cotton

Dan the Man N.L. Dansby Swanson A.L. Andrew Benintendi

My Rookie of the Year’s are N.L. Manuel Margot A.L. Aaron Judge

Manager of the Year

Schaumburg Stu N.L. Joe Maddon A.L. John Farrell

Mr. Fantasy N.L. Bruce Bochy A.L. Terry Francona

Dan the Man N.L. Dave Roberts A.L. John Farrel

My Manager’s of the Year are N.L. Pete Mackanin A.L. Scott Servais

This season we’ve added Comeback Player of the Year.

Schaumburg Stu N.L. Bryce Harper A.L. Pablo Sandoval

Mr. Fantasy N.L. Matt Harvey A.L. Mike Moustakas

Dan the Man N.L. Andrew McCutchen A.L. Felix Hernandez

My Comeback Player of the Year’s are N.L. Clay Bucholtz A.L. Yu Darvish

There you go; that’s what we came up with for the 2017 season. Join in; e-mail us at SportsTimeRadio.com or just leave your picks in the comments.

Listen to Sports Time Radio live on BlogTalkRadio.com or find the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.Com

Sports Time Radio