The San Antonio Spurs will play the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference Finals of the 2013 NBA Playoffs.
On Thursday, the Spurs defeated the Golden State Warriors 94-82 to win the Western Conference Semi-Final series 4-2.
The game was extremely close with about 3:46 left and the Spurs only leading the Warriors 77-75. Then the Spurs showed their experience by outscoring the Warriors 17-7 down the stretch, headlined by 10 points from Tony Parker, including two baskets from beyond the arc.
The Spurs also went with a smaller lineup down the stretch in the game interestingly enough. Head coach Greg Popovich elected to put Tiago Splitter in the game rather than his star Tim Duncan. The move paid off.
In other action, the New York Knicks have forced a game six Saturday night in their Eastern Conference semi-final against the Indiana Pacers. Carmelo Anthony scored 28 points as the Knicks defeated the Pacers 85-75. Indiana still leads the series 3-2.
The Edmonton Oil Kings are one win away from returning to the Western Hockey League’s Championship Final. On Sunday, the Oil Kings will play the Calgary Hitmen at the Scotiabank Saddledome in game six of the Eastern Conference Final, leading the series 3-2.
On Friday night in Edmonton, the Oil Kings had a similar start in game five of the series to what they had in game four. Complete dominance. The Oil Kings scored three first period goals en route to a 5-1 victory. Game six can be seen on Sunday afternoon on Shaw at 4:00 p.m.
It looks more and more like the Edmonton Oilers will not make the postseason in 2013. However, there is a still a mathematical chance after their impressive 4-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.
The Oilers played a complete hockey game Friday night at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Jordan Eberle scored one goal and two assists, while Justin Schultz and Magnus Paajarvi had multi-point games.
The Oilers are now eight points back of the Columbus Blue Jackets with five games to go in the season. The next game on their schedule will be Sunday night against the Anaheim Ducks (Sportsnet, 6:00 p.m.). It is basically simple. Their remaining five games, of which four are at home, are mandatory for the Oilers to win.
We’re coming to the second busiest sports month of the year. April. Where has March gone? I know.
Anyways. It is a huge weekend for the Edmonton Oilers as they will be hosting their two western Canadian foes– the Vancouver Canucks tonight (CBC, 8:00 p.m.) and the Calgary Flames on Easter Monday (Sportsnet, 7:30 p.m.).
With 15 games left on the schedule, the Oilers are three points back of the St. Louis Blues for a playoff spot. That means every five games, they will have to pick up a point on the Blues, and hope they are slightly better than three other teams that are in front of them– the Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
The sports world is currently buzzing about New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin.
The second year undrafted player out of Harvard, who after playing 29 games with the lowly Golden State Warriors a year ago, and was almost cut a couple of weeks ago by the Knicks, has turned into an overnight sensation.
Everybody is talking Lin. Knick fans are chanting “All you got to do is Lin”. You could call it Linmania or Lincanity. Right now Jeremy Lin is huge.
Andy why not? In the last four games, Lin has made four starts and led the Knicks to impressive victories over the Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves. Over that time, he has been averaging an amazing 27.3 points per game, headlined by a 38 point performance Thursday in a 92-85 win over the Lakers on Thursday.
So how did Lin get his chance in New York? Well, basically due to a groin injury to Carmelo Anthony and the absence of Amare Stoudemire who needed to deal with some personal issues because of the recent death of his brother Hazell, who passed away last week in a car accident in Florida.
Tomorrow night, Linmannia will enter Toronto for the first time as the Knicks take on the Toronto Raptors. The Knicks currently lead the Raptors by 4.5 games for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Stoudemire, meanwhile, is expected back tomorrow night, so it will be interesting to see how the two gel.
How the Knicks do over the next week will go a long way in determining if they will be in the Steve Nash sweepstakes or not.
It may be the Christmas season, but it is a very big weekend on the world sport stage. On Boxing Day, the sports world will be focused on Alberta for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship. The event is significant because it is the first time that Edmonton and Calgary, two bitter provincial rivals have joined forces to host a world class sporting event. Edmonton will host all of Team Canada’s round robin games, with Calgary hosting the medal round.
Team Canada’s first game is Monday at 1:30pm against Finland (TSN). Both teams have something in common. They both lost to Russia in the medal round at the 2011 World Junior Hockey Championships in Buffalo. Finland lost 4-3 to Russia in the quarterfinals, while Canada lost 5-3 to Russia in the Gold medal game.
At the beginning of the NBA Playoffs, I thought that the New York Knicks were in an excellent position to knock off the Boston Celtics.
Now, due to some serious injury concerns, the Knicks are the heavy underdog, down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Amare Stoudemire did not play the second half of game two because of back spasms, while Chauncey Billups did not play at all because of a left knee strain.
In the Knicks’ 96-93 loss to Boston on Tuesday, Carmelo Anthony performed admirably with 42 points, but without Billups and Stoudemire, New York will have a tough time getting back into the series.
On a positive note for the Knicks, I felt the rest of their core players were the major reason why the Knicks were competitive. Toney Douglas and Jared Jeffries combined for 24 points.
Prior to the start of the 2010-11 NBA Regular Season, the Miami Heat were the odds-on favourite to win the NBA Finals. Now many aren’t so sure. But I think it is fair to say it’s a slam dunk they’ll advance to the second round.
(1) Chicago Bulls vs. (8) Indiana Pacers–
Bulls Top Three– Derrick Rose 25.0 PPG, 7.7 APG; Carlos Boozer 17.5 PPG, 9.6 RPG; Luol Deng 17.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG
Pacers Top Three–Danny Granger 20.5 PPG, 5.4 RPG; Darren Collison 13.2 PPG, 5.1 APG; Roy Hibbert 12.7 PPG, 7.5 RPG.
Analysis: The 2010-11 Chicago Bulls may not be as good of a team as any Bulls squad in the 1990s during the Michael Jordan days, but they are currently an elite team in the NBA heading into the postseason. Rookie head coach Tom Thibodeau deserves a lot of credit for improving the Bulls by 21 wins and from eighth place in the East to first. The other is the addition of Carlos Boozer, who had a terrific career in Utah. If center Joakim Noah stays healthy (averaged a double double), this series will end fast. Bulls in four.
A lot of times when people analyze the NHL or NBA, they start with the East. But www.anysportanytime.ca is founded in the West, so I’m going to start with the West!
Grizzlies Top Three– Zach Randolph 20.1 PPG, 12.2 RPG; Mike Conley 13.7 PPG, 6.5 APG; Marc Gasol 11.7 PPG, 7.0 RPG.
Analysis: The Spurs come into the series as the hands on favourite, having won four NBA titles since 1999. The fact that 2011 is an odd year as well will help San Antonio because their four previous Championships came in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007. Gregg Popovich is as good of a coach as any in the entire NBA and has maximized the performance out of his players. The question in San Antonio is the health of Manu Ginobili, who injured his elbow in a meaningless game last night in Phoenix and is doubtful for Game One. This will be the fourth playoff appearance in franchise history for Memphis since moving from Vancouver in 2001. They have yet to win a playoff game, going 0-12 in the process. The X factor in the series is Randolph. The tenth year power forward has a criminal past dating back to his days in Portland, but seems to have everything under control now. Still the Spurs have the three best players and will win in six.
With “Crygate” now in their rear view mirrors (despite the rest of us still laughing about it), the Miami Heat are gearing up for a meeting with the LA Lakers tonight at AmericanAirlines Arena.
They beat the Lake Show 96-80 back on Christmas day, but a lot has changed since then in FLA! For starters, that last win came in the middle of a run that saw the Heat take 21 of 22 games. At that point I think we all kind of figured that they had sorted out how to win games together and would be unstoppable for the rest of the season. Oh, how wrong we were!
After that streak was over they lost four in a row, won 13 of 16 and now come into tonight’s action having lost five straight. They’re not just losing either, they’re blowing huge leads, getting blown out or losing tight games and (allegedly) crying about it in the locker room afterwards.
I haven’t weighed in on “Crygate” until now, but I think it’s time. Are you ready? (more…)
It’s Monday and that means a new 15 Mintues of Fame video for you folks.
This week, Jim and Geoffrey talk about the bad luck the Edmonton Oilers are having this year with injuries, including the fight that Taylor Hall had earlier this week.
They also talk a little about the NBA trying to reach the game across the pond to London by having two of the worst teams go over and play.
In this week’s GABBYs: Good – Taylor Hall’s fight, Ilya Kovalchuk’s game winners and Calgary Flames’ goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. On the bad side – Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks lose again, the Miami Heat are spiraling downward and in college ball, a player for the BYU team gets suspended for having sex.
In Quick Hits: Is the NFL going to lockout its players? Mike Weir loses his PGA tour card and Jim and Geoff are hosting a live roundtable hotstove in a month.
Check it out: (edit – March 9 – now with actual embedded video)
Lot’s more after the jump. Click “continue reading.” ———————>
It’s All-Star weekend in the NBA, which to me means just one thing: The Dunk Contest!
I’m the same way when it comes to any All-Star weekend; in hockey I like the Skills Competition best, I’m a fan of baseball’s Home Run Derby and when it comes to the NBA, count me in for the Dunks!
After winning the title in each of the last two years, Boston’s Nate Robinson has decided to sit this one out. Instead, it’ll be Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan (who lost a tight decision last year), Oklahoma City’s Serge Ibaka, Washington’s JaVale McGee and Blake Griffin of the LA Clippers. (more…)
It’s Monday and that means another 15 Minutes of Fame video with Jim and Geoffrey.
This week, your humble hosts talk a great deal about suspension in the NHL and the fights that have caused the NHL to hand out those suspensions. Then they talk about some trades speculation across the world, especially in the NBA.
In this week’s GABBYs – on the good side: The National Lacrosse League’s Edmonton Rush get their first win of the season, the NHL’s New Jersey Devils – and their $100 million man Ilya Kovalchuk is turning up the heat and The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Los Angeles Clippers to end a long run of losses.
On the bad side: Those same Cavaliers set a North American pro sport record with 26 straight losses, Manchester United plays Manchester City in the most expensive match ever to be played and right now the NHL is taking it’s cues from the movie “Slapshot.”
In Quick HIts: Quebec City’s arena prospects and the UFC sets records for ticket sales in Toronto.
Check it out.
Lot’s more after the jump. Click “continue reading.” ———————>
Remember when Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert said that a “dreaded spell and bad karma” would follow LeBron James wherever he went?
That quote comes from the same “open letter to the fans” where he personally guaranteed an NBA championship before James wins one in Miami and promised that the team’s “energy, focus, capital, knowledge, and experience” would be directed towards that very goal.
Was all of that supposed to start this season?
With a 99-96 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers set an NBA record with a 25th straight loss…but the milestone week didn’t end there! A loss on Wednesday to the Detroit Pistons tied them with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the longest losing stretch in major American pro sports history! (more…)
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