Sports Articles

2009-04-30 | Jim Murphy

The Atlanta Hawks used a star performance from Joe Johnson and their strong home court to defeat the Miami Heat 106-91 Wednesday night at the Phillips Arena. Every game in the series has been won by double digits, with each team taking a turn winning on their opponent’s home court. Game six will be back in South Florida on Friday night, with the Heat needing a win to stave off elimination.

2009-04-30 | Jim Murphy

A frequent critique of the NBA is that none of the players exert a serious effort until the playoffs begin. Judging from the New Orleans Hornets’ awful performance in their opening round series with the Denver Nuggets, that critique might be charitable. The Hornets were put out of their misery on Wednesday night, losing to the host Nuggets 107-86. With the victory, Denver won the series 4 games to 1 and advances to the second round where they’ll no doubt face a much less disinterested opponent.

2009-04-30 | Jim Murphy

Apparently as interested as guaranteeing a game seven in the opening round series between Orlando and Philadelphia as in meting out justice, the NBA has suspended Magic superstar center Dwight Howard for tonight’s game six. Howard swung an elbow at the head of the Sixers’ Sam Dalembert in Orlando’s game five victory on Tuesday night.

2009-04-28 | Jim Murphy

After showing some competitive backbone in their hard fought game three win, the Utah Jazz rolled over in game four at home. On Monday night, they went through the motions again in game 5 which allowed the Lakers to win 107-96 and finish off the Jazz 4-1 in the series. The win was L.A.’s 12th straight over Utah at the Staples Center and they eliminated the Jazz for the second straight season. They now get several days off and will face the winner of the Portland Trailblazers/Houston Rockets series.

2009-04-28 | Jim Murphy

While some NBA teams struggle to just win on the road, the Denver Nuggets displayed some serious ‘killer instinct’ against the New Orleans Hornets in ‘The Big Easy’ on Monday night. The Nuggets simply obliterated the host Hornets, winning by an astonishing final score of 121-63. The 58 point beatdown tied the largest margin of victory ever in an NBA playoff game (the Minneapolis Lakers beat the St. Louis Hawks 133-75 in 1956) and gave Denver a 3-1 series lead with game five back on the Nuggets’ home court Wednesday night.

2009-04-28 | Jim Murphy

For a team that limped into the playoffs losing six of their last seven regular season games, the Philadelphia 76ers have shown a lot of heart against the favored Orlando Magic in their opening round NBA playoff series. Through four games the two teams are dead even at 2 wins apiece, each winning once on the other’s home court. On Sunday, Philadelphia again gave Orlando a tough fight before the Magic prevailed 84-81 on Hedo Turkoglu’s tiebreaking three pointer with just over a second remaining. The series now shifts back to Orlando for game five on Tuesday night.

2009-04-28 | Jim Murphy

The San Jose Sharks lost game one in their opening round NHL playoff series, and never looked like the same team after that. Gone was the efficient, versatile team that finished the regular season with a franchise record point total and won the President’s Trophy with the top record in the NHL. The Sharks looked lost and rudderless, as the gritty Ducks became more confident as the series progressed. On Monday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, the Ducks defeated the Sharks 4-1 to win the series 4 games to 2.

2009-04-28 | Jim Murphy

The Chicago Blackhawks finally won a game on the road during their opening round NHL playoff series against the Calgary Flames, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. On Monday night the Blackhawks stormed to a 2-0 first period lead en route to a 4-1 victory at the Pengrowth Saddledome, giving them a 4-2 series win. Calgary was eliminated in the first round for the fourth straight season, while Chicago wins their first playoff series since 1996.

2009-04-28 | Jim Murphy

Like many other young teams making their way along the long road to success in the NBA, the Atlanta Hawks have become dominant at home but have continued to struggle on the road. During the regular season, they were an impressive 31-10 at Phillips Arena but only 16-25 on enemy courts. Down 2-1 in their series with the Miami Heat heading into Monday’s game four, Atlanta turned in a gutsy performance at the American Airlines Arena to post a 81-71 victory and tie the series. It was Atlanta’s first playoff win since a 1997 victory against the Bulls at Chicago, a span of nearly twelve years.

2009-04-27 | Jim Murphy

After facing a fairly competitive effort from the host Detroit Pistons on Friday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers used a 26-15 fourth quarter advantage to emerge victorious in game three of their opening round NBA playoff series 79-68. Cleveland was able to prevail in a low scoring game due to their tenacious defense, which limited Detroit to just 38% shooting from the field. Cleveland can now close out the series in Detroit on Sunday afternoon.

2009-04-27 | Jim Murphy

Thaddeus Young scored on a driving layup with just under two seconds remaining to propel the Philadelphia 76ers to a 96-94 victory over the Orlando Magic at the Wachovia Center on Friday night. The win gives the Sixers a 2-1 lead in the opening round NBA playoff series with game four back on their home court Sunday night.

2009-04-27 | Jim Murphy

While the Washington Capitals managed to stave off elimination on Friday night by beating the New York Rangers 4-0, it wasn’t quite as straightforward of a victory as the final score might indicate. Russian rookie Simeon Varlamov made 20 saves for his second shutout of the series, and Alex Ovechkin added a highlight reel goal late in the second period, but besides that it was a very strange set of circumstances at play in the Verizon Center. Nevertheless, for the Washington Capitals the important thing is that they live to fight another day and will return to New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday for game six.

2009-04-27 | Jim Murphy

The Stanley Cup playoffs are always dramatic, but it’s been some time since the NHL has seen a series so full of soap-opera-like storylines as the current opening round affair between the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals. There were more plot twists on Sunday, as the resurgent Capitals beat the imploding Rangers 5-3 at Madison Square Garden to force a game 7 back in Washington, DC on Tuesday night.

2009-04-27 | Jim Murphy

Erik Staal scored twice in a span of three minutes in the second period and goaltender Cam Ward posted his third career playoff shutout as the gritty Carolina Hurricanes blitzed the New Jersey Devils 4-0 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC on Sunday. The ‘canes victory tied the opening round NHL playoff series at 3-3, forcing a decisive game 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Tuesday night.

2009-04-27 | Jim Murphy

Even without watching Sunday’s game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons, it would be pretty easy to figure out the storyline: LeBron James had another dominant performance, Cleveland routed Detroit and the Cavs move on to the second round after a 4-0 opening round sweep. To be more specific, LeBron just missed a ‘triple double’ for the second straight game and the Cavs thumped the Pistons 99-78 at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Cleveland will now return home to await the winner of the Atlanta Hawks/Miami Heat series. With Miami leading 2-1, the Cavs could enjoy a break of over a week before their second round series begins.

2009-04-24 | Jim Murphy

Down 3-1 and facing elimination on the road, the Philadelphia Flyers turned in one of their most gutsy performances of the year as they shut out the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0. Martin Biron made 28 saves for his second career playoff shutout, and the Flyers’ defense shut down the potent Penguin offense in the second and third period to narrow Pittsburgh’s lead in the series to 3-2 with game six at Philadelphia’s Wachovia Center on Saturday afternoon.

2009-04-24 | Jim Murphy

The New Jersey Devils topped the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night by a 1-0 score, with both Martin Brodeur and Cam Ward in top form. Brodeur stopped 44 shots in the victory, tying Montreal Canadiens legend Patrick Roy’s record for playoff shutouts at 23. The ‘canes Ward was the tough luck loser, stopping 41 of 42 New Jersey shots.

2009-04-24 | Jim Murphy

Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan questioned his team’s toughness following their game one blowout loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, and they didn’t show much more of it in losing the second game by double digits either. On Thursday night in Salt Lake City, however, Sloan’s words may have finally sunk in. In a grinding, physical performance reminiscent on the great Jazz teams of the past, Utah held the Lakers to 36.8% shooting and Deron Williams hit a fadeway jumper with 2.2 seconds remaining to give his team an 88-86 victory. With the win, the Jazz cut the Lakers’ series lead to 2-1 with game four set for the Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake on Saturday night.

2009-04-23 | Jim Murphy

The Orlando Magic finally put away the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night to win by a 96-87 score and tie their opening round series at one game apiece. The Sixers didn’t go quietly, however, again obliterating an 18 point third quarter deficit to eventually draw within five. This time the Magic responded to the run and didn’t allow Philly to get any closer.

2009-04-23 | Jim Murphy

Caps rookie goaltending phenom Simeon Varlamov has done everything expected of him and then some since taking over for shaky Jose Theodore after game one of the series. He’s stopped 75 of 78 Rangers’ shots and displayed incredible confidence and poise for only having seven regular season NHL games under his belt. Unfortunately for Varlamov and his teammates, he’s been outplayed by the Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist who has cemented his reputation as one of the best netminders in the NHL. On Wednesday night Lundqvist was again spectacular as he stopped 38 Washington shots to backstop the Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Caps and give New York a 3-1 lead in the series.

2009-04-23 | Jim Murphy

The Boston Bruins won a playoff series for the first time since 1999 on Wednesday night, defeating the Montreal Canadiens by a 4-1 score to complete the first round sweep. The Bruins spotted Montreal an early first period lead, but took over the game late in the period and never relinquished the momentum. While the Bruins put to rest a decade’s worth of playoff frustration, the recent struggles of the NHL’s most storied franchise continued—Montreal has lost eight straight playoff games, and four of their last five playoff series.

2009-04-23 | Jim Murphy

The Denver Nuggets continued to take advantage of their tough home court on Wednesday night, posting a 108-93 victory over the New Orleans Hornets to take a 2-0 lead in their best of seven opening round NBA playoff series. It was the second straight blowout victory for Denver, who won Sunday’s game one by an even more lopsided 113-84 score.

2009-04-23 | Jim Murphy

Despite blowing a 4-1 lead, the Calgary Flames recovered in the final period to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 6-4 in a wild affair to tie their best of seven opening round NHL playoff series at two games apiece. The series now shifts back to Chicago for game five on Saturday night, with game six back at Calgary’s Pengrowth Saddledome on Monday. A potential game seven would take place Wednesday in Chicago.

2009-04-23 | Jim Murphy

Roberto Luongo has been sensational in net for the Vancouver Canucks of late, and he really gave it his all on Tuesday night as his team defeated the St. Louis Blues in overtime by a 3-2 score. Luongo stopped 47 shots and needed IV fluids after the game, but his teammates took care of business on the other end of the ice to complete Vancouver’s 4-0 first round sweep of St. Louis.

2009-04-21 | Jim Murphy

One thing has become apparent early in the NBA playoffs—nothing is going to come easily for the defending champion Boston Celtics. After suffering an overtime loss in the upstart Chicago Bulls in game one of their opening round series, the Celtics again found themselves in a tightly contested battle on Monday night in Boston. This time, however, they managed to escape with a victory thanks to the heroics of Ray Allen who nailed a tiebreaking three point shot with 2 seconds remaining to give the Celtics a 118-115 win.

2009-04-21 | Jim Murphy

The Washington Capitals are back in business after a 4-0 victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. Alexander Semin scored twice for the Caps, who received another stellar goaltending performance from 20 year old Russian rookie Simeon Varlamov. Washington cut the Rangers lead in the series, with game four back at MSG on Wednesday night.

2009-04-21 | Jim Murphy

The Chicago Blackhawks have had the Calgary Flames’ ‘number’ all season long. Despite having lost six straight to the Blackhawks (4 in the regular season, 2 in the playoffs), the Flames battled back in game three to prevail 4-2 at Calgary’s Pengrowth Saddledome. The victory cuts the Blackhawks’ lead in the series to a more manageable 2-1 with game four back on the Flames’ home ice on Wednesday.

2009-04-20 | Jim Murphy

After working all season to earn home ice advantage in the highly competitive NHL Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia Flyers have thrown it away in just two games. On Friday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Bill Guerin scored late in the first overtime to give his team a 3-2 win over the Flyers and a commanding 2-0 lead in the best of seven series. The series now shifts to Pittsburgh for the next two games starting on Sunday afternoon.

2009-04-20 | Jim Murphy

After a horrible performance in an opening game 4-1 loss, the Carolina Hurricanes looked like a completely different team on Friday night. Carolina received exceptional goaltending from Cam Ward to play the New Jersey Devils to a standstill in regulation, and got a goal from Tim Gleason just 2:40 into overtime to pull out a 2-1 road victory and tie the series at 1-1. The action resumes on Sunday, with game three at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

2009-04-20 | Jim Murphy

No one ever said that Roberto Luongo wasn’t a ‘streaky’ goalie, but the good news for the Vancouver Canucks is that he’s been in fine form of late. His solid play during the stretch run of the regular season has apparently carried over into the playoffs. Luongo finished the regular season with back-to-back shutouts, allowed only one goal in Vancouver’s game one victory over the St. Louis Blues, and pitched another shutout on Friday night. The Canucks took care of business on the offensive end, leading them to a 3-0 victory over the Blues and a 2-0 lead in their opening round series.

2009-04-20 | Jim Murphy

The Chicago Blackhawks are making their first postseason appearance in seven years, but they’re already looking like seasoned playoff veterans. On Saturday, the Hawks calmly rebounded from a 2-0 first period deficit to beat the Calgary Flames by a 3-2 score at the United Center in Chicago. The Blackhawks now lead the series 2-0, and the two teams will head to Western Canada for games three and four beginning on Monday night at Calgary’s Pengrowth Saddledome.

2009-04-20 | Jim Murphy

The UFC returned to Montreal on Saturday for UFC 97: Redemption and, despite drawing a sellout crowd, was a markedly weaker show than the promotion’s Canadian debut one year ago at UFC 83. The highlight of a lackluster evening was Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua’s emphatic first round knockout of Chuck Liddell. ‘Shogun’ looked better than he had since his days fighting in Japan, while the bout may have marked Liddell’s last appearance in the UFC’s iconic octagon.

2009-04-20 | Jim Murphy

The big concern following Washington’s game 1 loss to the NY Rangers centered on their goaltending. Veteran Jose Theodore looked awful in the opening game, allowing four goals in the Caps 4-3 loss. The problem was that the only other goalie at Caps’ coach Bruce Boudreau’s disposal was 20 year old rookie Simeon Varlamov, who had never played in the NHL’s postseason. Boudreau rolled the dice and Varlamov got the start. The good news? The rookie made a phenomenal debut, allowing only one goal. The bad news? Rangers’ goalie Henrik Lundqvist played even better as he stopped all 35 Washington shots to backstop his team to a 1-0 game two victory and a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.

2009-04-20 | Jim Murphy

After the Lakers routed the Jazz in the final game of the regular season, Utah coach Jerry Sloan sounded as if he would have gone ahead and ‘thrown in the towel’ for his team’s playoff series with Los Angeles if given that option. He clearly understood his team’s utter lack of toughness and resolve and, not surprisingly, Utah was completely non-competitive with the Lakers in game one of their opening round NBA playoff series. The Lakers opened up a 62-40 halftime lead before coasting to an almost effortless 113-100 victory.

2009-04-20 | Jim Murphy

The Orlando Magic looked like a serious potential roadblock for Boston and Cleveland’s championship aspirations during the regular season. In game one of their opening round series against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday they looked like a team full of playoff neophytes desperately in need of veteran leadership. The Magic blew an 18 point third quarter advantage to eventually lose to the Sixers at home by a 100-98 score.

2009-04-20 | Jim Murphy

Roberto Luogno was merely exceptional on Sunday—as opposed to ‘downright superhuman’ as in the first two games of the series—but his teammates made up for it as the Vancouver Canucks used three power play goals to defeat the St. Louis Blues 3-2 at the Scotttrade Center. The victory gives the Canucks an almost insurmountable 3-0 series lead with an opportunity to close out the Blues on enemy ice in game four slated for Tuesday. Should a fifth game prove necessary if will be back in Vancouver on Friday night.

2009-04-20 | Jim Murphy

The Philadelphia Flyers clearly benefitted from a return to their home ice. Jeff Carter and Mike Richards scored quickly in the opening period to stake their team to a 2-0 lead just over five minutes into the game, and the Flyers moribund offense finally came to life as they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Sunday. The victory cut the Penguins lead in the series to 2-1, with game four set for Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

2009-04-20 | Jim Murphy

Despite winning the President’s Trophy with the NHL’s best record in the regular season and securing home ice advantage throughout the playoffs, the San Jose Sharks have put themselves into a position where they must win on the road. On Sunday evening the Anaheim Ducks again shocked the Western Conference champions on home ice, using a goal midway through the third period to prevail in a back and forth game by a 3-2 score.

2009-04-20 | Jim Murphy

It would have been hard for the Atlanta Hawks to have put together a better series opening game than they did on Sunday. All five Hawks’ starters scored in double figures, but the team did their best work on the defensive end of the floor where they contained Dwayne Wade and completely shut down his teammates. In their second biggest playoff margin of victory since moving to Atlanta in 1969, the Hawks destroyed the Miami Heat by a 90-64 score.

2009-04-17 | Jim Murphy

When the Boston Celtics announced that they were going to ‘shut down’ Kevin Garnett for the rest of the regular season, the team and their fans definitely harbored the same fears that his injury might be more severe than anyone was letting on. Now, those fears have become reality. On Thursday, Celtics’ coach Doc Rivers informed the media that not only would ‘KG’ not be ready for the team’s first round series against the Chicago Bulls but that there was a very good chance that he’d miss the playoffs altogether.

2009-04-17 | Jim Murphy

Making their first playoff appearance in seven years, the Chicago Blackhawks needed some overtime heroics from Martin Havlat to secure an opening game win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night. Havlat scored just :12 seconds in to the extra session to break a 2-2 tie as the Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead in the series with the 3-2 victory. The win broke a four game postseason losing streak for the Blackhawks and gave them their fifth victory in five tries over the Flames this season.

2009-04-17 | Jim Murphy

It’s no secret that a hot goaltender can take a team far in the NHL playoffs. For the Anaheim Ducks, it earned them a shocking game 1 road victory over the San Jose Sharks. Despite getting outshot 35-17, Anaheim took a 2-0 verdict over the team with the NHL’s best regular season record thanks to the shutout goaltending of Jonas Hiller.

2009-04-16 | Jim Murphy

The Denver Nuggets knew that they’d already clinched 2nd place in the Western Conference on Wednesday night before their game with the Portland Trailblazers began. So, not surprisingly, they competed like a team with nothing to play for as they were obliterated by their hosts who needed the win to lock up home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Portland pulled away from Denver in the second quarter and went on to defeat the Nuggets 104-76.

2009-04-16 | Jim Murphy

Cleveland lost at home for only the second time all season on Wednesday night, failing in their bid to tie the 1985-1986 for the best home record in NBA history at 40-1. Then again, they didn’t exactly try that hard either with LeBron James, Delonte West and Joe Smith all out of the lineup for some rest before the team begins their postseason series with Detroit. Despite missing the presumptive NBA MVP and a couple of other key players, the Cavs competed throughout before dropping a 111-110 overtime decision to the Philadelphia 76ers.

2009-04-16 | Jim Murphy

Notre Dame quickly ended the speculation about head coach Charlie Weis’ coaching future, announcing a few days after a 38-3 loss to USC to end their season that he’d return for another year. Weis, however, had his own reservations about his performance: the Chicago Tribune spoke to the coach who confirmed that he had considered quitting and returning to the NFL as an offensive coordinator.

2009-04-15 | Jim Murphy

The Cleveland Cavaliers clinched the NBA’s best overall record on Monday night with a 117-109 road victory over the Indiana Pacers. This gives the Cavs home court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs—a big deal for a team that has only lost once on their Quicken Loans Arena floor this season. Cleveland will open the NBA playoffs against the Detroit Pistons this weekend.

2009-04-15 | Jim Murphy

The Oklahoma City Thunder found themselves ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’ on Monday night. They, along with their third-worst-in-the NBA 7-33 road mark, were on the banks of the Willamette River in the Rose Garden Arena facing the Portland Trailblazers. The Blazers, of course, have been the hottest team in the NBA during the second half of the season and have made their home court as fearsome as the old Memorial Coliseum next door was during the dominant era of Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter in the 1980’s. The result was almost preordained: a 113-83 Blazers victory.

2009-04-15 | Jim Murphy

The Utah Jazz have bumbled down the stretch toward the NBA playoffs, and after a horrible showing at home against Golden State over the weekend were in a position where they desperately needed a win. There’s no better prescription in that situation that a visit by the Los Angeles Clippers, but even so Utah knew that they couldn’t take a win for granted and the Jazz responded with one of their best all around games of the past couple of months. Utah came out strong from the start and used tenacious defense to run the Clippers off of the EnergySolutions Arena court en route to a 106-85 victory.

2009-04-15 | Jim Murphy

Four months after he was demolished in the ring by Manny Pacquaio, Oscar De La Hoya announced his retirement from boxing on Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles. He made his announcement in an outdoor plaza across from the Staples Center Arena with hundreds of fans in attendance including actor Mickey Rourke and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

2009-04-15 | Jim Murphy

The Utah Jazz have been in a downward spiral to finish the regular season, but heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Lakers in Los Angeles still had an outside chance to improve on their 8th place playoff seeding. That would require defeating the Lakers on their home court, however, and the home team was definitely not in a charitable mood. Utah hung around for the first half before the Lakers put them away in the second en route to a 125-112 victory. The Jazz will be back in Los Angeles this weekend to being their first round playoff series.

2009-04-15 | Jim Murphy

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ is arguably the greatest English language novel in history as much for the insight it provides into the American character as for the artistry of its prose. One of its most iconic lines, however, couldn’t be further from the truth. Fitzgerald, though the book’s protagonist Nick Caraway opined that ‘There are no second acts in American lives’. If anything, the country’s culture may better facilitate personal and professional reinvention better than any on Earth. Most recent case in point—Isiah Thomas, much maligned former head coach of the New York Knicks, has found another job coaching basketball. On Tuesday, he was hired as the head coach of Sun Belt Conference entrant Florida International University.

2009-04-13 | Jim Murphy

The Cleveland Cavaliers improved to 38-1 at home this season with a 98-86 victory over the Washington Wizards at the Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday night. The 38-1 mark is the second best home record in NBA history, and Cleveland can tie the 1985-1986 Boston Celtics at 40-1 if they win their remaining two home games. The victory was Cleveland’s fifteenth straight at home dating back to their only loss of the season on their own court which occurred Christmas Day against the Los Angeles Lakers.

2009-04-13 | Jim Murphy

The line on the Portland Trailblazers in recent years has been that once the NBA’s youngest team got some maturity under their belt they’d be a championship contender. It may be happening sooner than anyone expected. On Wednesday night the Blazers took a big step toward securing home court advantage in the playoffs with a 95-83 road victory over the San Antonio Spurs. Houston, Portland and San Antonio are now tied for third place with identical 50-28 records.

2009-04-13 | Jim Murphy

The Columbus Blue Jackets are heading to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in franchise history. The only active team to have never reached the postseason—until tonight—clinched their berth with a come from behind 4-3 shootout victory over the host Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.

2009-04-13 | Jim Murphy

The Los Angeles Lakers don’t enjoy coming to the Pacific Northwest. Despite having the best road record in the NBA, they’ve had a horrible run at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland of late. Their futility in ‘The Rose City’ continued on Friday night as the Portland Trailblazers beat the Lakers 106-98. It was Los Angeles’ 8th straight defeat in Portland and allowed Cleveland to pull ahead of the Lakers for the NBA’s best overall record.

2009-04-13 | Jim Murphy

The Cleveland Cavaliers clinched the top spot in the Eastern Conference on Friday night by virtue of a workmanlike 102-92 road victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. The Cavs only remaining regular season goal is to secure the overall best record in the NBA, and they got an assist at doing so later in the evening as Portland defeated the Los Angeles Lakers who have the second best overall record.

2009-04-13 | Jim Murphy

At the moment, the only consolation for the slumping Utah Jazz is that it’s mathematically impossible for them to fall out of the #8 playoff spot in the NBA’s Western Conference. Aside from that, it’s been all bad news for the Jazz. Utah’s downward spiral continued on Friday night as they lost on the road at San Antonio 105-99. The loss was Utah’s 6th in their last ten games, and represented their 20th straight road loss to the Spurs.

2009-04-13 | Jim Murphy

Nick Diaz made a compelling case for inclusion in any discussion about the best ‘pound for pound’ fighters in mixed martial arts on Saturday night as he utterly annihilated the legendary Frank Shamrock in the main event of Strikeforce’s debut on the Showtime cable network. Before a packed house at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California that included vocal contingents in support of both fighters, Diaz dominated Shamrock in every phase of the game en route to a brutal 2nd round TKO stoppage victory.

2009-04-13 | Jim Murphy

Less than 24 hours from a big home court win over the mighty Los Angeles Lakers, the Portland Trailblazers found themselves in Los Angeles playing the lowly Clippers. In the midst of a heated battle for playoff position in the NBA West the question became ‘Would the Blazers suffer a letdown after the Lakers game?’. The answer—yes and no: Portland looked sluggish early and actually trailed by two early in the final quarter. The end result, however, was a 87-72 victory over the Clippers who fell into a tie with Sacramento for the worst home court record in the league.

2009-04-13 | Jim Murphy

The Utah Jazz have seen their stretch run go from bad to worse, and in the process have plummeted from the upper half of the Western Conference standings to their current 8th place position. The best news for Utah at this point is that the regular season will end before they can blow their postseason berth altogether. On Saturday night the Jazz lost for the seventh time in ten games as the undermanned Golden State Warriors used a big second quarter to earn a 118-108 victory in Salt Lake City.

2009-04-13 | Jim Murphy

So much for the Boston Celtics being a legitimate threat to the Cleveland Cavs’ home court record. On Sunday afternoon at the Quicken Loans Arena the Cavs improved to 39-1 at home with 107-76 dismantling of the defending NBA champions. Cleveland jumped out to a 31-9 lead after the first quarter and the Celtics were never close to threatening after that. The Cavs are now one victory away from tying the 1985-1986 Celtics for the best home record in NBA history at 40-1.

2009-04-13 | Jim Murphy

While the Miami Heat will enter the NBA playoffs as the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference, Dwayne Wade took the opportunity of his team’s game against the New York Knicks on Sunday to make a personal statement. Wade scored a career high 55 points as the Heat beat the Knicks at home 122-105. Miami will face Atlanta in the opening round of the NBA playoffs starting next weekend.

2009-04-13 | Jim Murphy

The Chicago Blackhawks were in a position where they could have afforded to take it easy in their final regular season game. They’d already tied up the #4 spot in the NHL West, and already knew that they’d host the Calgary Flames in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Instead of ‘phoning in’ their season ending home game against Detroit, however, they took advantage of the opportunity to maintain their momentum. Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 37 shots to earn his 41st career shutout as the Blackhawks shut out the Red Wings 3-0.

2009-04-08 | Jim Murphy

Some ‘also ran’ teams take pride in playing the ‘spoiler’ role, hoping to validate a losing season by showing heart and toughness down the stretch. And then there’s teams like the New York Islanders, who hold the NHL’s worst record and are just playing out the string having lost seven of ten games. A miserable season on Long Island hit a new low on Tuesday night as the Islanders were mauled by the host Carolina Hurricanes losing 9-0 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC.

2009-04-08 | Jim Murphy

The Vancouver Canucks shocking defeat at the hands of Colorado on Sunday night gave the Calgary Flames an unexpected advantage in the Northwest Division race. The Flames had the opportunity to clinch the title on Tuesday night in Vancouver, but were denied by the stellar performance of Canucks’ goalie Roberto Luongo. Luongo single handedly kept his team in the race as Vancouver beat Calgary 4-1 despite being outshot 47-25.

2009-04-08 | Jim Murphy

The Portland Trailblazers are fighting to improve their playoff seeding in the stretch run of the regular season, but on Tuesday night they got more than they bargained for from one of the worst teams in the NBA. Memphis led the Blazers by 12 points at halftime, but Portland turned it on in the second half behind Brandon Roy and Travis Outlaw to escape with a 96-93 road victory.

2009-04-07 | Jim Murphy

The Calgary Flames are poised to clinch the NHL Northwest Division title after a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night at the Pengrowth Saddledome. The Flames had been running neck and neck with the Vancouver Canucks, but two straight losses have given the advantage back to Calgary. They can clinch the title with a regulation win over the Canucks at the GM Place in Vancouver on Tuesday night.

2009-04-07 | Jim Murphy

The Detroit Red Wings are still within striking distance of the NHL’s Western Conference crown by virtue of a 4-1 road victory against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night. It was Detroit’s 7th win in their last eight road contests and left the team four points behind the idle San Jose Sharks for conference supremacy.

2009-04-07 | Jim Murphy

Ken Griffey Jr’s first game back in a Seattle Mariners jersey couldn’t have gone better. Griffey hit a fifth inning home run and the Mariners opened the 2009 MLB season with a victory on the road as they beat the Minnesota Twins 6-1 at the Metrodome on Monday. 2009 will be the Twins last season in the domed venue as they move to a new open air facility next year.

2009-04-07 | Jim Murphy

The Chicago Blackhawks solidified their hold on the 4th place spot in the NHL’s Western Conference with a 1-0 overtime victory over the host Columbus Blue Jackets at the Nationwide Arena on Sunday. In a game that showcased the tenacious defense and solid goaltending of both squads, Kris Versteeg got the win for the Hawks with his goal just over three minutes in to the overtime session.

2009-04-07 | Jim Murphy

There was a time when Jeff Gordon not winning a NASCAR race on a given Sunday was a newsworthy event. He’s still a long way from his dominant runs of the late 1990’s with former crew chief Ray Evernham, but he’s back in the winner’s circle following a victory at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. The victory was the first in 47 races for ‘The Rainbow Warrior’, snapping a career high winless streak.

2009-04-07 | Jim Murphy

Hockey players are a special breed of athlete. Outside of professional prizefighting, no other sport requires the combination of skill, finesse, toughness, heart and dedication that hockey demands. For that reason, you’ll seldom see NHL teams ‘quit’ late in the season even if they’re out of the running for the playoffs. An example of this was seen in Vancouver last night where the host Canucks were outplayed and outworked by the lowly Colorado Avalanche, eventually dropping a 4-1 decision.

2009-04-06 | Jim Murphy

The ongoing soap opera in Denver surrounding the souring relationship between the Broncos and their QB Jay Cutler is apparently over. On Thursday afternoon the Broncos sent Cutler to the Chicago Bears, receiving QB Kyle Orton and some draft picks in return. The Bears offered the best deal, though there were at least six other NFL teams interested in the 4th year QB out of Vanderbilt.

2009-04-06 | Jim Murphy

The last time the Cleveland Cavaliers had a lengthy winning streak come to an end it was at the hands of one of the NBA’s best teams: the Los Angeles Lakers ended their undefeated run at home on Christmas Day and to date are the only visiting team to win at the Quicken Loans Arena this season. Their franchise record thirteen game winning streak didn’t end in such dramatic fashion against such a potent foe—it ended with a whimper on Thursday night in Washington against the lowly Wizards. In a game that was obviously much more important to the host team, the 18-59 Wizards upset the Cavs 109-101.

2009-04-06 | Jim Murphy

Despite a season full of injuries to key players, the San Jose Sharks have found a way to persevere. After beating the host Edmonton Oilers 2-1 at Rexall Place on Thursday night, the Sharks are in the drivers’ seat to capture the President’s Trophy as the team with the NHL’s best regular season record. As has been the case so often this season it was a combination of timely goal scoring and the solid goaltending of Evgeni Nabokov paving the road to victory.

2009-04-06 | Jim Murphy

Plaxico Burress is no longer the New York Giants’ problem. And while his attorneys try to work out a plea deal to settle his felony firearms possession charges, Burress’ wanna-be thug affectations may have ended his NFL career. Plax has been in hot water ever since he shot himself in the thigh while packing heat in the VIP area of a trendy New York nightclub, obviating the fact that he’s much more convincing as a football player than as a ‘gangsta’.

2009-04-06 | Jim Murphy

The Portland Trailblazers continued their torrid play down the stretch on Friday night as they routed the host Oklahoma City Thunder 107-72. The victory was the Blazers’ seventh in ten games and moved the team into 4th place in the NBA Western Conference. The team has set their sights higher, however, as they’re only one game behind San Antonio for third place and 1 ½ games behind second place Denver. LaMarcus Aldridge led the Blazers with 35 points and a career high 18 rebounds. Brandon Roy scored 14 while Steve Blake contributed a ‘double/double’ with 14 points and 10 assists. The Thunder struggled on offense all night long, and their paltry ‘high score’ totals reflect this: Kevin Durant led the team with 13 points, Jeff Green added 12 and Shaun Livingston contributed 10 off the bench as the only Thunder players to score in double digits. For the game, OKC shot a woeful 35.5% from the field as the Blazers won their fourth straight game by 20 points or more.

2009-04-06 | Jim Murphy

It wasn’t necessarily a highlight reel victory, but the Blackhawks clearly don’t mind ‘winning ugly’ if it means a trip back to the NHL playoffs. Chicago clinched their first postseason berth in seven years and only their second in the past eleven seasons by defeating the Nashville Predators 3-1 on Friday night. The Blackhawks can realistically finish as high as third or as low as fifth, but the important thing at this point is they’re going to the playoffs.

2009-04-06 | Jim Murphy

Saturday was a big day for the Utah Jazz franchise as it was learned that former superstar pointguard John Stockton and current head coach Jerry Sloan have been voted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. While there hasn’t been an official announcement yet, the Salt Lake Tribune reported the news attributed to ‘reliable sources’. Sloan and Stockton will join longtime San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson and Rutgers University women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer in this year’s class of inductees.

2009-04-06 | Jim Murphy

While the Boston Bruins didn’t run away from the pack in the NHL’s Eastern Conference as it appeared they would during the first half of the season, the eventual result was the same. On Saturday night the Bruins shut out the visiting New York Rangers 1-0 to clinch the top spot in the conference leaving the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals to fight for second place.

2009-04-06 | Jim Murphy

Shinya Aoki has gained a reputation as arguably the best lightweight fighter in mixed martial arts, as well as being recognized as one of the sport’s premier submission specialists. Especially tall for his weight class at 5’11”, he’s been able to use his lanky frame and insane flexibility to dominate the lightweight division. His height also gave him cause to think that he could compete at the welterweight class against naturally larger fighters. On Sunday afternoon in Nagoya, Japan, however, he found out first hand that moving up in weight isn’t an easy task as he was dominated by veteran Hayato ‘Mach’ Sakurai in their first round match of the DREAM welterweight GP tournament, losing by a devastating first round knockout.

2009-04-06 | Jim Murphy

It was a good news/bad news situation for the Portland Trailblazers on Sunday. The bad news? They lost to the Houston Rockets 102-88 at the Toyota Center. The good news? Dallas beat Phoenix, which clinched a playoff berth for the Blazers for the first time since 2003. Being a ‘glass half full’ type of team, the Blazers were more focused on their postseason achievement than on their regular season loss.

2009-04-06 | Jim Murphy

Cleveland entered Sunday’s game with San Antonio having lost their previous two games and facing the possibility of suffering their first three game losing streak of the season. The Spurs came to town with a solid 23-14 road mark, and with the Cavs out of sync there was some concern among Cleveland fans that another loss has a legitimate possibility. Or maybe not—it was business as usual on Sunday as the Cavs crushed the Spurs to improve their NBA best home record to 37-1.

2009-04-06 | Jim Murphy

The San Jose Sharks set a franchise record with their 51st win of the season on Sunday, holding off the host Anaheim Ducks by a 3-2 score. They also solidified their grasp on the NHL’s best overall record, now leading the Boston Bruins by 3 points in the race for the President’s Trophy which is awarded to the team with the best regular season mark.

2009-04-02 | Jim Murphy

Though he conducted himself like a true gentleman in advance of his ‘Ultimate Fight Night’ battle with Carlos Condit, Martin Kampmann likely got sick of playing ‘second banana’ to his better known opponent. With most of the prefight hype by the UFC focusing on Condit, Kampmann gave his opponent all he wanted in Nashville, TN on Wednesday night and emerged with a hard fought split decision victory.

2009-04-02 | Jim Murphy

The Boston Celtics obviously know that nothing is going to come easy for them with superstar Kevin Garnett ‘shut down’ due to his lingering knee injury. Even so, they likely didn’t expect that the victories would be the sort of struggle they endured at the TD BankNorth Garden on Tuesday night. The defending NBA champs needed some three point shooting heroics from Paul Pierce and two overtime periods to finally shake the Charlotte Bobcats in a 111-109 victory.

2009-04-02 | Jim Murphy

The New Jersey Devils have played well all season, but really shifted into high gear with the return of starting goalie Martin Brodeur to the lineup from a season long injury. Brodeur immediately regained his form, quickly passing Montreal Canadiens legend Patrick Roy for the NHL’s all time victory record. Since then, however, the Devils have been slumping and on Tuesday night were routed by the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-1 to drop further behind second place Washington and nearly out of sight of Eastern Conference leading Boston.

2009-04-01 | Jim Murphy

Some NBA teams stumble as the regular season winds down, leading to concerns about getting and maintaining ‘momentum’ for a playoff run. Then there’s the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have been near the top of the league all season long—and have become even better as the postseason draws near. On Tuesday night the Cavs turned back a spirited effort by the Detroit Pistons to win 79-73 at the Quicken Loans Arena. The victory was Cleveland’s 13th straight overall and improved their NBA best home court record to 36-1.

2009-04-01 | Jim Murphy

The Utah Jazz had raised the ire of head coach Jerry Sloan in their previous two games for blowing big leads. On Tuesday night at the Rose Garden Arena they never got the chance to fritter away a double digit advantage, and the host Portland Trailblazers gave them an effective lesson on how good teams maintain big leads at home. The Blazers shot out to a 39-25 first quarter lead and never looked back as they went on to rout the Jazz 125-104.

2009-04-01 | Jim Murphy

With the local media calling it ‘the biggest game in franchise history’, the Columbus Blue Jackets used a third period goal from Raffi Torres and some solid goaltending from rookie phenom Steve Mason to take a 2-1 decision from the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night. The victory solidified the Jackets hold on sixth place in the NHL’s Western Conference and all but assures them of the franchise’s first ever Stanley Cup playoff berth.