Archive for November 17th, 2009
Chicago Bulls Off to “Good” Start
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, Sports, Utah Jazz | No Comments
I guess it’s all relative, but the Chicago Bulls are clearly off to a good start during the 2009-2010 NBA schedule. It looks like the Bulls might be a part of one of the better divisions in the NBA’s Eastern Conference – the Central Division. 4 out of 5 teams in the division have winning record while the Detroit Pistons bring up the rear at .500. The Cleveland Cavaliers – winners of 7 of their last 8 games – lead the Central Division with a 7-3 record.
The Bulls defied the odds by making the playoffs right at the end of the 2008-9 NBA season – earning the 7th seed in the conference. The Bulls proved it wasn’t a fluke either, taking the Boston Celtics all the way to the brink of elimination with an exciting 7-game series in which the home team won each game.
The Bulls have picked up where they left off this season. With the departure of Ben Gordon in the off-season, but the re-emergence of Luol Deng as a legitimate NBA starter (Deng has been hampered by injuries each of the last 2 seasons), the Bulls haven’t missed a beat. The Bulls are 5-4 with a solid 4-1 home record at the United Center in Chicago. Deng leads the club with a 17.6 scoring average – his 9.2 rebounds average per game is impressive as well. Derrick Rose was hampered by a bum ankle during the pre-season, but is slowly getting back into game shape. Rose averages 13.8 points, 5.3 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game.
The biggest surprise for the Bulls has been the consistent play of Joakim Noah – 11.8 points and 12.2 rebounds per game. Talk about a huge step-up from his 6.7 and 7.6 averages from last season. Kirk Hinrich has also impressed with his solid play early in the season – 9.9 points and 4.56 assists per game. And Rookie Taj Gibson has showed some brilliant moments in limited play so far. Gibson is averaging 7.3 points per game and his 4.89 rebounding average is 3rd behind Noah and Deng on the team. 20 of his 44 rebounds have been offensive rebounds so he can clearly spark an offensive outburst during his minutes.
If the Bulls are going to make a push for a 2nd consecutive playoff appearance, they are going to need better play from John Salmons (12.6 points and 4.0 rebounds) and Brad Miller (8.2 points and 4.7 rebounds). To date, neither player has played as well as anticipated heading into the season. The Bulls are also going to have to play better on the road.
The Bulls now embark on the grueling “Circus” road trip to the west coast (as the Circus invades the United Center for 2 weeks). As mentioned above, the Bulls tend to play poorly on the road, so it will be important for the team to win at least 2 of the 6 games on the trip. It won’t be easy because trying to against the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Portland Trailblazers or Utah Jazz on the road is highly unlikely. That leaves games against the Kings in Sacramento and the Bucks in Milwaukee to win. The 2 games after the circus road trip are against the Pistons at home and the Cavaliers on the road, so it doesn’t get any easier with 2 intra-division battles. At 5-4, this will be a telling 8-game stretch for the Bulls – they certainly won’t be over .500 at the end of it, but if they can win at least 3 of the games, an 8-9 record isn’t the worst thing in the world this early in the season. Head Coach Vinny Del Negro and his staff will have their work cut out for them over the next 3 weeks of the NBA schedule.
NFL Owner gets hit with $250,000 fine
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | NFL | No Comments
Bud Adams the owner of the Tennessee Titans got smacked with a $250,000 fine for flipping off Bills fans on Sunday. Adams was in his luxury box at the stadium when he waved to the Bills fans in his own way after his team killed the Bills 41-17. Adams later apologized for his artistic display of the middle finger. And we have the video below.
we also found a video of the old guy dancing at the same game. This guy is the best!
NBA Scores
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | NBA | No Comments
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | T |
| Portland (8-4) | 28 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 10 | 95 |
| Atlanta (9-2) « | 20 | 23 | 15 | 27 | 14 | 99 |
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| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
| Charlotte (3-7) | 21 | 31 | 16 | 23 | 91 |
| Orlando (8-3) « | 25 | 25 | 26 | 21 | 97 |
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| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | T |
| Dallas (8-3) « | 33 | 33 | 19 | 19 | 11 | 115 |
| Milwaukee (5-3) | 28 | 26 | 28 | 22 | 9 | 113 |
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NHL Scores
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | NHL | No Comments
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey (14-5-0) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Philadelphia (11-5-1) « | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Three Stars 1. R. Emery – PHI (Saves: 33, Save Pct: .943) 2. C. Giroux – PHI (Goals: 0, Assists: 2) 3. I. Laperriere – PHI (Goals: 0, Assists: 0) |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NY Islanders (8-6-7) « | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Boston (8-8-4) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Three Stars 1. M. Moulson – NYI (Goals: 2, Assists: 0) 2. R. Park – NYI (Goals: 0, Assists: 3) 3. D. Krejci – BOS (Goals: 0, Assists: 1) |
| Final SO | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | SO | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edmonton (8-10-3) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 (1) | 2 |
| Columbus (11-6-2) « | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 (2) | 3 |
| Three Stars 1. M. Garon – CLB (Saves: 23, Save Pct: .920) 2. F. Tyutin – CLB (Goals: 0, Assists: 2) 3. A. Stralman – CLB (Goals: 1, Assists: 1) |
| Final SO | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | SO | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles (13-7-2) « | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 (1) | 4 |
| Florida (7-9-2) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 (0) | 3 |
| Three Stars 1. J. Johnson – LA (Goals: 1, Assists: 0) 2. C. Stillman – FLA (Goals: 1, Assists: 1) 3. R. Jones – LA (Goals: 1, Assists: 1) |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
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| Anaheim (6-10-3) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Pittsburgh (14-7-0) « | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Three Stars 1. J. Staal – PIT (Goals: 1, Assists: 1) 2. M. Cooke – PIT (Goals: 2, Assists: 0) 3. D. Engelland – PIT (Goals: 0, Assists: 1) |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
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| Tampa Bay (8-4-6) « | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Phoenix (11-9-0) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Three Stars 1. M. Smith – TB (Saves: 30, Save Pct: .968) 2. V. Lecavalier – TB (Goals: 2, Assists: 1) 3. A. Tanguay – TB (Goals: 1, Assists: 2) |
