Saturday, January 03, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers continued their road trip tonight as the traveled to Los Angeles for a date with the Kings. Not surprisingly, with the Flyers playing on back to back nights, Antero Niittymaki got the start in the goal and singlehandedly kept the tired Flyers in the game with 30 saves in 31 opportunities. Meanwhile Scott Hartnell posted the lone Flyer's tally which was all they needed to push the game to overtime. Neither team was able to score in the first period. Early in the 2nd period Hartnell scored for a 1-0 Flyer's lead. Late in the period Wayne Simmonds scored to knot it up at 1 for the Kings. From there neither team could score in the 3rd period or in overtime so the game went into a shootout. This time the tired Flyers came up empty. Jeff Carter missed while Patrik O'Sullivan scored for the Kings in the first round. In the 2nd round Mike Richards missed and Anze Kopitar missed for the Kings. Finally in the 3rd Dustin Brown scored for the Kings to closeout the win. So despite the loss the Flyers technically improve to 21-10-8 overall for 50 points, still 1st in the Atlantic division and 3rd in the Eastern conference.
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers finished off their road trip tonight in San Antonio against the Spurs. Not surprisingly this one looked like a runaway early but the Sixers showed some heart and managed to rally all the way back with some guile and hot shooting. All told the Sixers shot 54% from the field on the night, turned the ball over just 8 times to 19 assists and received spectacular efforts out of Andre Miller with 28 points and Andre Iguodala with 25. Unfortunately, other than out rebounding the Spurs 40-32, the Sixer's defense was not quite as good, as the Spurs shot over 50% from the field and from the beyond the arc, draining 15 three pointers. In the end the mountain the Sixers left themselves to climb proved just a bit too steep as they dropped a heart breaker. The Spurs led by 21 after a quarter of play with the score 40-19. In the 2nd quarter the Sixers began their climb, and by the half the lead was down to 16 with the score 66-50. In the 3rd quarter it was the Sixers who appeared overpowering outscoring the Spurs by 13 and cutting the lead to 3 heading into the 4th quarter. They managed to tie it up several times in the 4th quarter but could not wrestle the lead away from the mighty spurs and eventually Tony Parker drilled a 15 footer at the buzzer to break the Sixer's hearts and close out a 108-106 win. So the Sixers lose their 20th game of the season as they drop to 13-20 overall, but fortunately that is still only 2 games out of 8th in the Eastern conference.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers continued their road trip as they traveled to Anaheim to face the Ducks. Marty Biron got the start in net and had a solid night saving 23 of the 27 shots he faced. Meanwhile Mike Richards assisted on 3 Flyers goals to help them to a much needed win. Late in the first period Ossi Vaananen score for a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later Corey Perry scored to knot it up at 1 for the Ducks. Early in the 2nd period Rob Niedermayer put the Ducks up 2-1. A few minutes later Andrew Ebbet briefly made it 3-1 Ducks before Josh Gratton cut it to 3-2. With just over 2 minutes to play in the period Braydon Coburn scored to knot it up at 3. A minute later Ryan Getzlaf made it 4-3 Ducks. a minute after that Mike Knuble knotted it up again at 4. From there neither team could score in the 3rd period or sudden death overtime so the game went into a shootout. There Claude Giroux missed for the Flyers and Corey Perry missed for the Ducks in the first round. Mike Richards scored for the Flyers and Bobby Ryan missed for the Ducks in the 2nd round. Finally in the 3rd round Ryan Getzlaf missed for the Ducks to clinch a 5-4 Flyers win. So the Orange and Black improve to 21-10-7 overall for 49 points, good for 1st in the Atlantic division at last and 3rd in the Eastern conference.
Friday, January 02, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers continued their road trip tonight as they traveled to Dallas for a matchup with the Mavericks. Once again the Sixer's offense performed admirably with 4 scorers in double figures including Andre Iguodala with 22. This time however, the D was not good enough. Dallas was able to hit 8 three pointers, shoot a higher percentage from the field then the Sixers and they turned the ball over just 10 times to the Sixers 14 turnovers. So when it came down to crunch time it was the Mavs who held the winning hand. Early the Sixers jumped to a 4 point lead and maintained it through the half with the score 44-40 at halftime. In the 3rd quarter Dallas cut into the Sixer lead and by the 4th quarter it was down to 2. Finally in the 4th quarter the Mavs were dominant outscoring the Sixers 32-20 en route to a tough 10 point win with the final score 96-86. So the Sixers drop to 13-19 overall and are now 2 games out of 8th in the Eastern conference.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers continued their road trip tonight as they traveled to L.A for a matchup with the struggling Clippers. Fortunately for the Sixers the Clips continued to struggle and the Sixers had another solid night offensively, to pull out a much needed win. Defensively the Sixers had a much better night then they had been having lately, as they held the Clips to just 40% shooting from the field and 22% from beyond the arc, while forcing 16 turnovers , including 10 steals. Offensively, Andre Iguodala with 28 and Thaddeus Young with 20 were the leading scorers and just about the only Sixer scorers with Andre Miller the only other Sixer in double figures on the night. Still, the defense was good enough for once that Iguodala and Young were all they needed to win. The Clippers actually led by 1 after a quarter of play with the score 27-26. By the half the Sixers had pulled ahead by 3 with the score 50-47. By the start of the 4th quarter the Sixers had stretched their lead to 4 with the score 69-65. Finally in the 4th quarter the Sixers pulled away for good eventually hanging on to win by 8 with the final score 100-92. So the Sixers improve to 13-18 overall and now just a game out of 8th in the Eastern conference. We'll see if they can get anything going from this.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers continued their road trip tonight as they traveled to Vancouver to faceoff with the Canucks. Marty Biron got the start in goal and had a dazzling night saving 29 of the 31 shots he faced, to help preserve a hard fought Flyers victory. Meanwhile, Jeff Carter had yet another stalwart night with a goal and an assist to power the Orange and Black to a win. Early in the first period Carter scored for a 1-0 lead. Late in the period Daniel Sedin knotted it up at 1. Then a minute later Scott Hartnell scored for a 2-1 lead. Early in the 2nd period Jon Kalinski scored for a 3-1 lead. Late in the period Ryan Kesler scored to cut it to 3-2. From there it came down to a battle between Biron and the determined Canucks. Thankfully Biron won the day with some spectacular saves to close out the 3-2 win. So the Flyers win their 20th of the season to improve to 20-10-7 overall for 47 points, and now 5th in the Eastern conference, and still 2nd in the Atlantic division 2 points behind the Rangers.
Monday, December 29, 2008
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers continued their road trip as they traveled to Utah for a matchup with the beat up Jazz. Unfortunately it was the Sixers who were beat up on this night. Once again while the Sixers were solid offensively as they shot 48% from the field and had 5 scorers in double figures, the defense was abysmal. Utah with no Carlos Boozer, and a banged up Deron Williams, shot 51% from the field and 44% from beyond the arc and pumped in 112 points. There is simply no excuse for defense that bad. You just can't win if you allow your opponent to score at will. Utah basically never really trailed in this one. They led by 4 after a quarter of play, 8 at the half, 15 through 3 quarters and finally by a laughable final wining margin of 17 with the final score 112-95. So the Sixers drop their 4th game in a row and fall to 12-18 overall which mind you is actually still only a game and a half out of 8th in the Eastern conference. So there is still time for the Sixers to turn things around, but they had better find some answers quick or they'll be going nowhere this season, assuming they aren't already going nowhere.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
EAGLES NEWS
In one of the wildest season ending weeks in recent history, the Eagles got the losses they needed early as the Houston Texans rallied to beat the Bears, and the Oakland Raiders rallied to knock of the Bucs, and they then crushed the arch rival Dallas Cowboys to earn the NFC's final playoff spot. It is not just that the Eagles played so well, that made their win today so impressive it's that Dallas with all of its high payed stars played so poorly. The Cowboys literally fumbled away their chances in this one, with 4 fumbles, an interception and a plethora of stupid penalties. Not only did they look unprepared, but the Cowboys also just did not appear as if they wanted to win this one. It was almost as if they were not aware of what was at stake in this game. The Eagles on the other hand had their eyes on the prize right from the beginning. Donovan Mcnabb completed 12 of 21 passes for 175 yards and 2 TDs as the Eagles went a perfect 3 for 3 in the redzone on the day. Correll Buckhalter was the other headliner on the offense with 3 catches for 59 yards and a TD, and 10 rushes for 63 yards. Defensively the Birds were equally up to the task forcing 5 turnovers, and limiting the Cowboys to just 298 total yards of offense, only 87 rushing yards, and just 6 points. It was simply a dominating performance on both sides of the ball today. Halfway through the first quarter David Akers booted a 40 yarder for the early 3-0 lead. Dallas and Nick Folk matched him late in the quarter to tie it at 3. From there it was all Eagles. Early in the 2nd quarter, Mcnabb himself plunged in from a yard out for a 10-3 lead. With just over 2 minutes left in the half Mcnabb finished off another drive with a 4 yd TD pass to Buckhalter for a 17-3 lead. After stopping Dallas on their ensuing drive the Birds drove down for another TD, this time a 1 Yd td pass from Mcnabb to Brent Celek for a 24-3 lead. Pacman, er Adam Jones then fumbled the ensuing kickoff to set up David Akers with a 50 yarder for a 27-3 lead. Early in the 3rd quarter Brian Dawkins sacked and stripped Romo, and Chris Clemons scooped it up and scampered 73 yards for 34-3 lead. BDawk did it again on the next Dallas drive this time stripping Marion Barber inside the Eagles five, and Joselio Hanson grabbed it and ran it back 96 yards for another scored and a 41-3 lead. Finally a couple minutes later after another Romo fumble Akers drilled a 41 yarder for a 44-3 lead. From there the two teams merely played out the remaining time on the clock, as Nick Folk booted a 42 yarder late in the 4th quarter to cut the Eagles lead to the eventual final score 44-6. So the Birds finish the season 9-6-1 and claim the final playoff spot in the NFC. They will now travel to Minnesota next week for a wildcard matchup with the Vikings and if they win that they'll head to the meadowlands for a 2nd rematch with Eli and the New York Giants in the divisional round of the playoffs.
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