The New Orleans Hornets have drafted power forward Anthony Davis with the first overall pick in the NBA Draft.
Davis could be considered one of the best players in quite some time heading into the NBA on the defensive side of the court.
The leader of the Kentucky Wildcats can definitely be compared to Ben Wallace or Dennis Rodman.
At 6’10″, his wingspan was totally unbelievable. He had 4.6 blocks per game in leading the Wildcats to a NCAA Championship this past season.
At number eight, the Toronto Raptors went with shooting guard Terrence Ross out of the University of Washington. It’s hard to determine how good Ross can be because he didn’t play in the NCAA Tournament this past year.
Three Canadians were also chosen. At number nineteen, the Orlando Magic selected power forward Andrew Nicholson from Mississauga, Ontario out of the University of St. Bonaventure. At number 51, the Boston Celtics selected small forward Kris Joseph of Montreal out of Syracuse and at number 60, the Los Angeles Lakers selected center Robert Sacre of Vancouver out of Gonzaga.
The Orlando Magic of the NBA made a firm basketball decision today.
In what is basically a last ditch effort to sign free agent Dwight Howard to a long term contract past this season, the Magic fired the two people he wasn’t getting along with this season– head coach Stan Van Gundy and General Manager Otis Smith.
So they are basically telling the basketball world that Howard is more valuable to the Magic than their very successful coach.
The Chicago Bulls will have a difficult time now in their attempt to win their seventh championship in franchise history and first since the Michael Jordan dynasty.
On Saturday in Chicago, Bulls star guard Derrick Rose tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and will be out for the postseason.
If you were interested in watching Chicago’s 103-91 win over Philadelphia, you needed NBA Canada, a station only available on a higher subscription package than the regular sports package available to Shaw subscribers.
Even though the Bulls won the game by a dozen, they will automatically not be the clear favourite to win the series. The 76ers definitely have the tools, even as the number eight seed in the East, to beat the Bulls without Rose.
The best game yesterday was in Oklahoma City where the Thunder defeated the Dallas Mavericks 99-98 as Kevin Durant made a 15 foot jump shot with two seconds left.
This week on the show we’re talking NHL playoffs & suspensions, along with some of the first teams to move on to the next round and another clock controversy from last week’s action. Also: we discuss a perfect game in the MLB and a legend leaving women’s basketball.
In the GABBYs: Martin Brodeur, Jamie Moyer, Washington Capitals fans, an Alabama parent, the Charlotte Bobcats and the Orlando Magic. The Punchline this week is high school baseball player Jameson Painter.
It is a little suspicious that Dwight Howard, the star center for the Orlando Magic is about to have back surgery.
Now? Is it me or do you find this a little suspicious that is occurring only a week before the NBA Playoffs are about to begin and his Magic headed toward the postseason and Howard clearly not getting along with his Head Coach Stan Van Gundy?
But in actuality this is exactly what is going on. It does seem a little strange because Howard did score 20 points and had 22 rebounds on April 7 in a 88-82 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. I watched the game and he looked fine. Howard hasn’t played since and because of his current weak relationship with the Magic coaching staff, fans have the right to question his commitment to the Magic organization, especially that he has a termination option in his contract that he can utilize at the end of the season if he chooses to.
This week on the show we start out with the topic that’s on everyone’s mind – the feud between the Pittsburgh Penguins & the Philadelphia Flyers (and to a lesser extent, the Pens & the Rangers). We also look at a couple of fines handed down to coaches this week (including Edmonton’s Tom Renney) and we run down the upcoming match-ups in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
In the GABBYs: Mike Smith, Ray Whitney, Joey Votto, Alistair Overeem, the Orlando Magic & fans of the University of Kentucky. The Punchline this week is the Baltimore Orioles!
The Masters will obviously headline my television viewing this weekend with the very first major of the PGA Season. Currently Peter Hanson of Sweden (-5) leads U.S. Open Champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, Ben Crane of the United States and day one leader Lee Westwood of England by a stroke.
Other players in contention are Major winners Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk and Paul Lawrie.
The television coverage for the tournament is Friday at 1pm on TSN, Saturday at 1:30pm on CBS, and Sunday at noon on CBS.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Friday–NLL–Rochester Knighthawks @ Calgary Roughnecks–7pm–I’m heading down to the Scotiabank Saddledome this evening to see the Roughnecks in National Lacrosse League action. At 10-3, the Roughnecks are tied for first place in the West Division with the Colorado Mammoth. The Roughnecks lead the NLL with 180 goals scored, are led by former Knighthawk Shawn Evans, who leads the team in scoring with 58 points.
The Boston Celtics have got off to a slow start this season, but might have turned things around Thursday night in Orlando with an unbelievable comeback for the ages.
With 3:11 left in the second quarter, the Celtics trailed the Orlando Magic by a score of 52-25, and then made a remarkable comeback, outscoring Orlando 27-8 in the fourth quarter alone en route to a 91-83 victory.
With the win, the Celtics improve to 8-9 on the season and the Magic fell to 12-6.
Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 24 points and 10 assists. It has been interesting because Pierce has been the Celtic most talked about in trade rumors as of late as rumors swarm that Celtics management will break up their big three.
The greatest comeback in NBA history came by the Utah Jazz against the Denver Nuggets on November 27, 1996. The Jazz were down by 36 points in the third quarter before coming back to win 107-103.
It has been a respectable start to the season for the Toronto Raptors as they are currently at 3-3 and only half a game back of the first place Philadelphia 76ers in the Atlantic Division.
So far this week the Raptors have defeated the Raptors have defeated the New York Knicks 90-85 and the Cleveland Cavaliers 92-77 to get back to the .500 mark after a three game losing streak to Indiana, Dallas and Orlando.
Over the last two Raptors wins, it has been the play of Bargnani that has been at a very high level. Bargnani had 21 points in the Raptors win in New York and 31 points in their win over Cleveland.
But it has been Bargnani’s defensive commitment that needs to be praised. He was a +22 last night, and that should please head coach Dwane Casey, who was brought in from Dallas in the off-season to improve the Raptors play on their own end of the court.
In Dallas, Casey got to know Dirk Nowitzki really quite well, and if he can make Bargnani half the player that Nowitzki is, the Raptors will be in great shape.
In terms of defense, one player in the NBA that has become a defensive stud to start the season is Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic. So far Howard is leading the NBA with 16 rebounds a game, including back-to-back performances where he had 24 rebounds last week against New Jersey and Charlotte.
In other NBA news, there have been two significant injuries to start the season. Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs is out five weeks with hand surgery and Zach Randolph of the Memphis Grizzlies is out eight weeks with a torn knee ligament.
Also today, the Sacramento Kings have fired head coach Paul Westphal and replaced him with Keith Smart, who has previous head coaching experience in Cleveland and Golden State. Smart also has a Canadian connection, as he played for the Halifax Windjammers of the World Basketball League in 1991.
Gilbert Arenas is the latest professional athlete to be reprimanded for something he posted on his personal Twitter account.
The NBA fined the Orlando Magic point guard for a tweet this past week, though they weren’t specific about what it was that the controversial baller said or how much the fine was for. The Orlando Sentinel has a screen shot of Arenas’ page that shows one comment where he jokes about “direct sexting,” but the paper says the player has posted a “handful of politically incorrect and profane” tweets.
In response to the fine, Arenas was back on Twitter, saying if there’s a lockout the NBA might just forget about it and that “it all evens itself out” because he’s stealing cable from his neighbor! (After the Jump: Funny Arenas tweets, Charles Barkley hates the Heat/winning golf touranaments, plus the worst soccer misses of 2010-11!) (more…)
The Toronto Raptors won’t have Jay Triano as their head coach next season.
Triano will take on a new role as Special Assistant to Raptors’ President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo.
The Raptors were the third worst team in the NBA this season with a record of 22-60. Only the Cleveland Cavaliers (19-63) and Minnesota Timberwolves (17-65) were worse.
Triano, from Niagara Falls, Ontario, cannot be blamed exclusively for the Raptors’ downfall this season. The Raptors were not in a great position to win, having lost their best player, Chris Bosh to the Miami Heat last summer.
The Raptors were just not in a financial position to go on the free agent market and replace a player of Bosh’s talents last year.
Injuries were also a major factor. Jose Calderon, Andrea Bargnani, Leandro Barbosa and Linas Kleiza all missed significant time due to various ailments.
One of the greatest basketball players in NBA history has decided to call it a career.
Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most remarkable basketball players I have seen. I would place him second on the list of the best basketball players to have played in the NBA since I first started watching in 1986, just behind Michael Jordan.
During his career, O’Neal won four NBA Championships, three consecutive titles with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2000-2002, and another with the Miami Heat in 2006.
A product of Louisiana State, O’Neal was 7’1″, 325 pounds, and during his prime one of the most intimidating centers the game has ever seen.
A first overall pick of the Orlando Magic, O’Neal singlehandedly led the Magic to their first three series wins and an Eastern Conference Championship in 1995 before being swept by the Houston Rockets.
Former Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh scored 34 points Sunday night in a 96-85 win over the Chicago Bulls.
The Heat now lead the Eastern Conference Final 2-1.
LeBron James also had a solid evening, recording a double double, 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Dwyane Wade was the only other player on the Heat to get into double digits in scoring. He had 17 points.
The game was actually very even throughout. Miami had a 68-65 lead after three quarters. But in the fourth, when the game mattered the most, the Heat pulled away with about five minutes left in the contest.
It was an interesting night in the National Basketball Association last night with three game sixes won by the Los Angeles Lakers, Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks.
I saw the majority of the Hawks/Magic game six matchup in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal, won by Atlanta 84-81. This was a very significant series victory for the Hawks and one I didn’t see coming because they were absolutely hammered by the Magic in last year’s Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.
I came away from watching this game with two key points:
A) Kirk Hinrich is a very underrated defensive player in the NBA. Traded at the February deadline from Washington for Mike Bibby, Jordan Crawford, Maurice Evans and a first round pick, Hinrich had three key steals Thursday night and led the Hawks’ defense collectively in shutting down Dwight Howard, who recorded a terrible six turnovers.
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