Posts Tagged ‘NBA playoffs’

6/7/14 How was your Week?

Posted: June 7, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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So we’re into June and finally the NBA and the NHL seasons will be coming to an end. While I’ve enjoyed the NHL playoffs quite a bit this season and Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals was an overtime thriller the season is just too long. The same goes for the NBA. These finals can be great, but it’s June and it’s baseball season with football mini camps right around the corner. There has to be a way to end these seasons soon than they do, but I’m not sure either league would be will to try to do those things. I still don’t understand why the playoff series games aren’t every other day. I know television has a lot to do with the scheduling and the leagues aren’t going to turn down that money, but you’d think the networks would be willing to work with the leagues. I’m under the impression that the NBA and the NHL think the playoffs going longer are a good thing and maybe I’m the only guy who’s lost some interest in them. I guess it’s one of those issues someone will have to let me know about.

We’ve been having some fun on the show (Sports Time Radio)) as Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy have been picking the playoff game winners and some other random games that I’ve been throwing at them. Schaumburg Stu even picked some games when he filled in for Dan. Mr. Fantasy had a rough Friday as he went 0-3 and their record fell to under .500 at 24-25. Now since Saturday is an off day for the show I did have Mr. Fantasy make some picks for Saturday. He selected Maria Sharapova to win the French Open woman’s title. The match is actually being played as I write this. He took Mark Buehrle to get a win in today’s game for the Toronto Blue Jays. Now if Buehrle takes the loss or gets a no decision that will be a loss for Mr. Fantasy as Buehrle has to get a “W”. His third pick was the Los Angeles Kings to win Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. Not only have Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy to pick the NBA and NHL playoff game winners they’ve had to select winners in WNBA games, NASCAR races and as you read a sentence or to ago professional tennis. Along with, if certain baseball players themselves will do certain things during a game. A couple of predictions they had to make was, would Nelson Cruz or Jose Abreu homer in the game they where playing that night. As you see somethings it doesn’t boil down to just winners and losers, but what will happen in a game. Like will Mark Buehrle get the win today? Of course the tag line for Sports Time Radio is any sport any time and we’ve proved that.

It’s been reported by ESPN that former University of North Carolina basketball player Rashad McCants has said while playing at the school that he rarely went to his classes and that his tutors wrote his papers for him. McCants was the 2nd leading scorer on the North Carolina team that won the national championship in 2004-05. McCants also said that he made the Dean’s list in 2005, but didn’t attend any of the four classes he received A’s in. Those are just a couple of the statements McCants made about his time at North Carolina. None of his former teammates have come out to back up these statements and North Carolina’s head coach Roy Williams has denied knowing anything about these allegations. While I had never heard much about academic issues with the North Carolina men’s basketball team the football team did have some issues with this. The NCAA sanctioned the football program for improper benefits and academic misconduct involving a tutor, but the athletic department’s sports programs largely emerged from the academic scandal penalty-free. As sad as it is to say I actually do believe that this goes on in big time college sports programs, but that doesn’t mean that McCants is telling the truth in this case. I’m sure there will be some type of investigation and will have to wait and see what comes out of that.

I was happy to see the Baltimore Orioles call up two time Cy Young award winner Johan Santana even though he had to go right on the disabled list. Santana has been recovering from arm issues that forced him to under go two major shoulder surgeries. While he wasn’t ready to pitch for the Orioles his contract had a set call up date in it and the Orioles had to either call him up or let him go. As we know the Orioles called Santana up and placed him on the disabled list. Santana was in extended spring training in Florida when he suffered another injury. This time it was a torn Achilles tendon that will end his 2014 comeback attempt before it even gets going as Santana will have season ending surgery on the torn tendon. I hope he’s healthy and given another shot to make a comeback for the 2015 baseball season.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

So how was your week?

How was your Week 5/31/14

Posted: June 2, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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The New York Rangers have advanced to the Stanley Cup finals by beating the Montreal Canadians 4 games to 2 games in the Eastern conference finals. With the exception of one bad game in the conference finals Henrik Lundqvist has carried the Rangers in the playoffs. Now Lundqvist and the Rangers will get a chance to play for the Stanley Cup as they wait for the winner of the Chicago Blackhawks/Los Angeles Kings series. That series is tied at 3 games each with Game 7 being played tomorrow (Sunday) in Chicago. The Kings had a 3 games to 1 game series lead, but the Blackhawks found ways to win Game 5 in double overtime on a Michal Handzus goal and last night (Friday) got a game winning goal from Patrick Kane. Kane has always been considered one of the top players in the NHL, but has really shown his worth against a tough Kings defense. On the show I actually thought the Kings would win last nights game, but did mention if the Blackhawks found a way to win Game 6 they’d win Game 7 at home and go to the Stanley Cup finals again. No matter which way Game 7 goes the Rangers will be facing a team that has won the Stanley Cup recently. The Kings won in 2012 and the Blackhawks won it just last season.

The NBA playoffs are in the same situation as the NHL playoffs. One team the Miami Heat has closed out their series against the Indiana Pacers and are waiting to see of they’ll play the San Antonio Spurs or the Oklahoma City Thunder. San Antonio leads this series 3 games to 2 games with Game 6 being played this afternoon. The game has a 2:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (CST) which is where I live. The home team has won every game in this series; so can the Spurs be the first road team to win a game in this series and close out the Thunder or does Oklahoma City hold serve and go back to San Antonio for a Game 7. Serge Ibaka wasn’t the factor in Game 5 like he was in Games 3 and 4 and some reports have mentioned he’s injured again, but Oklahoma City has denied those reports. While the Miami Heat struggled in Game 5 against Indian they bounced back and closed out the series with a 117 – 92 win in Game 6. It’s looked like through the playoffs that we would get a rematch of last seasons finals, but can Oklahoma City change that outcome or id it Spurs vs. Heat again for the title.

Johnny Manziel went to Las Vegas over the Memorial Day weekend. What did you do? They showed Manziel in the crowd at the UFC fight and you just knew the media would try to turn this into something and they did. Now he didn’t miss any practices with his new team the Cleveland Browns and even if he wanted to go to the Browns facilities he couldn’t because they were closed for the holiday. New Browns coach Mike Pettine pointed out that other players went away for the Memorial Day weekend as well mentioning that South Beach was a destination for some of the players. Was there any media coverage of these players in South Beach? I didn’t see any; so why is Manziel’s trip news? I get it he’s Johnny “Football” or now Johnny “Cleveland” but maybe we should find out if he can play in the NFL before we start reporting every single thing he does. I did find it odd that this story really didn’t start getting reported until the Tuesday after Memorial Day. I guess all the media people where away for the holiday weekend.

On the show yesterday (Friday) I let Mr. Fantasy pick a line up for me that I entered under my Fanduel account. He end up finishing 3034th out of 3910 entries. Sadly not the best showing for Mr. Fantasy, but not ever entry can be a winner.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

So how was your week?

4/12/14 How was your Week?

Posted: April 12, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Uncategorized
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It’s Masters weekend in Augusta Georgia. Tiger Woods is injured and not playing and yesterday Phil Mickelson missed the cut. The Masters rolls on without two of the biggest stars in golf. Ratings where down without Woods in the field and you have to wonder if Mickelson missing the cut will hurt the ratings even more. There still is some good golf being played and Bubba Watson has the lead after two rounds at -7. John Senden is three shots behind at -4. There are also four players at -3 going into this weekends rounds.

While the marquee game in the NBA last night (Friday) was the Miami Heat against the Indiana Pacers the real intrigue is in the Western conference. The race for the 8th and final playoff spot is getting interesting. The Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns are fighting for the final two spots and are separated by 1/2 game. With the schedule the way it is these three teams are almost playing a round robin set up to decide these last two playoff spots. The Mavericks have two regular season games left. Tonight (Saturday) at home against Phoenix and then they go on the road to play Memphis April 16th. The Grizzlies have three regular season games left. Sunday night there on the road against the Los Angeles Lakers. They have to turn right around and play again Monday in Phoenix against the Suns and then they close the season with that April 16th game at home against Dallas. Phoenix has three regular season games left as well. They have tonight’s meeting against the Mavericks in Dallas. Then they have that home game April 16th against Memphis. Phoenix ends the regular season April 16th on the road against the Sacramento Kings. In the Friday night battle for the #1 seed in the Eastern conference LeBron James scored 36 points and the Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers 98 – 86. The Heat took a 1/2 game lead over the Pacers for that #1 seed, but with the way the Pacers have struggled down the stretch seeding might not be an issue.

Dan the Man and I where talking on either Wednesday or Thursday’s show about the Houston Astros television rating. It was being reported that the Astros got a 0.0 television rating for a recent game. This early in the season this is incredibly sad and if the rating is right there has to be a better home for the Astros than Houston. How about the Montreal Astros? There have been some rumors that major league baseball would like to get a team back in Montreal and if fans I Houston don’t want to watch baseball maybe the fans in Montreal would. While the Expos didn’t make it in Montreal that had a lot more to do with ownership and a terrible stadium than anything else. The Expos had some great players in the teams history, but ownership couldn’t afford to sign the players and had to trade them for prospects. The Astros have been rebuilding for a couple of seasons now and could grow with Montreal on their way to being a better team. It’s embarrassing to think that a baseball team got a 0.0 television ratings and if you live in Houston or the Houston area you should be ashamed of that television rating. How do you like the sound of the Montreal Astros?

I have to tell you I’m not a fan at all of inter – league play starting at the beginning of the season. At first inter – league play was interesting to watch, but now the bloom is off the rose; so to speak. When they could build it up and make it seem like a big deal it meant something. Now there are inter – league series all season long and there have been times already this season that I didn’t even realize in was watching an inter – league series. How do you feel about the way major league baseball is handling inter – league play?

So how was your week?

You can follow me on @Burketime
Sports Time Radio

3/29/14 How was your Week?

Posted: March 29, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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After floating his name in the trade market the Philadelphia Eagles just decided to release wide receiver DeSean Jackson. The Eagles sited Jackson’s work ethic and attitude along with rumors that he is affiliated to some gang members that have been connected to two homicides since 2010. Jackson released a statement denying he is a gang member and calling the reports “misleading and unfounded.” Jackson had 82 catches, 1332 yards and 9 touchdowns last season for the Eagles. With the re-signing of Jeremy Macklin and Riley Cooper this off-season and the trade for Darren Sproles, you wonder if the Eagles felt Jackson was expendable. There have been some rumors that the Eagles like the crop of wide receivers in this coming May’s draft. A report came out yesterday saying six teams had contacted Jackson 30 minutes after he was released. In March of 2012 the Eagles signed Jackson to a five tear $48 million dollar deal. With the release of Jackson the Eagles will take a $6 million dollar salary cap hit this coming season.

Is it just me or out of the four major sports does it seem like the NFL has more arrests than any other sport. In another example San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver was arrested Friday morning in San Jose California for felony hit and run and weapons possession. According to police reports Culliver hit a person on a bicycle and then fled the scene. As a witness attempted to stop Culliver from leaving the scene he got out of his car with a pair of brass knuckles. Then to add to the matter Culliver hit the witness’s car as he was fleeing the scene of the accident. The 49ers where aware of the situation and released a statement saying “We will remain in contact with Chris and the local authorities as we continue to gather the facts regarding this situation. As this is an ongoing legal matter, we will reserve further comment at this time.” If you’re having trouble remembering who Culliver is; he was the player who made headlines two years ago during Super Bowl week with his anti-gay comments.

Five teams have clinched Stanley Cup playoffs spots so far. The Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern conference and the St. Louis Blues, Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks in the Western conference. only one point separates the Ducks (102) and the Sharks (103) for 1st place in the Pacific division. The Chicago Blackhawks (99), Colorado Avalanche (98) and Los Angeles Kings (92) should lock up playoff spots in the Western conference soon, but the other two spots will be up for grabs. The Eastern conference is much less clear. The Montreal Canadians (91) should clinch a playoff spot, but after that their are seven different teams in the 80 point range. With five playoff spots for these seven teams the race in the Eastern conference will heat up as the regular season gets closer to the end.

With the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers both struggling a little in there last ten games do you give any other team in the Eastern conference a chance to beat either team in a seven game series. The Pacers are 6 – 4 in their last 10 games while the Heat are 5 – 5. The Pacers have a three game lead over the Heat for home court advantage in the East. It’s going to be difficult to get by either of these teams in a seven game series, but would you give the Brooklyn Nets or the Chicago Bulls a chance. How about the Toronto Raptors who look like they’re going to win the Eastern conferences Atlantic division and get the 3rd seed in the playoffs. In the Western conference the San Antonio Spurs are on a 16 game winning streak and our looking like they’ll get the #1 playoff seed in the West. It’s going to be the 8th spot in the Western conference that’s going to be interesting. The Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies are all separated by two games. Plus the Portland Trailblazers are just a couple of games ahead of this group. One of these teams with a record above .500 will miss the playoffs.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres open the baseball season Sunday night. Yeah I know there where two games played between the Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks in Australia, but that was a stupid idea by major league baseball and I’m not counting that as the start of the season. Clayton Kershaw will miss this start for the Dodgers with back inflammation, but it’s not something that should hold him back from making his next start. Andrew Cashner will be the opening day starter for the Padres. Let’s play ball.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

So how was your week?

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