Saturday, November 15, 2008
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers kept it rolling tonight against the Oklahoma City Thunder, formerly the Seattle Supersonics, as they returned to the Wachovia center off their long road trip. Offensively they were solid if not great, shooting 46 % from the field and 42% from beyond the arc, but they did little things right again, with 38 bench points, and 31 assists to just 13 turnovers and that made all the difference. Individually, Thaddeus Young was the high man with 25 points ,Elton Brand chipped in with 15, Andre Iguodala added 15 , and heck even Sammy D, Samuel Dalembert got in the act, with 13 and 16 rebounds. Defensively, the Sixers had another good night with 58 rebounds, and 9 steals among 18 Thunder turnovers, as they limited the young Thunder to just 39% shooting from the field on the night. So overall it was another solid team effort, but of course the young 1-9 Thunder can make a lot of teams look better than they really are. Still, it was not the ease of victory, but rather the way the Sixers did it, doing the little things, that was impressive tonight and that's something to hold onto going forward. Early the Thunder actually kept it close, with the Sixers leading by just 2 after one quarter and 4 at half with the score 46-42. In the 3rd quarter, it was no contest as the Sixers finally pulled away to a 19 point lead with the score 79-60 heading into the 4th quarter. In the 4th quarter they simply kept it rolling ,eventually winning going away by 25, with the final score 110-85. So the Sixers move to 5-5 overall and continue to be headed in the right direction.
FLYERS NEWS
After a close loss to the Penguins in their last game the Flyers were able to bounce back tonight against the Canadiens. Marty Biron had another dazzling night in goal saving 24 of 25 shots and stifling the Montreal power play 4 times. Meanwhile, the Flyers threw 31 shots on net and scratch out a couple scores to get themselves the win. Early in the 2nd period Scottie Upshall scored for a 1-0 lead. Late in the period Jeff Carter slapped on home to make it 2-0. Finally about halfway through the 3rd period Alex Tanguay put the Canadiens on the board. From there Biron ensured they would not score again the Flyers eventually hung on for the 2-1 win. So the Orange and Black move to 6-6-4 overal for a total of 16 points.
Friday, November 14, 2008
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers continued to improve tonight as they traveled to Indianapolis to face the Indiana Pacers. They did not play their best, but for the first time all season they were able to win despite having an off day. They had another poor shooting night at just 38% from the field, but hit em when it counted, as Thaddeus Young led the way with 25 points, Elton Brand chipped in with 14 and 15 rebounds, Andre Iguodala added 10 and 10 rebounds, Andre Miller dropped 19, and Willie Green was impressive off the bench again with 14. Defensively they had another solid night and that's what saved them, as they amassed 54 rebounds to rule the glass, 10 blocks, and 8 steals among 18 Pacer turnovers to just 10 for the Sixers. Early on things looked bleak for the Sixers as Indiana jumped out to a 25 point lead with the score 38-13 after a quarter of play. The Sixers battled back in the 2nd quarter rallying to cut the lead to 8 by the half with the score 57-49. After 3 quarters of play the Sixers had cut it down to 7 with the score 78-71. Finally in the 4th quarter the Sixers took charge, pushing ahead before finally hanging to win a thriller by 2 with final score 94-92 after Marquis Daniels clanged a 3 at the buzzer. So the Sixers improve to 4-5 overall and appear at last to be headed in the right direction.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
FLYERS NEWS
The Orange and Black took the ice in Pittsburgh tonight looking for their 2nd win in a row as they faced off in a key divisional matchup with the Penguins. They nearly got it, but it was not to be. Marty Biron was not as spectacular tonight as he was against the Islanders, as he faced 31 shots and only saved 27 of them. So it the Flyers would have to work for this one. Midway through the first period Matt Cooke scored to put the Pens up 1-0. Early in the 2nd Evgeni Malkin and the Kid Sidney Crosby scored within a couple minutes of each other to make it 3-0 and looked like it was lights out for the Flyers. However they would fight back. About midway through the period Jeff Carter scored to cut it to 3-1. A minute later in the period Simon Gagne scored to cut it to 3-2. Late in the Gagne scored again to tie it at 3. Finally with just 4 seconds left in the period Joffrey Lupul scored for a 4-3 lead. Late in the 3rd period Sid kid tied it up again at 4. From there neither team could score for the remainder of regulation or the overtime period so the it all came down to a shootout. There Gagne, Carter, Mike Richards, Lupul, Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell all failed to score. Petr Sykora, Malkin, Sid the kid, Kris Letang, and Miroslav Satan each did likewise for Pittsburgh. Finally the 6th penguin Alex Goligoski broke the Flyer's hearts with the only score of the shootout to finish off a 5-4 Pens win. So the Flyers drop to 5-6-4 overall for a total of 14 points.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
SIXERS NEWS
After their 3rd consecutive loss last night the Sixers traveled to Toronto looking to avenge their opening night loss to the Raptors and find some answers. They were able to do so and more. At last Elton Brand seemed to find his place in the Sixer's offense draining mid range jumpers for a game high 25 points, when he wasn't running floor and playing defense with 3 blocks, a steal, and 8 rebounds. It wasn't just Brand who made the difference tonight though. Willie Green with 17 points and 9 assists and the rookie Maurice Speights with 12 and 7 rebounds help to ignite a solid night for the Sixer bench. Andre Iguodala nearly amassed another triple double with 18 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds, and the other Andre, Andre Miller chipped in with 18 points. As a team the Sixers appeared significantly improved as well on both sides of the ball. Offensively, they shot 53% from the field, 54% from beyond the arc with 6 threes, and ripped off 30 assists to just 13 turnovers. Defensively they may have shown their most improvement, with 6 blocks, 8 steals, and the usual glass ruling 40 rebounds. In short they looked like the team everyone expected them to be this season and the team we ought to see from now on, if they expect to go anywhere this season. Getting back to the game, the Sixers actually jumped out early for once sprinting to a 13 point lead after a quarter of play with the score 26-13. In the 2nd quarter Toronto woke up, perhaps too late, rallying to cut the lead to 6 by the half with the score 51-45. In the 3rd quarter the Sixers held firm to the lead, staying ahead by 7, with the score 78-71. In the 4th quarter they did likewise, eventually hanging on to win by 10 with the final score 106-96. So the Sixers improve to 3-5 overall which is okay for the moment, but they're going to have figure out a way to keep it up for once, and it will be interesting to see if they can.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
FLYERS NEWS
The Orange and Black finally ended their losing streak tonight against their perennial cure all, the New York Islanders, well at least for about the last 10 years or so. Anyway once again Marty Biron paved the way to victory with 35 saves out of the 36 shots he faced. Perhaps if he was that good every night, or maybe if his defense made it so he wouldn't have to be so good every night this team wouldn't go on losing streaks. It is fortunate though that they ended this one before long. Anyway getting back to the game, as usual the Flyers got off to a slow start, but thanks to Marty it didn't matter tonight. Danny Briere finally scored the first goal of the night over halfway through the 2nd period for a 1-0 lead. About halfway through the 3rd period Mike Richards made it 2-0. Finally with just under 4 minutes to play the Isles got on board as Trent Hunter scored to cut it to 2-1. The Isles then elected to go with the empty net in hopes a forging a tie but Kimmo Timonen made sure that would happen, scoring on the empty net with 4 seconds remaining to finish off the 3-1 Flyer's victory. So the Flyers improve to 5-6-3 for 13 points overall.
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers welcomed the Utah Jazz to the Wachovia center tonight. Riding a 2 game losing streak, they were looking to right the ship. Instead, the same problems that have plagued them all year, cost them tonight. They shot just 38% from the field, they tossed away 16 turnovers, and the bench produced just 12 points. More and more it seems they are becoming less of a team and more of a group of individuals just going out and trying to get theirs every night. In fact they had almost as many assists tonight(17) as they had turnovers. It also seems that they don't who they are. Either they run the floor, or they play a halfcourt offense and give the ball Elton Brand to make something happen. Sooner or later they are going to have pick one and stick with it because the more they try to do both the worse things get. Getting to the game now, the first half belonged to Utah as they took a 12 point lead into the half with the score 49-37. The Sixers rallied in the 3rd quarter and actually went up by 4 heading into the 4th quarter with the score 67-63. Finally in the 4th quarter Utah dominated again and wound up winning by 13, with the final score 93-80. Yes that's right the Sixers had just 13 points in the 4th quarter while Utah had 30. Now you know what separates a good team like Utah from a bad team like the Sixers who drop to 2-5 overall.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Sunday, November 09, 2008
EAGLES NEWS
Coming into tonight's showdown with the New York Giants at the Linc the Birds had a golden opportunity to pull themselves to within a game of the first place Giants and suddenly make the NFC East division race wide open. Thanks to some key Giant's turnovers they nearly did so, but once again a late short yardage situation did them in. Donovan Mcnabb did not have his best night completing 17 of 36 passes for a scant 194 yards and 3 TDs and one int, but the defense picked him up time and time again, forcing 2 turnovers, and limiting the Giants to just 6 points on the Eagles 2 turnovers. However, the Giants run game which amassed over 200 yards on the night, proved to be the difference. The Eagles meanwhile rushed for just 106 yards, and Mcnabb was actually the leading rusher with 35 yards. Early on it looked like it might be a big night for the Eagles, as Mike Patterson intercepted Eli Manning on the 2nd play of the game, to set up a 9 yd TD run by Desean Jackson and a 7-0 Birds lead. The Giants then went on a long drive capped off by a 7 td pass from Manning to Plaxico Burress to knot it up at 7. Quintin Demps fumbled the ensuing kickoff deep in Eagles' territory, but the Eagles defense managed to force a John Carney field goal for a 10-7 Giant's lead. Another long drive to start the 2nd quarter and another Manning TD pass this one a 1 yd pass to Kevin Boss made it 17-7. On the next Giants possession Brandon Jacobs fumbled the ball away deep in Eagles territory, setting up a 10 yd td pass from Mcnabb to Jason Avant to cut it to 17-14. Mcnabb was intercepted on the next Eagles possession but again the Eagles defense forced a John Carney field goal for a 20-14 lead. Mcnabb then used the rest of the half to put the Eagles in range for a David Akers field goal to cut the halftime lead to 20-17. The Eagles came out firing to start the 2nd half as Mcnabb led a long drive, capped off by a 7 yd td pass to Hank Baskett for a 24-20 Eagles lead. The Giants answered with another long drive that ended with a 3 yd Jacobs td run, after an illegal forward pass penalty on Manning was overturned, to put the Giants up 27-24. Early in the 4th quarter Carney finished off another long drive with a field goal to mak it 30-24 Gmen. A long punt return by Domenik Hixon then set up a 3 yd td plunge by Jacobs for a 36-24 lead. The ensuing Eagles drive showcased Mcnabb at his best as on 4th goal from the 2 after a 10 play drive, he hit Kevin Curtis with a 2 yd td pass to cut it to 36-31 and renew hope. After an Eagles defensive stand Mcnabb and offense got it back for one last chance, and managed to drive to about midfield , but there Brian Westbrook came up short and on 3rd and 1 and then on 4th and 1, turning the ball over on downs. The Giants then converted on 4th and inches with 15 seconds left and ran out the clock for the 36-31 win. So the Eagles drop to 5-4 overall and back into a last place tie with the Cowboys. It is going to be tough now for them to reach the playoffs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)