Saturday, November 22, 2008
FLYERS NEWS
The Orange and Black welcomed the Phoenix Coyotes to the Wachovia center tonight. Marty Biron kept it going tonight with 25 saves out of the 28 shots he faced and Jeff Carter scored yet another goal as the Flyers pulled out their 4th win in a row. Early in the 1st period Scott Hartnell made it 1-0. Late in the period Daniel Carcillo knotted it up at 1 for the Coyotes. Late in 2nd period Martin Hanzal scored for a 2-1 Coyote lead. Mike Knuble tied it up again early in the 3rd period. Late in the period ex-Flyer Todd Fedoruk put Phoenix up again 3-2. With just over a minute to play Carter slapped home the equalizer and the stage shifted to an overtime battle. There just a minute and 35 seconds in, Carter assisted the Captain Mike Richards on the game winner, to close out the 4-3 Flyer victory. So the Flyers improve to 9-6-4 overall, for a total of 22 points, good for 8th in the Eastern conference. They'll have to keep this little roll going if they want to continue to move up the standings, but at this point things are lookng like last season again and it is becoming fun to watch. Who needs football when you've got the Flyers kicking butt every night.
Friday, November 21, 2008
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers welcomed Elton Brand's ex mates, the Clippers, to the Wachovia center tonight. The Sixers again had a subpar night, but thankfully so did the 1-8 Clippers, allowing the Sixers to pull out a much needed win. Once again, the bench struggled with just 17 points. Once again the shooting was just okay at 42% from the field and 28% from beyond the arc. This time however the defense was better, as they held the Clips to just 44% shooting from the field and got them to commit 23 turnovers, all this despite being outrebounded for about the first time all season 47-41. At any rate it was a Sixer victory so let's just savor it. Early on it was all Sixers as they jumped out to a 12 point lead after a quarter of play, with the score 28-16. The Clips rebounded in the 2nd quarter, rallying ahead by 3 at the half with the score, 49-46. In the 3rd quarter, the two teams simply traded baskets, and the Sixers still trailed by 4, with the score 72-68, heading into the 4th quarter. Finally in the 4th quarter the Sixers mounted a final desperate rally, and with 58 seconds left Brand drained a 15 footer to put the Sixers up for good 89-88. From there neither team could score for the remainder of regulation, as the Sixers hung on for the 89-88 win. So the Sixers improve to 6-6 overall, and maybe now they'll finally get over .500.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers traveled to Buffalo tonight for a matchup with the Sabres. Marty Biron had a dazzling night sinlgedhandedly pushing the Flyer's to victory with 40 saves and a shutout. Meanwhile Jeff Carter blasted home a couple of late goals to seal the win. Late In the first period Scott Hartnell scored for a 1-0 lead. Midway through the 3rd period Carter scored his first goal for a 2-0 lead. Late in the period Carter scored again capping off a 3-0 Flyer's win. So the Orange and Black move to 8-6-4 overall for a total of 20 points, just behind you guessed it, the Sabres, for the 8th seed in the Eastern conference.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
PHILLIES NEWS
The first Philly title defense in 25 years is in jeapardy before even had chance to begin. The Phillies learned today that Chase Utley will have to undergo hip surgery which will likely cause him to miss the beginning of the 2009 season. Hopefully, his absence won't cause the Phils to take another early season plunge, but they would have been dead meat without him early this season, so who knows.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
SIXERS NEWS
Just when it looked like they had turned a corner the Sixers took a few steps back tonight against the Timberwolves in Minnesota. Offensively, the bench failed to produce with a combined 21 points, and the shooting dipped down a bit, at just 47% from the field and 9.1%, yes 9.1% from beyond the arc. Defensively, the Sixers were not as strong as they had been. While they still ruled the glass 40-33, they allowed Minnesota to shoot 51% from the field, which is never conducive to winning. The Sixers defense was good for a few games, but ultimately they weren't able to keep it up. Moreover, the bench is not going to be consistently good this season until Lou Williams finds his stroke, after all Willie Green can't carry the second unit all on his own forever. So yes despite the loss tonight the Sixers are an improvement from what they were earlier this season, but they won't be what everyone thought they would until the bench and the D are in order. Getting back to the game, it was clear early on the 1-8 Timberwolves would not go away easy as they hung within 3 points of the Sixers, with the score 27-24 after a quarter of play. By the half the T-Wolves had nudged ahead by 4 with the score 56-52. In the 3rd quarter they pulled out to a commanding 11 point lead, with the score 76-65. Finally in the 4th quarter the Sixers mounted a late rally, actually pulling to within 1 with 50 seconds left and within 2 with 18 seconds left, but it was too little too late, as the T-Wolves hit their free throws down the stretch and eventually hung to win 102-96. So the Sixers drop to 5-6 overall and will need to keep improving, because they are not where they want to be just yet.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers extended their winning streak against the Altanta Thrashers to 12 in a row tonight, as Antero Niittymaki improved to a perfect 11-0 vs the Thrashers. The win was largely due to Niittymaki's 29 saves out of 32 shots and some timely Flyers goals. Early in first period Simon Gagne scored a dazzling breakaway goal for a 1-0 lead. Late in the period Mike Knuble scored to make it 2-0. Early in the 2nd period Erik Christensen scored to cut it to 2-1. Kimmo Timmonen answered later in the period for a 3-1 lead. Early in the 3rd period Bryan Little scored to cut it 3-2. Midway through the 3rd Slava Kozlov tied it up at 3. Fortunately, just when it seemed to be slipping away, Joffrey Lupul answered a minute later to put the Flyers up for good 4-3. So the Orange and Black improve to 7-6-4 overall, putting them above .500 for the first time all season, for a total of 18 points.
EAGLES NEWS
The Eagles traveled to Cincinnati to face the hapless 1-8 Bengals today, looking to rebound after another Sunday night heartbreaker. Despite performing poorly in short yardage situations once again they almost did so, but thanks to a totally inept offense late in the game when it really counted, they found themselves finishing in a tie with the Bengals, the first such fiasco since 2002. While he did throw for 339 yards and a TD, Mcnabb was also intercepted 3 times and lost a fumble, contributing 10 of the Bengals 13 points. Brian WestBrook also had another sub par game for his standards with just 71 combined yards and it seems clear at this point that he is not back at a 100% yet. The Eagles defense on the other hand had another big day and are the main reason the game ended in a tie and not a loss. Ryan FiztPatrick was sacked 8 times, the Bengal running game was held to just 56 yards, and the Bengals scored just 13 points, zero after the 3rd quarter. Normally that would be more than good enough for a win, but not today. Early in the 2nd quarter Mcnabb committed hist first turnover, fumbling the ball away deep in Eagle's territory. Fortunately the Eagle defense held strong and forced a Shane Graham field goal for a 3-0 lead. The Eagles answered a few minutes later after a long drive with an Akers field goal to knot it at 3. FitzPatrick then directed a quick drive late in the quarter following a Mcnabb interception, that ended with a 26 yd pass from Fitzpatrick to T.J Houshmanzedah for a 10-3 lead. Early in the 3rd quarter Graham kicked another field goal for a 13-3 lead. Mcnabb answered a few plays later with a 4 yd TD pass to L.J Smith to cut it to 13-10. Then late in the 4th quarter the Birds appeared poised to take lead and pull out the win, but on 4th and 1 from the 10 Andy Reid elected to kick the field goal, tying it at 13. The Eagles had a couple opportunities to drive for the winning field goal in regulation but failed so the game went into overtime. There the Eagles offense still could not find any rhythm. Finally with 15 seconds left the Bengals got in range for the winning field goal, but Shane Graham missed from 47 yards out. Then Mcnabb's desperation heave fell incomplete one play later and the two teams settled for a tie. So the Eagles move to 5-4-1 overall and remain on the outside looking in to the playoff picture. They will just about have to win the remainder of their games to reach the playoffs at this point and it is doubtful that they will be able to do so.
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