Saturday, November 14, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyer's welcomed the Buffalo Sabres to the Wachovia center tonight as they looked for their 6th straight win. This one was a tight well played game by both teams, but Buffalo was just a little better. They had 2 power play goals to 0 for the Flyers, the NHL's best power play unit, despite having 4 opportunities. The Flyer's were also hit with 9 penalties, including a few on some very ticky tacky calls, and that made it difficult for them to get it going offensively. Ray Emery also had a bit of an off night, allowing 3 goals while facing only 25 shots. Goals by Thomas Vanek in the 1st period, and Tyler Ennis in the 2nd period gave Buffalo a 2-0 lead heading into the 3rd period. There, the Flyer's finally put together a rally. Chris Pronger scored early in the period to cut it to 2-1. Then after Paul Gaustad scored another Buffalo power play goal, to push the lead back to 3-1, Jeff Carter scored shorthanded to cut it to 3-2 with a little under 10 minutes to play. Unfortunately, try as they might the Flyers could not come up with the equalizer down the stretch and eventually Buffalo hung on to win 3-2 to snap the Flyer's winning streak at 5. So they drop to 10-5-1 overall and back to 6th in the Eastern conference, with 3 of the 5 teams ahead of them also from the Atlantic division(Rangers, Pens, Devils). In fact if the season were to end now, literally the entire Atlantic division would be in the playoffs, as the Islanders, last in the Atlantic, are currently right behind the Orange and Black at 7th in the East. That's how bad the rest of the Eastern conference is this year.
SIXERS NEWS
After an embarrassing loss to the Jazz in their last game, the Sixers traveled to Chicago tonight for a matchup with the Bulls. They played much better tonight, and even led by 1 at the half, but Chicago closed better in the 2nd half, as the Sixer's defense broke down again and allowed the Bulls to surge to victory. Andre Iguodala led 4 Sixers in double figures on the night, with 24, Lou Williams netted 20, Thad Young pumped in 16 and Elton Brand chipped in with another 11 points but it wasn't enough. The Sixer's bench had terrible night with just 9 points, while Chicago got 33 points from there bench and that was probably the difference. The Sixers were also outrebounded by Chicago 45-40, and that hurt down the stretch. It's just hard to win when you can't protect the basket late in the game. That said the Sixer's defense was better tonight , compiling 10 steals and 7 blocks, and forcing 20 Chicago turnovers. They just couldn't get it done down the stretch. The Sixers did lead 41-40 at the half, as Thad Young dunked with about 30 seconds left in the half to preserve the lead. From there the Sixers were then outscored by Chicago in the 2nd half 54-47, and eventually fell 94-88 for their 2nd straight loss to drop to 4-6 overall. They're just going to have to go back and learn how to close out games again. Also they really need to figure out how to run this offense, because it still seems now after 10 games, that they're still trying figure what to do out there on offense. It's early in the season and there's still time for them to right the ship, but they can't wait too much longer or this is going to be a long season.
Friday, November 13, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers welcomed the Utah Jazz to the Wachovia center tonight. Normally, this would have been mismatch in Utah's favor, but they came in without all-star point guard Deron Williams, meaning the Sixers perhaps had the advantage. In the end it was ultimately still a mismatch with Carlos Boozer scoring 24, to lead 7 Jazz in double figures. The Sixers on the other hand had just 5 scorers in double figures, led by Thad Young's 17. If they had been able to play even half decent defense that might have been enough to pull out a win over the Jazz, but they couldn't figure out how stop Utah all night long, and so instead they lost badly. Utah was just superb defensively, and far stronger underneath the basket with 44 rebounds to the Sixers 33, and that was the difference. The Sixers were able to keep it close for most of the 1st half thanks to some hot shooting to start the night, but eventually they started to cool off and by the end of 3rd quarter they were down by 20 as they went on to lose by 22, with the final score 112-90. The Sixers really need to toughen up and try harder, because the listless manner in which they played tonight's game isn't going to get it done. Elton Brand had his best night of the season thus far with 11 points, but that is still a far cry from the Sixers need out of him in order to be successful. If he can just pick it up, then I think the team will pick it up as well and then I think they'll still be fine. Anyway so the Sixers drop back under .500 again at 4-5 overall, and now have a lot of questions to answer and a lot of soul searching to do.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers and more specifically Danny Briere, returned to action tonight as they welcomed the Ottawa Senator's to the wachovia center. Riding a 4 game winning streak the Flyers picked up right where they left off. In fact, tonight was about the best they have played thus far during the streak. They committed just 2 penalties, held Ottawa to only 23 shots on goal, and once again dominated on faceoffs and on the power play. Ray Emery was brilliant against his former team, saving 22 of the 23 shots he faced. Briere also seemed to return to form immediately, netting 2 goals on the night, while Jeff Carter, Kimmo Timonen, and Chris Pronger each had 2 assists. It was just an all around superb performance by the Orange and Black. Blair Betts got it going midway through the 2nd period, scoring off the power play for a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later Mike Fisher netted a fluky power play goal off Emery's stick to knot it at 1 for Ottawa, but it would be all Flyer's from there. James Van Reimsdyk answered a couple minutes later with another power play goal for a 2-1 lead. Early in the 3rd period, Briere scored his 1st, for a 3-1 lead. 5 minutes later Daroll Powe pushed it to 4-1. Finally a couple minutes Briere netted his 2nd goal for a 5-1 lead and the Flyer's had their 5th straight victory easily, to move to 10-4-1 overall and now 5th in the Eastern Conference.
PHILLIES NEWS
Chase Utley was awarded his 4th consecutive silver slugger today, with another 31 homers and almost 100 RBIs he was far better this past season than any other NL 2nd baseman, so this too is no surprise. Now only the greate Ryne SandBerg, the last 2nd baseman to be inducted into the hall of fame, owns more silver sluggers as a 2B than Utley, with 5 in a row from 1988-1992. Also Mike Schmidt himself, with 5 silver sluggers, is now the only Phil who has won more than Utley.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers traveled to New Jersey for another matchup with the shorthanded and still winless Nets. Once again it should have been an easy win for the Sixers, but again New Jersey managed to hang around for most of the night before the Sixers pulled out the win. The Sixers had their worst shooting night of the season thus far, at 39% from the field and 25% from beyond the arc, otherwise New Jersey would not have been able to keep it close. Only 20 points from Thad Young and another 19 and 9 rebounds from Maurice Speights off the bench, combined with good tight defense late in the game, gave the Sixers just enough to hold off New Jersey. The Sixers led by 1 after a quarter of play, 3 at the half, 2 after 3 quarters and finally held on to win by 3, with the final score 82-79. So the Sixers move back to .500 at 4-4 overall, but they'll have play better than this, if they ever want to get back above .500 and stay there. If nothing else though it was good to see them play defense like they did tonight because defense it what ultimately wins you the big games.
PHILLIES NEWS
Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino were awarded gold gloves today, for their defensive efforts at shortstop and centerfield respectively, this past season. They both deserved it and I am not surprised.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, November 09, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers welcomed the Phoenix Suns to the Wachovia center as they looked to get back on track after losing to the Pistons yesterday. They played much better offensively on this night, then they had against the Pistons, shooting 53% from the field and 38% from beyond the arc, with 5 Sixers in double figures. Andre Iguodala led the way with 24, Lou Williams had 13, Elton Brand chipped in with 10, Thad Young scored 15, and Maurice Speights came off the bench for 20. Unfortunately, the Sixers just couldn't stop the high powered Sun's, who also shot 53% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc. The Sixers hung with them for a while, and even had a 12 point lead at the half, but it was all but gone by the 4th quarter. Still, they managed to hang in there until Phoenix finally pulled ahead for good with a little over 2 minutes to play and eventually hung on to win 119-115. So the Sixers drop under .500 for the 1st time this season at 3-4 overall and hopefully they won't stay there for too long.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers traveled to Detroit this afternoon for a matchup with the Pistons. With Tashawn Prnce and Rip Hamilton both missing the game for Detroit, you would think this would have been an easy eay evening for the Sixers. Instead Ben Wallace played some inspired defense, pulling down 16 rebounds, and racking up 3 steals and block each, as he helped limit the Sixers to just 43% shooting from the field and 16.7% shooting from beyond the arc. The Sixers just simply couldn't get any rythm going offensively. They hung in there though, with Andre Iguodala's 24 points leading the way. In fact after 3 quarters of play they were only down by 4 with the score 64-60. Even as late as about 2 and half minutes to play in the 4th quarter, the Sixers were within 2 and had actually led at one point before that. Then Detroit turned it on even more defensively, the Sixers went cold the rest of the way, and the Pistons hung on to win 88-81. So the Sixers finally lose one they probably should have won as they drop to 3-3 overall. Better luck next time I guess.
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils decided today not to pick up the option remaining on 3B Pedro Feliz's contract. Now that doesn't mean yet that he won't be back with the Phils next season. It simply means the Phils are keeping their options open. So ultimately we'll have to wait and see what happens.
EAGLES NEWS
The Eagles welcomed the Dallas Cowboys to the Linc tonight for yet another showdown to decide 1st place in the NFC East. It was not a well played game with several penalty flags on both sides and 3 interceptions, 1 by Tony Romo and 2 by Donovan Mcnabb, but it was a typical tight NFC East battle. The Boys led early 7-0 on a 2 yd TD run by Tashard Choice following Mcnabb's fist int. The Eagles came back with a couple of field goals in the 2nd quarter to cut it to 7-6, before Nick Folk drilled a 22 yarder as time expired for a 10-6 Dallas halftime lead. The Eagles then opened the 3rd quarter with 77 yard drive, capped off by a Mcnabb TD pass to Brent Celek for a 13-10 Eagle's lead. Sadly they never led again, as luck was just not on the Birds side tonight. First Mcnabb miscommunicated with the rookie sensation, Jeremy Maclin on a crossing route, resuling in Mcnabb's 2 int of the day and a Dallas field goal to tie it at 13. Later the Eagles went for it on a 4th and inches from about midfield. It appeared for all intensive purposes that Mcnabb got the needed yardage on a QB sneak, but the officials did not give him the spot and then would not overturn the spot they had given simply because they couldn't see whether or not one of his elbows was down before he got the needed yardage. That then left the Eagles with no timeouts and a 20-13 deficit after Dallas, taking over from about midfield, drove down into Eagle's territory and turned a 3rd and 14 into a 49 yd TD pass to Miles Austin. It was his only catch of the game, after a combined 300+ yards recieving the last 3 weeks, and it made all the difference. The Eagles put together one more drive to try and tie it, but on 3rd down from inside the Dallas 40, Mcnabb came a shoestring tackle away from scrambling for a 1st down, and the Birds decided to settle for another Aker's field goal, this one 52 yards out. That left the Eagles down 20-16, and with no timeouts, desperate to stop Dallas quickly. Unfortunately, LB Akeem Jordan went down with a knee injury on the ensuing kickoff and Dallas exploited his absence on 3rd and 3 from inside their own 40, with Romo completing a short pass to Jason Witten to move the chains and allow Dallas to run out the clock. The Eagles have the toughest part of their schedule coming up now and really needed to win this one to solidfy their spot atop the NFC East and towards the top of the NFC. Instead they drop to 5-3 overall and now must hope they can survive this upcoming stretch well enough for another shot at Dallas and the division. It won't be easy though.
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