After their huge win over the Celtics last night, Sixers returned to wachovia center tonight as they looked to continue building momentum against the visiting L.A Clippers. A.I was again held out of tonight's game, but Lou Williams made an early return to the Sixers from the broken jaw that supposed to sideline him for another month, so there appeared to be nothing that could get in the Sixer's way. Unfortunately, just like their co-tenants the Sixers came out flat in this one, falling behind by 13 at the half. Once again, behind 20 and9 rebounds by Andre Iguodala, 19 and 8 rebounds from Thad Young, 12 and 7 assists from Willie Green, 14 from Elton Brand, 28 and 9 from Mo Speights and yes even 6 and 4 assists from Lou, the Sixers rallied back and by the 8 minute mark of the 4th quarter they had tied it up at 84. From there the two teams battled back and forth the rest of the way, until with the game tied at 99, and only seconds left, the Sixers got the last look. As usual they went to Iggy with the game on the line, and this time he kept it himself and drilled a fadeaway for the win! or not. Officials reviewed the shot and waved it off, claiming Iggy did not get it off in time. The Sixers were a bit deflated after that, after quickly falling behind by 6 in overtime they were toast, as the Clips hung on to win 112-107. Considering this marks the 20th loss of the season for the Sixers, this one hurts pretty badly too. I guess two good nights in a row was too much to ask.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
After coming this close to upsetting the Pens in their last game the Flyers returned to action this afternoon at the Wachovia center as they welcomed the hated Rangers to town. With both teams struggling recently yet still very much in the running for one of the final playoff spots in the Eastern conference, this was a key matchup. Unfortunately, the Flyers came out a bit flat, and fell behind early 1-0 on unassisted Chris Drury score early in the 1st period. A few minutes later the Flyers answered back with a power tally by Chris Pronger off an assist from Simon Gagne to knot it up at 1. From there all they picked it up the rest of the way and ultimately New York 37-24, the only other score of the night went to New York with Artem Anisimov scoring early in the 2nd period to cap off a disheartenting 2-1 loss to the Rangers. Basically, Ranger's goalie, Henrick Lundqvist stole this one from the Flyers with 36 huge saves, and it hurts. It kinda makes you wonder what the heck the Flyers have to do around here to get a win. Anyway despite the gut wrenching loss the Flyers, at 15-17-2 overall remain just 5 points out of 8th in the Eastern conference.
Friday, December 18, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
Coming into tonight the Sixers had lost 12 of their last 13 games, while there opponent, the hated Boston Celtics, had won 11 in a row. So chances of a Sixer's victory on this night were slim at best. They became slimmer when it was revealed that AI, with a bum knee and shoulder, would not make the trip to Boston. It looked even worse when the Sixers fell behind at the half 53-42. Then something funny happened. As usual the Sixers made a run at the end to get back in it, but this time there was no fight back from Boston. Maybe they believed they could coast to victory, that the Sixers would rollover, but they didn't. In the 3rd quarter they outscored Boston 30-23 to cut the lead all the way down to 4. Early in the 4th quarter the two teams tussled back in forth for the control, before the Sixers finally pushed ahead 85-84 with 6 minutes to play. They were then on the seesaw for the most of the rest of the night. With 29 seconds left Mo Speights sunk two free throws to put the Sixers ahead 96-95. Kevin Garnett came back with two free throws to put Boston ahead 97-96 with 23 seconds to play. As usual the Sixers then went to AI, that's Andre Iguadola, to take the last shot. He was defended well and passed to Speights who got a good look at a jumper, but it came up short. Fortunately, Elton Brand was right there to tap it in for a 98-97 Sixer's lead wth 8 seconds to play. On the final possession Boston had two looks at the win, but Paul Pierce missed a 17 footer and Ray Allen missed a desperate 15 footer off the rebound to give the Sixers the stunning victory that moves them to 7-19 overall. Do you believe in miracles? Yes!
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils have picked up the $8.5 million 2011 option on Jimmy Rollins contract. Which he is officially under contract for the Phils through 2011, which leaves only Jayson Werth, among the Phils core players, un-signed through 2011. This is really should come as no surprise, given his perennial spectacular defense and unmatched leadership on this team. Ultimately, there's no one else in the NL who you would rather have at shortshop then JRoll.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers got some good news today when they learned that sniper, Simon Gagne will be back with the team at last for their next game against the Rangers. Blair Betts has already returned to the team and now with Gagne back, all they need now is for Darell Powe to come back from his injury and they could be rolling again in no time.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers welcomed the Penguins to Wachovia center tonight in a rematch of the embarrassing loss the Flyers incurred in their last game. This time around it was a more spirited effort as they held Pittsburgh two just goals, both on power play. As long as they weren't killing power plays though the Flyer's defense was solid and Brian Boucher was spectacular in goal with 28 saves out of the 30 shots he faced. Unfortunately, the Flyers could only come up with a couple scores as well, with Jeff Carter scoring early in the 1st period and Claude Giroux early in the 2nd period on the power play. Aside from that neither managed a goal through the rest of regulation time and an overtime period. So the game went into a shootout which is never good news for the Flyers. Accordingly, the Flyers lost the shootout which lasted only 2 rounds, as Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang each scored for the Pens and Giroux and Danny Briere both failed to score for the Flyers. So the Flyers improve to 15-16-2 overall for 32 points, 3 out of 8th in the Eastern conference.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers welcomed Lebron and the Cavs to the wachovia center tonight as they looked to win 2 in a row for the first time in a long time. They played hard as usual and were right with the Cavs most of the night, but they made mistakes in the final minutes of the game and Cleveland was able to escape with the win. Offensively, Andre Iguodala led the way with 26, Thad Young had 16 and 10 rebounds, Allen Iverson pumped in 16, Jrue Holiday had 9 and 9 assists, Elton Brand had 11 and 7 rebounds off the bench and Maurice Speights, finally off injured reserve, looked as if he had never left, as he added 14 off the bench. Defensively, the Sixers actually did pretty good job. Other than Lebron's 36 points, no other Cavalier had more than 12 points. The Sixer's also outrebounded Cleveland 45-38 and forced them to settle for jumpers rather than allowing easy baskets inside. Unfortunately, Cleveland was able to shoot 60% from beyond the arc and hit 9 threes. So guarding the three continues be the one area where the Sixers struggle. Anyway the Sixers actually had the lead in this one, as late the final 5 minutes of the game with the score 96-93. At that point, though Lebron hit a ridiculous 3 3 pointer off a turnover and Mo Williams drained his only baskets of the 2nd half to push Cleveland ahead. They would never trail again, as the Sixers missed their next couple field goals and turned the ball over on and in bounds play, allowing Cleveland to coast to a 108-101 win. Oh well, better luck next time I guess.
PHILLIES NEWS
Well it's official. After a lot of speculation and reports from "sourcea" the Phils introduced ace starting pitcher Roy Halladay today as the newest member of the Phillies. Unfortunately, he came at a very steep price. To get him the Phils had to send top prospects pitcher Kyle Drabek, and outfielder Micheal Taylor, plus catcher Travis Arnaud to the Blue Jays. They then also had to trade last year's ace Cliff Lee to the Mariners to free up room on the payroll for Halladay, and replenish the farm system with Seattle's top prospects, pitcher Phillipe Aumont, outfielder Tyson Gillies, and pitcher Juan Ramirez. While those 3 may someday be as good as Drabek and Taylor were, they won't be ready to help the Phils as soon as Drabek and Taylor would have been. Also having Lee and Halladay together would have given the Phils a better chance at a title than just having Halladay will. Hopefully, Halladay will at least guarantee the Philsa trip back to world series and maybe this time they'll have enough to win it. Also you have to hope the prospects the Phils got back from Seattle do pan out. Then this deal will seem much better than it already does
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
After rallying to defeat the Boston Bruins last night the Flyers came right back tonight with a matchup in Pittsburgh with the Penguins. It's been a while since the Flyers last strung together multiple wins so a win tonight would have been huge. Unfortunately, the Orange and Black were no match tonight for the Penguins' power play and scoring overall. The Pens out shot the Flyers 35-27, and were the more physical of the two teams for most of the night. Oddly , the Flyers actually won more faceoffs than the Pens and it didn't help them at all. The Fyers also committed 6 penalties to only 4 for by the Pens, and paid dearly for it with an early Sidney Crosby power play tally, a shorthanded tallly by Jordan Staal and a Bill Guerin tally, immediately put the Orange and Black behind 2-0 in the first period. Midway through the period the Flyers went on the power play and got on the board finally with a James Van Reimsdyk power play goal to cut it to 2-1. Unfortunately, thaf would be as close as the Orange and Black would get on this nght. Jordan Staal scored with just seconds left in the 2nd period to push the Penguins lead to 4-1. Then in the 3rd period ex Flyer Ruslan Fedotenko made it 5-1 Pens before Evgeni Malkin scored shorthanded to make it 6-1 Pens with a little over a minute to play and that's how it ended. So another night, another embarrassing loss for the Flyers. At least they're still only 2 points out of 8th in the Eastern conference. So if they can just become a little more consistent than they are right now they could be just fine to at least make the playoffs this season.
Monday, December 14, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyer's have been struggling mightily lately and desperately needed a win tonight against the Boston Bruins to try to right the ship a little and get themselves on a roll again. They played hard and did a lot of things right in Boston tonight, but through 2 periods they just couldn't score any goals. The Flyers outshot the Bruins 38-27 and played solid d with Brian Boucher compiling 27 saves but it was too no avail. Finally a couple minutes into the 3rd period James Van Reimsdyk scored to knot it up at 1. Later in the 3rd period Kimmo Timonen made it 2-1 and then 3- 1 Orange and Black with a shorthanded goal. From there the Flyers just held off the Bruins for the 3-1 win. So overall the Orange and Black improve 15-15-1 and with a total of 31 points they currently sit just 2 points out of 8th in the Eastern conference.
SIXERS NEWS
It's over, it's finally over. After 12 grueling, heartrbeaking, gut wrenching losses the Sixers finally snapped their 12 game losing streak tonight as they welcomed the Golden State Warriors to the Wachovia center. Golden State came in as one of the highest scoring teams in the NBA on the season thus far, but the Sixers played them tough, holding them to just 44% shooting from the field and outrebounding them 59-26, with 25 of them offensive rebounds. Still, Golden State managed to shoot 50% from beyond the arc which kept them close a good amount of the night. Ultimately they were not match for the firepower of the determined Sixers on this night. 7 Sixers scored in double figures, including all 5 starters. Thaddeus Young led the way with 26 and 14 rebounds, Allen Iverson hit 7 of 10 from the floor for 20 points, Jrue Holiday actually got the start along side AI, and posted 15, 6 assists, and 7 rebounds, Andre Iguodala and Willie Green each had 14, Sammy Dalembert was the last Sixer's starter to reach double figures with 12 and 13 rebounds and finally Elton Brand added 11 and 7 rebounds off the bench. You just can't play much better than the Sixer's offense did night with all those scorers in double figures and and 49% shooting from the field. They just clicked on all cylinders, jumping out to a 12 point lead after a quarter of play. By the half they led by 14 and after a dominating 3rd quarter they headed into the 4th quarter ahead by 29 before winning easily 117-101. So the Sixers improve to 6-18 overall and at this point sit just 4.5 games out of 8th in the Eastern conference. They'll just have to feed off this night to get themselves on a enough of a roll to push back into the playoff picture.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
EAGLES NEWS
After a loss by the Cowboys earlier today, the Birds went into New York against the Giants tonight with a chance to move into first plcace in the division. Thanks to a spectacular nightt by Desean Jackson and Giant's miscues they were able to do just that. Both teams were horrible on defense, allowing a combined 896 yards and 83 points. It was just one of those nights where defense didn't matter and the winner would just be whoever kept scoring longer. The Giants alone had 512 yards of offense and they lost. New York also had 3 turnovers to just 1 for the Eagles and that really turned out to be the difference. For the Eagles' offense, Donovan Mcnabb threw for 275 yards and 2 TDs, Desean Jackons had 6 catches for 178 yards and a TD, Brent Celek had 5 catches for 64 yards and a TD, Leonard Weaver ran 10 times for 33 yards and the game winning TD, and Micheal Vick completed a pass for 32 yards and ran 3 times for 11 yards and a TD. The Eagles got off to a quick start with an opening 67 yard TD driv capped off by Mcnabb's 8 yard screen pass to Brent Celek for the score. Then on the Giants opening drive Brandon Jacobs fumbled right to Sheldon Brown who ran it back 60 yards for a TD and 14-0. NY fought back cutting the Eagle's lead to 14-10 by the 2nd quarter before the a David Aker's field goal and 74 yard Jackson punt return for a TD pushed it back up to 24-10. NY fought back again to cut it to 24-17 before the a 70 yard capped off by a 1 yard Vick TD run pushed the lead back up to 30-17 at half. NY then opened the 2nd half with a 9 minutes TD drive to cut it to 30-24. Then on their next drive Domenick Hixon caught a short pass from Eli Manning, broke a couple tackles and raced 61 yards for a TD and 31-30 Giant's lead. On the ensuing Eagle's Mcnabb came right back with a 60 yd TD pass to Jackson to put the Birds ahead 37-31. The two teams then actually a few defensive stops before the Birds marched 91 yards and ate up 7 minutes on a 4th quarter TD drive capped off by a 1 yd Weaver TD run and 2 point conversion for a commanding 45-31 Eagles' lead. NY rallied back again to cut it to 45-38 before the Birds ran the clock down to about 30 seconds and forced Eli into a game ending fumble on the final Giants' drive. So at 9-4 overall the Eagles are now all alone atop the NFC East and control their own destiny. They can clinch a playoff birth with a win next week and can still finish as high a 2nd in the NFC, if they win out and Minnesota loses 2 of 3. A more realistic goal though might be finishing 3rd in the NFC which they can do by winning out and having Arizona lose 1 of 3 down the stretch.
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