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Saturday, January 23, 2010

FLYERS NEWS

With a huge game looming againt the Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow afternoon it was important that the Flyers get a win today at home against the lowly Carolina Hurricanes. It turned out to be a tougher game then it probably should have been with the Flyer's defense playing a bit lazy, but 33 saves by Ray Emery were enough to hold off the Canes. Perhaps they were looking past the Canes to tomorrow or maybe Carolina just brought their A game for one of the rare times this season. For whatever reason the Flyers just seemed a little lax out there this afternoon but a win is a win so I digress.

Anyway, Dan Carcillo got the Flyers going early, scoring just 3 minutes into the 1st period for a 1-0 lead. Late in the 2nd period Chris Pronger scored on the power play and Jeff Carter slammed one home a minute later to push the Orange and Black to a 3-1 lead heading into the 3rd period. After ex-Flyer Rod Brindamour scored off the power play to cut the lead to 3-2 Carter scored in the Canes empty net in the final seconds to put away the 4-2 Flyer's win.

With the win the Flyers move to 26-22-3 overall for 55 points, good enough right now for 6th in the Eastern conference. They were way ahead of the Flyers early on in the season,but as of now the Pens are only 8 points ahead of the Orange and the Black. Thus, a win tomorrow would pull the Flyers within 6 points of Pens and boost their still slim hopes of catching of them for what would now be 4th in the Eastern conference and home ice advantage for the 1st round of the playoffs. Of course all of that is a long way off, but hey I can dream can't I.

SIXERS NEWS

The Sixers traveled to Indianapolis tonight for a matchup with the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers had been struggling as of late, and were only a half a game ahead of the Sixers in the Eastern conference standings coming in, so this was a real opportunity for them to string together their 2nd win in a row and move up in standings. True to his word Eddie Jordan stuck to the same lineup and once again the defense was solid even though Jrue Holiday got hit in the head early in the game and had to leave the court for a while. As soon as he came back in the 2nd quarter the D picked up again and the Sixers were up and running to a 7 point lead at the half. In the 3rd quarter they extended that lead to 13 and in the4th quarter they held off a few late charges by the Pacers to hang on for a solid 107-97 win.

The defense really has made all the difference for the Sixers these last 2 nights. Last night they locked down Dirk. Tonight they outrebounded Indiana 52-44 and forced 21 Pacer's
turnovers which led to 25+ Sixer's points. The Sixer's scoring was pretty good tonight too with 5 player's scoring in double figures. Elton Brand led the way with 23, AI, who will be starting for the Eastern Conference in the upcoming NBA all-star game, posted 17, Willie Green added 10 and Lou Williams and Thad Young were strong off the bench with 14 and 22 and 10 rebounds, respectively. So the Sixers really played a complete game tonight which is something they haven't done much of this season. Hopefully they can keep it up.

The Sixer's shot 63% from beyond the arc tonight with 7 threes. Not bad considering their best 3 point shooter, Jason Kapono, never got into the game. After getting hit in the head, well actually the face to be exact, Holiday needed 22 stitches above his eye before returning to the court. He actually looked unfazed by the whole thing though, which is a good sign of toughness, especially for a rookie. At 15-28 overall now, the Sixers leapfrog over the Agent-Zeroless Wizards and Pacers into 12th in the Eastern conference, still 5.5 out of 8th.

PHILLIES NEWS

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Friday, January 22, 2010

SIXERS NEWS

When you are 13-28 at the halfway point of the season, something is obviously not working. A piece of the puzzle is out of place somewhere, or you're missing something. Eddie Jordan decided to move some pieces around tonight, inserting Elton Brand and Jrue Holiday into the starting lineup in place of Lou Williams and Thad Young and ultimately the move payed off. With the pressure of starting removed form their shoulders Young and Williams both performed well. Young was actually the leading scorer in the game with 22 points and Williams brought a little energy everywhere with 11 points, 5 assists, and 6 rebounds. Meanwhile, Brand who also put up 10 points, and Holiday helped lock up the Mavs vaunted scorers, holding them to just 81 on only 39% shooting from the field. Moreover, the Mavs shot just 20% from beyond the arc, with 3 threes, and Dirk Nowitzki only put up 15 points. You just can't player defense against the Mavs then that.

Thanks to the sterling defense the Sixers were able to take a 6 point, 54-48 lead into the half. In 3rd quarter that saw the Mavs held to 12 points, they were abel up the lead to 12. Finally in the 4th quarter they held off all attempts by the Mavs to make a late charge and hung on to win 92-81. Isn't funny how a little D goes a long way sometimes. Of course there also a decent amount of O as well, with AI and Mo Speights also scoring in double figures, but as they say, its the defense that wins you championships and in this case games. Eddie Jordan says he'll stick to this lineup until the all-star break and the Sixers need to stick to this D not just to the all-star break but for the remainder of the season if they still hope to make the playoffs and do anything significant this season.

With this win the Sixers, now 14-28, are a perfect 5-0 when they hold their opponents under 90 points. Samuel Dalembert's double double streak ended tonight as he compiled just 4 points and 10 rebounds. It's still remarkable though that he was able to put together that streak in the wake of the devastation in his homeland. Currently the Sixers sit 5.5 games out of 8th in the Eastern conference so there is still a slim hope for them to make the playoffs, but they're going to have to put together some kind of run at some point. So far they haven't proven they can do so but I guess we'll see.

PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils were busy today. First they locked up Shane Victorino for 3 years and $22 million, which means only Carlos Ruiz remains in danger of arbitration. Then they signed pitcher Jose Contreras to a 1 year deal close a million but under it. Contreras struggled last season as starter for the White Sox last season with a 5-13 record and a 5.42 ERA. He was then traded to the Colorado Rockies at the end of season and there, primarily as a reliever he was lights out with a 1.92 ERA. He was so good in fact that Colorado put him on the playoff roster. So while he probably won't start for the Phils, he should definitely be strong arm to have out of the bullpen, which can go to 2-3 innings like Chan Ho Park last season. As for Victorino, well you don't need me to tell you why the best centerfielder in the NL will be in red pinstripes for the next 3 seasons.

FLYERS NEWS

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Thursday, January 21, 2010

FLYERS NEWS

It was fight night at the Wachovia center between the Flyers and the stinkin New York Rangers tonight. All together the 2 teams started 4 fights on the ice at various times in the game. The Flyers won the first couple of fights and the early rounds then hung on points wise, for the unanimous decision. At least it felt like that's what happened with all the fighting out there, but actually the night really belonged to Ray Emery and the Flyer's defense. The defense held the Rangers to just 24 shots on goal and allowed them just 3 power play opportunities, killing off all 3 of them without any real threat from the Rangers. With the help of that D, Ray Emery, in his 3rd game back from injury, finally seemed to rediscover the elite form he showed for the Orange and Black earlier this season before the injuries crept in.

He saved all 24 shots the Rangers threw at him for his 3rd shutout this season. That proved to be huge for the Flyers on this night, as Henrick Lundqvist mostly kept them off the board as well. However, James Van Reimsdyk did find a way to score on breakaway off a perfect pass from Chris Pronger, and Mike Richards added a power play goal in the 2nd period, just enough offense to give the Flyers's the win. So all in all it was tough, scrappy and literally, hard fought, peformance for the Orange and Black in this one. Basically, it was the kind of effort you'd like to see out of them every night, and the kind of effort they'll need every night from here on out if they still hope to grab a playoff spot in the Eastern conference. Currently with 2 straight 2 wins and 53 points overall, the Flyers are still 1 point out of 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern conference.

As Mike Richards goes so go the Flyers. After tonight the Flyers are 12-3 overall when Richards scores a goal, and just 10-24 when he doesn't. Considering he's the team captain that's probably the way it should be. Essentially from here on out if they are to make the playoffs, the Flyers will need strong efforts every night from their D and from Richards. I think they can get them.

PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils continued to deal with their arbitration eligible players today, signing Joe Blanton to a 3 year deal. So the Phils won't be looking for a new #3 starter anytime soon. This leaves only Shane Victorino and Carlos Ruiz still in danger of going to arbitration

SIXERS NEWS

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

SIXERS NEWS

They blew a 20 point lead against the 2nd worst team in the NBA in their last game so things couldn't possibly get worse for the Sixers tonight at the Wachovia center. In fact their opponents, the Portland Trail Blazers, were a team the Sixers had beaten 3 straight times coming in. Thus, things would definitely be better for the Sixers in this game right? Not so fast. In his first trip back to the Wachovia center since the Sixers let him go in the offseason, Andre Miller torched his old mates, mostly in the 2nd half, for 24 points to lead the Blazer's to the win. The Sixers kept it close most of night, but as usual they faltered late in the game. Elton Brand drained an 11 ft jumper to cut the Portland lead to 92-90 with 59 seconds to play, but that was as close as the Sixers would get. Portland hit 6 straight free throws and the Sixers missed a pair of 3 pointers in final 50 seconds to wrap up the 98-90 TrailBlazer's triumph.

Offensively, 5 Sixers scored in double figures, with Andre Iguodala's 23 leading the way. However, the Sixer's only shot 43% from the field with just 4 threes, and thus could only come up with 90 points. Still, any team with reasonable defensive talent should be able to win with 90 points on the board. For a half the Sixer's D was more than reasonable, in fact near excellent. Unfortunately, late in the game, where they needed the D to be staut the most, it broke down and allowed far too many easy drives to the basket for the Blazers. So Defensively, it was an ugly finish to the game for Sixers and they're not going to win a whole lot playing like that down stretch in games.

Sammy Dalembert racked up 10 points and 15 rebounds on the night for his 4th consecutive double double and that after just barely making it to the game on time. He had been on a 2 day goodwill mission in Haiti, but he rushed back to Philly tonight, arriving just a few minutes before tipoff and nevertheless got the start at center. Again I just marvel at the focus he has had out there on court for the last week or so. Tonight marked the halfway point of the season for the Sixers. At just 13-28 overall, the Sixer's had a first of half of the season to forget and were lucky to avoid hitting the 30 loss mark before the start of the season's 2nd half. It's hard to believe the Sixer's could possibly get any worse in the season's 2nd half. On the other hand it's also hard to say that the 2nd half of the season will really be all much better for Sixers either.

FLYERS NEWS

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EAGLES NEWS

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

FLYERS NEWS

After a couple of rough road losses, the Flyers returned to the Wachovia center tonight, desperately needing a win to get back on track, as they began a homestand against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Once again Ray Emery got the call in net and this time he was in much better condition with 25 saves out of the 28 shots he faced. Plus the defense in front of him, for most the part, was much stronger than it had been the last couple games and that helped a lot. Meanwhile, Jeff Carter ensured the Flyer's scoring attack would get off to a quick start, amassing 2 goals, and an assist through the first 2 periods to lift the Orange and Black to a 4-2 lead heading into the 3rd period. Midway through the 3rd period Dan Carcillo scored on a wrist shot to put Columbus away for good in an important 5-3 Flyer's victory.

Carter and Carcillo weren't the only scorers for the Flyers on this night. Chris Pronger and Aaron Asham also scored a goal each. 5 goals seems to be the magic number for the Flyer's this season. I can't remember any games they have lost this season when scoring 5 or more goals. Though he currently leads the Flyer's in points with 42, it's been a rough up and down year for Carter who scored 40+ goals last season. Hopefully this game will be a turning point for him this season as he continues to try to get back to that 40 goal form. Both of Carter's goals today were unassisted, including one he shot in literally right off a faceoff in front of the net. It was really one of those crazy goals you might only ever see once in your lifetime. With the win the Flyers now have 51 points overall which is still only good enough to leave them a point out of 8th in the Eastern conference. They'll to have to take advantage of the rest of this homestand to get themselves rolling again if they still hope get a playoff spot by the end of the season.

PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils have reached that point in the offseason where they have start dealing with their arbitration eligible players or you know, go to arbitration. This season the Phils had 4 arbitration eligible players, relief pitcher Chad Durbin, CF Shane Victorino, #3 starter Joe Blanton, and catcher Carlos Ruiz. Today they took care of Durbin, signing him to a 1 year $1.25 million deal to sure the bullpen. So now we'll just have to wait and see what happens with the other 3.

EAGLES NEWS

Today the Eagles signed RB Martell Mallet who was the CFL rookie of the year last year with 1,280 rushing yards on 214 carries. With questions surrounding Brian Westbrook's future with the Eagles might need another running back to complement young Lesean McCoy. If he can prove in training camp that he can play at the NFL level Mallet might just be the guy, but that's pretty big if.

SIXERS NEWS

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Monday, January 18, 2010

SIXERS NEWS

They had won 3 of their last 4 games, the defense finally seemed to be in place, and this afternoon they had a date with the young Minnesota Timberwolves, currently languishing with the 2nd worst record in the NBA. What could possibly go wrong for the Sixers on this day? Apparently a little too much. At first everything went right for the Sixers. T-Wolves got off to a terrible start hitting just 22 of their 1st 29 baskets, while the Sixers came out shooting the lights out and jumped to a 20 point lead at one time. Even at the half they still led convincingly by 17 and it really seemed as though Minnesota would not be capable of such a comeback. Fortunately, they were playing the Sixers.

Everything just completely fell apart for Eddie Jordan's team in the 2nd half. They shot over 50% from the field, put up 57 points and turned the ball over just 4 times in the 1st half. In the 2nd half the shooting dipped well under %50, they put up just 42 points, and turned the ball over 10 times. Most importantly they allowed the T-Wolves to heat up from field, from beyond the arc, from everywhere really, which is exactly the one thing they had avoided these last few games. Today they couldn't and it cost them. Even the young T-Wolves could smell blood in the water and they took full advantage, outscoring the Sixers by 20 in the final 2 quarters. Incredibly the Sixers still had a chance to win in the final seconds but Andre Iguodala missed a fadeaway at the buzzer and the game went into overtime where the T-wolves accordingly pulled out the 108-103 win.

In the losing effort the Sixer's had 7 players score in double figures for about the 1st time this season, with Iggy's 17 leading the way. Sammy Dalembert put up 12 points and 10 rebounds in the loss to give him a double double in 3 consecutive games now. In an unusual sight, Allen Iverson did play at all in the overtime period which is further evidence that he just isn't perennial 40 minute man he used to be. Not surprisingly today marked the T-Wolves biggest come from behind win of the season thus far. At 13-27 overall the Sixers are now 5.5 games out of 8th in the Eastern conference and have to come the point where there's no time to make excuses anymore. They just have to get it done now or wait till next year.

FLYERS NEWS

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EAGLES NEWS

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PHILLIES NEWS

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Sunday, January 17, 2010

FLYERS NEWS

Fresh off a disappointing loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Flyers traveled to Washington today looking rebound with a big win over Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals. In a bit of surprise move, given how long it's been since he has played and the caliber of opponent, Ray Emery was given the nod to start in goal. Not surprisingly he looked every bit like a goalie who hadn't taken the ice in over a month, allowing 5 goals while facing only 22 shots. He just wasn't as sharp as you would expect a healthy Emery to be and struggled to handle rebounds for much of the day. The Flyer's defense did necessarily help him that much either. While they did hold Washington to only 22 shots on goal, too many of them were point blank shots at Emery which he just wasn't ready for. There were just too many instances where Flyer's were unable to keep up with the speedy Caps.

Despite the defensive struggles the Orange and Black still were still able to put forth a decent effort and keep things close for most of the contest. In fact, it wasn't until the 3rd period that Washington finally pulled away. Early on in the 1st period the Flyers actually had lead, first 1-0 on a power play goal by Jeff Carter and then 2-1 on a tally by James Van Reimsdyk. About midway through the 2nd period Washington finally took it's first lead by scoring on there only power play of the day, following a questionable holding call on Carter. Early in the 3rd period the Flyers had an opportunity on the power play to knot things up again, but they allowed the Washington penalty kill to get a rush into their zone and Caps took advantage with a shorthanded tally to make it 4-2. Later in the 3rd peirod, as if he needed anymore advantage, Ovechkin was awarded a penalty after Braydon Coburn desperately pulled him down in front of the net to avoid allowing an easy score. Ovechkin easily beat the Emery for a 5-2 lead which pretty put things out of reach for the Flyers. Danny Briere did score a late power play though to make the final score a more respectable 5-3. So after all the winning and success they had been having, the Flyers have now dropped 2 in a row and almost appear to be right back to where they started.

The Flyers are still only 1 point out of 8th in the Eastern conference but they can't afford to keep losing like this. They've got a homestand coming up now and they really need it to become a good one if they want to stay that close to the last playoff spot in the East. The last time Ray Emery started for the Flyers was Dec 5. against these same Capitals, in an 8-2 nightmare loss for the Flyers. Maybe he shouldn't play against the Caps anymore or perhaps the Flyers should have held him back for one more game, where he could have returned to action against a much lesser opponent. It's loo late now though, so here's hoping he shakes off the rust before long.

SIXERS NEWS

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PHILLIES NEWS

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EAGLES NEWS

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