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After playing 15 games in 28 days, including four sets back-to-back, the Jazz gets three days off before one of its most difficult tests of the season.
The Jazz, trying to keep up with Denver and Portland in the Northwest Division race, visits Los Angeles on Friday night to play Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Forward/center Anderson Varejao found himself in an unusual position the past two games—the starting lineup.
The 6-foot-11, 260-pounder had started 23 games in his career before getting the nod on Friday against Philadelphia. It was his first start of the season, and he was back on the floor for the start of Saturday’s game at Atlanta.
In his two games as starter, Varejao has averaged 14 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.0 block. He has also shot 60 percent from the field (12-for-20).
Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas is expected to miss at least a week after he sprained his left ankle. The Cavs are unsure on Ilgauskas’ timetable, but they probably won’t rush him back.
Hawks 97, Cavaliers 92: Atlanta stopped Cleveland’s 11-game winning streak on Saturday at Philips Arena.
It was the fifth time in Cavs history they had won 11 games in a row. On each occasion, they lost the next game.
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The NFL has finally found a way to stop the New England Patirots! Injure their star future hall of fame quarterback and have him be replaced with a guy who hasn’t started since high school. The New England Patriots are playing valiantly in absence of Tom Brady, and if they some how make the playoffs this year it should be considered almost as good as winning a Super Bowl. The defense is old, and finally looking that way, and for the first time in years they just seem entirely out of ball games from the opening whistle. This wasn’t more evident then in San Diego last week when they lost 30-10, and it wasn’t even really that close. However, the coaching staff of the Patriots has a way to turn things around in a hurry, and playing at home against the Broncos on Monday night you have to assume they will find a way to stay in the game.
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When the Minnesota Vikings announced that Gus Frerotte was their starting quarterback the first thought that came through my head was, “I didn’t even know he was still in the league.” The last vision I have of Gus the Bus is when he was ramming his head into a wall as part of my beloved Washington Redskins. Regardless, he’s 1-1 as the starter for the Vikings, who as a preseason favorite to make the playoffs, have started the season 1-3, and in desperate need of a victory. Frerotte has played pretty well, he hasn’t done anything spectacular, but he hasn’t made any major mistakes that have prevented his team from winning either. The Vikings also still have one of the best running backs in the league, Adrian Peterson. Peterson is averaging over 100 yards a game, including 5.1 yards per carry. However, he has had some hamstring problems this week, but as of right now he is expected to play, which is good news for the Vikings. The Vikings could easily be at least 3-1, they lost their first two games by a combined nine points.
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5) Loading ...
After a long, hard fought, NFL season we have finally reached the conclusion of the regular season. While the season has been filled with good games, sometimes it’s hard to find one the very last week of the season because so many things have already been determined. At the time of this writing the Minnesota Vikings may or may not be in the playoffs. If they beat the Redskins they are in, if they didn’t, then they need this game against the Broncos very badly. Pretty much every other game in the final week of the season has very little meaning on the outcome of the playoffs. If the Patriots beat the Dolphins this week, which there is no reason they shouldn’t, then New England will be looking to complete a perfect season by beating the New York Giants.
The Minnesota Vikings found gold in the NFL draft when they were lucky enough to draft Adrian Peterson. Some teams passed up on him due to some injuries he received while in college, but everything appears to be fine with him now, despite some unrelated injuries early in the season. He is averaging 5.9 yards per carry, the highest in the league. If he can bump that average up to six a carry, which he was at for the majority of the year, he will become the first person to do that since Barry Sanders. He has ran for 1278 yards and scored 12 times as well. Often times the Vikings have won ugly during their current five game winning streak (once again, as of this writing) but they continue to win nevertheless. The play of quarterback Tavaris Jackson has continually gotten better, but they are playing him in a very simple offensive plan that allows him to keep mistakes to a minimum. Many NFL experts predict that Jackson won’t allow his team to advance deep into the playoffs because the defenses will be like any he has ever seen before, but just to get to the playoffs will be a nice reward for the young Vikings team.
The Broncos have been eliminated from playoff contention for quite a while. They played well at times, but their lack of consistency, particularly from the quarterback play of Jay Cutler. Cutler is still expected to be a very good quarterback in the near future, but his time to show it is coming soon.
Denver could very well play the role of spoiler here, allowing either the Redskins or New Orleans Saints to sneak into the playoffs. Denver is generally tough at home, despite a 41-3 loss to San Diego in the middle of the season. Like I said, I have no way of determining what the situation will be in the time of this game, but a lot of Redskins and Saints fans could be rooting for Denver like they are their own home team.
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The Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets are a pair of teams that have been showing signs of improvement the last few years, but have been unable to make the lead to the upper echelon teams in the league. The Rockets have arguably two of the most talented players in the league in Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. On the other hand, the Nuggets have some great talent of their own, featuring one of the best point-guards in league history, Allen Iverson, and former Syracuse star, Carmelo Anthony. To this point in the season the duo of Iverson and Anthony have faired better, leading their team to above .500 records while the Rockets have struggled to win more then they’ve lost, despite an apparent plethora of talent.
McGrady is among the top scorers in the league, averaging 24.6 a game. Yao Ming is averaging a double-double, and has started to show he can play well in an up tempo style offense, which they’ll need against the running Nuggets.
In this contest I think the Nuggets will come out ahead. They are playing a lot better recently, making them serious contenders in the West. While the Rockets appear to have the talent they have failed to prove they our worthy of any contention roles. Iverson, and his 25.3 a game will be enough to get them over the hump in this one.
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A pair of teams that have gotten off to fairly decent starts will square off in primetime for a meaningful western conference showdown. The Mavericks (10-5) are actually used to have a better start, as last year they led the league with 67 wins. This year their defense has seemed to take a step backwards. They are currently on a streak that sees them losing three out of their last four games. Dirk Nowitzki appears to be able to take on that challenge, as he is now leading the team in scoring at 21.7 a game. In the western conference no win comes easy, so when playing at home, such as this game, they should try to perform as well as they can.
The Nuggets are also in a bit of a rut, losing two in a row. While Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson make up the bulk of the scoring, Marcus Camby is having another fine year defensively. He is averaging 14.8 rebounds a game to go along with 3.5 blocks a contest. Marcus Camby has been ridiculed in the past for being soft, but the last few years he has been a beast on the inside. I like the home court advantage in this one, so I’ll favor Dallas. Dallas seems like a team that should be able to turn things around, and that could possibly show up against the Nuggets.
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The 9-5 Denver Nuggets will take on the 7-6 Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, a game between two teams struggling to stay atop the loaded western conference. The Nuggets have just received bad news that their star power forward Kenyon Martin will receive an MRI on his knee to determine the extent of his latest injury. The knee he will have examined will be the same knee he had microfracture surgery on last year, one of the toughest injuries to completely recover from, doctors say. In his absence they will need even more production from Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson. Anthony is leading the team with 25.2 points a game, with Iverson sitting just under him at 23.6 a game. Marcus Camby continues to be on a tear, averaging 15 rebounds a game.
As Kobe Bryant goes, so does the Lakers. Bryant leads him team in Points (27.3) assists (4.8) and steals (2.1). While the Nuggets are expected to finish somewhere near the middle of the pack, many experts will consider it a good season for the Lakers if they can just find a way to sneak into the playoffs at all. While sharing a division with the Phoenix Suns, you can all but say they won’t get into the playoffs be leading that division. This is a fairly even match-up, but even with Martin gone I think the Nuggets have more match up advantages. I pick Denver in a close one.
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