Kentucky, Missouri, Murray State, Syracuse, Duke, Baylor, & UNC all won with ease this weekend solidifying their spots in the top 10 for at least one more week. #5 Kansaslost by 8 against unranked Iowa State, which is their first loss in the Big 12 this season. Pittsburgh beat #10 Georgetown in which I predicted would be a tough game as always. #19 UConn continued to struggle against Notre Dame on Sunday. Lastly, #3 Ohio State beat #22 Michigan in a battle of the Big Ten.
At this point I don’t think anyone knows what to say about the Celtics. Two weeks ago they were heading straight to the grave. But maybe we spoke too soon. Showing signs of life, the C’s picked up their third straight win last night, beating the Magic 91-83 in dramatic fashion. With Pierce leading the way, the Celtics overcame a 27 point deficit to hand the Magic an even more embarrassing loss than earlier this week’s 31 point massacre. E’Twaun Moore was huge off the bench, putting in 16 of his own, including a clutch three pointer down the stretch. He’s been my pick since day one. The kid has a big future in the NBA, just give him some time to develop. Oh, and in case you forgot, this turnaround has been without Rondo and Allen, making it even more confusing as to what’s going on with the Celts! By the way, congrats to Ray and his wife for welcoming in their fourth son, Wystan Ryan Allen, Wednesday night.
Anyways, the team has talent. That’s been obvious since day one. The surprise came when the talent didn’t mesh during games. The Celts have showed signs of brilliance, but seemed to struggle in finishing games out down the stretch. Granted, digging yourself a 27 point hole isn’t great either, but have they turned it around? Two weeks ago they would have fought back to within a few points, had the momentum on their side, and then with 5 minutes left let the fire go out and lose by double digits, letting us all down. We knew they were a better team than they were showing us. It’s still early in the short season but if anything, the past three games have given hope to Celtics fans. Maybe the flame is still burning on Causeway Street.
Apparently winning one Championship means it’s okay to slack off during the off-season and come into camp completely out of shape. That’s not true, but don’t tell Dirk Nowitzki that. I had a lot of respect for this guy until recently. He’s listed as being out the past three games with the sore knee and is expected to miss a fourth tonight. Many sources have said Dirk is simply just out of shape. For a guy that was praised so much last season for his hard work and determination he certainly isn’t living up to the hype this season.
The best thing he’s probably done all season was his play-by-play announcing from the sideline. Hmmm… the knee looked all right when he jumped out of his seat to celebrate his team’s alley-oop the other night. To top it all off; during an interview recently Dirk was quoted as saying “I haven’t seen one team in the West that I’m scared of. I really haven’t.” Really Dirk? The 15-3 Thunder doesn’t scare you? Your team is tied for sixth place in the NBA, and their star player is averaging a mere 17.5 points per game; good for 26th in the NBA. He’s also averaging 5.4 rebounds per game, which certainly isn’t going to cut it. I don’t think the Mav’s even have a chance this year to repeat. If they even want a chance though they are going to need a lot more than just Dirk’s play-by-play skills to do it.
Today we will focus on which team has the edge in the kicking game. One of the things that gave me the idea to do a daily article evaluating each team in the super bowl was NFL.com, last week they came out with an evaluation article of each teams main positions. They gave Cundiff the edge over Gostkowski. They were definitely spot on with that one huh?
Lawrence Tynes is an average kicker at best. His field goal percentage isn’t all that bad at slightly over 79%, but if you look at the stats you notice he isn’t trusted to much to kick the ball over 40 yards, and it looks likes its all in good reason. Tynes only attempted eight kicks over 40 this season, and only converted four of them. 50% isn’t what you are looking for in a Super Bowl game. What are the Giants going to do on 4th and 3 from the 28-yard line in a tie game with a couple minutes left? My bet is they’re going for it.
Overall Grade: C
Stephen Gostkowski may be one of the most underrated kickers in the league today. His average is just under 85% and he makes clutch kicks when called upon. The difference here is when asked to kick a field goal over forty; Gostkowski frequently comes through. He is 76% from over 40; converting on ten of thirteen field goals. The Patriots have trust in their kicker and that’s huge in a game like this when its expected to come down to as little as a field goal. Could this be an Adam Vinatieri like finish? I’d take it.
I am going to just skip over Friday because the only ranked game consists of #23 Harvard vs. Yale… Not even gonna touch that one. On Saturday, #1 Kentucky looks to stay perfect in the SEC against LSU, which shouldn’t be tough considering their star-studded line up. #2 Missouri looks to bounce back from their loss against Oklahoma State with a game against Texas Tech. Normally you could count Texas Tech out but the way Missouri played the other night, they could be in trouble. #4 Syracuse will face a tough test when they play always-strong West Virginia in a battle of the Big East. #5 Kansas will most likely run over Iowa State, even though they have a pretty decent record so far. #10 Georgetown plays usually-ranked Pittsburgh in a big game. Even though the Panthers are unranked, they are going to give Georgetown a run for their money at 4:00 on ESPN.
On Sunday, #22 Michigan will look to take down power house #3 Ohio State. This in my opinion will be the game of the weekend. At night, Notre Dame will look to take advantage of #19 UConn’s recent struggles. However, UConn will be wearing their new uniforms (click here) , so maybe they can find some sort of spark that they have been lacking in recent weeks.
If your anything like me, the Winter X Games may be the only thing to get me through this winter with no snow. Maybe it’s the lack of snow and winter-like weather conditions around here this year, but the Winter X Games kind of snuck up on us. The 16th edition of the winter games kicked off today in Aspen and as always should make for an exciting week on the slopes. Regardless of the results at the end of the weekend, the highlight of the Winter X Games 2012 will be Sarah Burke and remembering her legendary presence. RIP Sarah
Sorry for a bit of an absence in my BSB presence, but I was taking some much needed vacation time out of the spotlight.
Anyway, looks like the Lakers may have a new rival in the cross-town Clippers. Finally emerging from the depths and putting together a formidable squad this year, the Clippers obviously have some serious talent on their roster. Last night there was obvious hostility between the two, led by none other than Ron Meta Worldpeace (or whatever his name is now). I still find his name a bit ironic for a person who is a pretty dirty basketball player, someone who answers interview questions with statements about baby teeth, yet changes his name to promote peace among men. Anyway, even Pau Gasol got into it a little last night with Chris Paul, which is flat out bullying if you ask me, even though I think CP3 could actually take him.
Regardless, the Lakers are proving to be a pretty serious squad this year, and Kobe is confirming he still has plenty left in the tank (even surpassing some of Jordan’s numbers in the beginning of 1996). Needless to say, this year’s NBA has some pretty fresh talent and a whole new approach to rivalries.
What are your thoughts on the new NBA balance of power?
Today we will take a look at the defensive lines of the Giants and the Patriots, I know this might be the best part of the Patriots defense (not saying much), but I think you all know where this one is going.
The Giants have arguably the best pass rush in the whole NFL. There isn’t a team that can pressure the quarterback without blitzing the way the Giants can. I hate bringing it up as much as the next guy; but when the Patriots matched up against the Giants last time in the Super Bowl their offensive line got exposed by the rush of the Giants. On many passing downs the Giants will switch off D-Tackle Linval Joseph and they will go with a four man front of Umenyiora, Tuck, Pierre-Paul, and Kiwanuka. The fact that the Giants pass defense is as bad as it is when they often times have no need to blitz and can keep many players back in coverage really shows how inept their secondary is. A combination like that possesses more speed up front than any D-Line in the NFL. The bright spot of their defensive line has to be Jason Pierre-Paul. He leads the team with 16.5 sacks so far this season. Osi Umenyiora isn’t to bad himself; he’s only played in nine games this year and has still recorded 9 sacks. Expect Brady to make many changes at the line of scrimmage based on the personnel the Giants send out there. This game is going to come down to the success both sides have in the trenches.
Overall Grade: A
The Patriots defensive line is very solid. They have a big presence in the middle with Big Vince clogging up all the running holes, and he even showed last week he could get after the quarterback as well. The loss of Andre Carter certainly didn’t help the pass rush, but veteran Mark Anderson has stepped right in and recorded 10 sacks this season. Like many positions on this team, the Patriots have a constant rotation on the D-Line. Kyle Love, Brandon Deadrick, Shaun Ellis and Gerard Warren always move in and out of the game. You have to be confident the Patriots run defense shouldn’t be the main issue against a team that often times forgets they have a running back. Overall the Patriots defensive line looks solid and should be able to get some pressure on Eli.
For those of you who didn’t notice, the NBA has moved away from their “Where Amazing Happens” slogans and moved towards their “Big” advertising attempt. Rajon Rondo happens to be the main star of the first installment of the commercial. “The focus on Rondo is that he plays big” according to Danny Meiseles, executive vice president and executive producer of broadcasting for the NBA. They also focus on Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki, but seeing as they are not from Boston, we can just ignore that.
For Rondo to even be put in the same character as the best scorer (KD) and the best white guy in the league (other than Scalabrine of course), is pretty amazing. He needs to be the future of our team now that we are getting older, and it is nice to see that the league recognizes his hard work from when he came into the league from Kentucky a few years ago. Many skeptics thought he was crazy but he showed hard work and fortitude and has become one of the best players around.
With the hype of the Super Bowl surrounding us, Sports Illustrated has just issued their Super Bowl magazine this week featuring Tom Brady on the cover. This is Brady’s 15th time on the cover so most Pats fans are just going to use that as another arguing point as to how much better Brady is than Eli, which obviously is a closed discussion. On the other hand, those who pay attention to detail, or even the superstitious readers already know what I’m getting at.
I’ll put it simple. Brady was on the same cover in 2008 for the Super Bowl preview against the Giants. A few months later, Brady was on the cover of another SI issue, just a week before he tore his ACL and MCL in September 2008 against the Chiefs. In regards to the superstitious, I apologize for even posting this, but it had to be said. On the bright side, there were 12 other times he was on the cover and everything was fine. If there’s one guy that doesn’t get fazed by this kind of superstition and hype, it’s Brady. I still have faith. No magazine cover jinx is going to stop Tom from joining the prestigious four ring club. Not on his watch.
lost by 8 against unranked Iowa State, which is their first loss in the Big 12 this season. Pittsburgh beat #10 Georgetown in which I predicted would be a tough game as always. #19 UConn continued to struggle against Notre Dame on Sunday. Lastly, #3 Ohio State beat #22 Michigan in a battle of the Big Ten.
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