Sports Articles

2011-04-28 | Jim Murphy

The Miami Heat finally took care of a pesky Philadelphia 76ers team, winning Game 5 at home to take the opening round NBA Eastern Conference series 4 games to 1. Dwayne Wade scored 26 points and Chris Bosh added 22 points and 11 rebounds as Miami turned back a determined Philadelphia side 97-91 and will now advance to the inevitable showdown with the Boston Celtics who ignominiously ended LeBron James’ season—and his tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers—in the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals.

2011-04-28 | Jim Murphy

Philadelphia Phillies righthander Roy Oswalt has briefly left the team for personal reasons. He’s returned home to Mississippi to check on his family after a series of tornadoes struck the area several days ago. Three large storms rampaged through central Mississippi last weekend causing widespread destruction and at least three deaths. Assuming all is well, Oswalt is hoping to rejoin the team in time for his next scheduled start though the Phillies have made clear that there’s no specific timetable for when they expect him back in the lineup.

2011-04-28 | Jim Murphy

The New York Knicks took on Chauncey Billups at midseason as a ‘throw in’ in the deal that brought Carmelo Anthony to the ‘Big Apple’ but they ended up getting a very valuable playmaker that provides valuable veteran leadership in their backcourt. On Wednesday, they ‘put their money where their mouth is’ and picked up Billups’ option for the 2011-2012 NBA season. New York had the opportunity to buy out his contract for $3.7 million but with the option will pay Billups $14.2 million for next year.

2011-04-27 | Jim Murphy

The Vancouver Canucks were on the verge of sweeping the Chicago Blackhawks, holding a 3-0 lead prior to Game 4 at the United Center. Since then, they’ve been in freefall and now face a decisive Game 7 tonight on their home ice. They looked awful in Games 4 and 5 and although they played better in Game 6 there were plenty of mistakes to go around. Canucks’ GM Mike Gillis isn’t focusing on his team’s shortcomings in trying to explain Vancouver’s predicament, opting instead for the tried and true—he’s blaming the officiating.

2011-04-27 | Jim Murphy

The University of Florida has long suffered from a reputation as a program that condones criminal behavior among their players, but that may be changing under new head coach Will Muschamp. On Tuesday, Muschamp announced that All SEC cornerback Janoris Jenkins has been kicked off the team after his second drug related arrest in the past three months. The coach met with Jenkins early in the morning and made the decision to give him the boot shortly thereafter.

2011-04-27 | Jim Murphy

The Chicago Bulls and their fans are breathing a big sigh of relief with the news that superstar guard Derek Rose appears to have avoided serious ankle injury and has started Game 5 of the best of 7 opening round series against the Indiana Pacers. Rose injured his ankle in the Bulls’ Game 4 loss though remained in the game playing through the pain. He remained ‘questionable’ until gametime on Tuesday night but early indications were that he was moving well without much, if any, discernable pain.

2011-04-25 | Jim Murphy

At the time it seemed like a natural move for Rich Rodriguez—leaving West Virginia for one of the highest profile jobs in college football at the University of Michigan. Unfortunately, it became something of a nightmare for ‘Rich-Rod’ and he was fired after three seasons and a

2011-04-25 | Jim Murphy

The Washington Capitals are a team used to regular season success, but now they appear to be ready to translate that into playoff victories. On Saturday the Caps defeated the New York Rangers 3-1 to win their opening round Eastern Conference series in five games. It’s the first time since Bruce Boudreau became head coach that they’ve finished a series early, with all four of their previous playoff appearances going a full seven games.

2011-04-25 | Jim Murphy

Suspensions for fighting are a more common occurrence in pro hockey, but the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic will each play Game 4 of their NBA Eastern Conference playoff series a man short due to that very reason. Orlando will be without guard Jason Richardson, while Atlanta will lose the services of center Zaza Pachulia for their involvement in an altercation during the closing moments of Game 3 won by the Hawks.

2011-04-19 | Jim Murphy

Although the verbiage being used by both sides makes it unclear who wanted him out, the sum total is that Rick Adelman has been fired as coach of the NBA’s Houston Rockets. Adelman’s contract is up in June and although neither side is characterizing it as a ‘dismissal’ the bottom line is that his deal won’t be renewed and he’s no longer the team’s coach. The Rockets finished 43-39 this season and missed out on the playoffs by three games. Adelman has 945 career victories as a head coach, good for 8th place on the NBA’s all time wins list.

2011-04-19 | Jim Murphy

It’s not uncommon for a head coach to criticize the officiating after a loss. It’s somewhat unusual to hear criticism of an arena. Following Washington’s Game 3 loss to the New York Rangers Caps’ coach Bruce Boudreau unloaded a barrage of vitriol at an unusual target—the Madison Square Garden arena itself. He also had some harsh words for the Rangers’ fans, but his primary gripe was the decrepit conditions in the World’s most famous sports arena.

2011-04-19 | Jim Murphy

The Orlando Magic may be down a game to the Atlanta Hawks in their opening round NBA playoff series, but on Monday they had something to celebrate as center Dwight Howard was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year for an unprecedented third straight season. Howard led the league in ‘double/double’s’ this season and put up some very impressive numbers: 14.1 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and a career-high 1.3 steals per game this season.

2011-04-12 | Jim Murphy

New Jersey Nets’ point guard Deron Williams has been hampered by a nagging wrist injury for much of the season, but until now he’s missed only a few games as he played through the pain. On Monday, Williams finally got the surgical treatment he needed. The prevailing theory had been that Williams was suffering from a strained wrist that would require several weeks—if not months—of rest to fully heal. After a second opinion, it was decided that the situation was more serious than a mere sprain and surgery was called for. The Nets are out of the playoff hunt and have only two games remaining on their schedule for the season.

2011-04-12 | Jim Murphy

The Minnesota Wild has been competitive in the tough NHL Western Conference for their entire ten year existence, but that hasn’t translated into postseason success. They’ve only made the playoffs three times and after being eliminated from this year’s postseason play have now failed to qualify in three consecutive years—the biggest drought in team history. Head coach Todd Richards was at the helm for two of those seasons and on Monday became the third coach fired since the NHL regular season ended on Sunday.

2011-04-12 | Jim Murphy

Uncle Mo has been the presumptive Kentucky Derby favorite ever since his victory in the 2010 Breeder’s Cup Juvenile. Despite only one early Derby prep race—more of a glorified workout than a competitive race—he’s remained the top choice for the Kentucky Derby among the horse racing betting public and the members of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. Mo entered the weekend as the futures betting favorite at Nevada and offshore sportsbooks, and was favored in the Churchill Downs based Kentucky Derby Futures betting pool. He entered Saturday’s Wood Memorial at Aqueduct as a whopping 1-9 post time favorite. All of this served to make Toby’s Corner’s victory in the Wood one of the biggest upsets in the history of thoroughbred racing.

2011-04-12 | Jim Murphy

Nick Diaz is a polarizing figure among MMA fans. Some are drawn to his ‘anti-hero’ persona while others are turned off by his petulance and lack of social graces. There’s no doubt, however, that he’s one of the best ‘pound for pound’ fighters in the world and last weekend added another successful title defense to his resume with a first round stoppage of British striking specialist Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley. Diaz chose to pit his superior technical boxing skills against his opponent’s heavy hands and survived a first round knockdown to earn a first round TKO victory.

2011-04-12 | Jim Murphy

Since taking ownership of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats, Hall of Famer Michael Jordan has focused on cutting salary and improving the team’s financial position. That may soon pay dividends as the team looks to attract their first ‘A list’ free agent. New Orleans Hornets’ point guard Chris Paul will be a free agent after the season and sounds very enthusiastic about heading to North Carolina to play for Jordan. He tried to suggest that his only priority at the moment was the Hornets’ upcoming playoff run, but he was less than convincing in his comments as he tried to evoke a bit of Zen Buddhist philosophy:

2011-04-12 | Jim Murphy

His connections are framing it as ‘standard procedure’ following a disappointing performance, but there’s a good deal of intrigue surrounding the decision to subject Kentucky Derby favorite Uncle Mo to blood testing. Uncle Mo suffered a stunning upset in last weekend’s $1,000,000 Grade 1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct Raceway in New York. Mo went off a 1-9 post time favorite but could only manage a third place finish behind winner Toby’s Corner and runner up Arthur’s Tale.

2011-04-04 | Jim Murphy

Heading into Sunday’s NASCAR race at Martinsville Speedway in West Virginia, the assumption was that either Jimmie Johnson or Denny Hamlin would take the checkered flag. After all, they’d combined to win nine straight races at the tricky short track. As it turned out, they weren’t even among the drivers battling for the victory at the end of the race. Kevin Harvick passed Dale Earnhardt, Jr. with four laps remaining to earn the first Martinsville victory since 1995 for his Richard Childress Racing team. Earnhardt was looking for his first win since June 2008, but had to settle for second place.

2011-04-04 | Jim Murphy

The New York Knicks are one of the NBA’s most historically successful franchises, but they’d like to forget much of the past decade. During those years the team has been mediocre at best, not reaching the playoffs since 2004. That dubious run is now over—on Sunday the Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 123-107 to clinch a postseason berth. Amare Stoudemire scored 28 points, with Carmelo Anthony chipping in 25 and Chauncey Billups contributing 24 in New York’s convincing win. The victory leaves the Knicks in 7th place, though they’ve got a shot at running down 6th place Philadelphia.

2011-04-04 | Jim Murphy

In a matchup of two NBA Western Conference teams in very good form, the Denver Nuggets denied the Los Angeles Lakers their 10th straight victory by defeating the defending World Champions 95-90 at the Staples Center on Sunday. The win increased Denver’s winning streak to 6 games and helped solidify their lock on 5th place in the Western Conference standings. The loss dropped the Lakers to 2.5 games back of the West leading San Antonio Spurs who had little trouble defeating the Phoenix Suns earlier in the day.