Results tagged “sports”

• Nets 97, Bobcats 91: After 18 consecutive losses to start the season, the Nets finally won a game. Brook Lopez, who has been a bright spot all season had 31 points and 14 rebounds. Courtney Lee had 27, including the tiebreaking free throws with 2:22 left. Kiki Vandeweghe, the Nets' general manager who will coach the rest of the year, earned a win in his first game at the bench. The Nets needed several tries to pull away, but they earned a victory. This also saves the Knicks the embarrassment of being the first to lose to the Nets when the two local teams meet on Sunday.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Nets Win! Nets Win!"

The United States soccer team has drawn England, Algeria and Slovenia in their pool for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. More importantly, for the Americans, they avoided some of the more difficult teams that they could have drawn in group play. Former Irish National Team player Tony Cascarino said that the United States was the best team in Pot Two (Asia, North and Central America) and that the Brits should take them seriously. Landon Donovan said that "They’re not entirely scared of us, but they definitely don’t want to draw us.” Overall, things are looking decent for the United States to advance out of Group C when play begins in June.

Hofstra University has decided to cancel its football program. President Stuart Rabinowitz said, "The cost of the football program, now and in the future, far exceeds the return possible from an FCS program, which does not generate significant national interest. Given that, along with the low level of interest, financial support and attendance among our students, our alumni and the community, the choice was painful, but clear."

• Dallas 117 Nets 101: The record for the worst start in a NBA season has been set, but luckily the Nets have a chance to quickly get a win. That won’t make 0-18 go away, but New Jersey can’t focus on that. Their next five games are against teams under .500, giving them a chance to finally get on the winning side of the 2009-2010 season. If there are any Nets fans left, they can only hope.

Who had the Knicks as the first team to hold the Suns under 100 points? Mike D'Antoni's squad did just that against the coach's former team in a 126-99 rout of the Suns at Madison Square Garden. This is probably the best game the Knicks have played all season. Danilo Gallinari had 27 points and 10 rebounds. David Lee had 24 points, and Al Harrington had 22. The Knicks had 71 points in the first half alone. The Suns, who missed the playoffs last season, had the best record in the NBA entering Tuesday's game. This was a surprise, to say the least. New York made 10 more 3-pointers than Phoenix. Can the Knicks build on this? Time will tell.

The Rangers have problems right now. Some of those problems are on defense where they give up too many chances to the other team. Some of those problems are on offense where it seems like Marian Gaborik is the only player capable of scoring a goal on any given night. All these problems were on display Monday night as the Rangers fell 5-2 to Pittsburgh. New York came back from two one-goal deficits thanks to Gaborik’s 20th and 21st goals of the season. But, Mike Rupp broke up the tie in the third with his second goal of the game and eventually finished with a hat trick as the Penguins put the game away.

With the New Jersey Nets likely to tie the NBA's record of for most consecutive losses (17) at the start of the season tonight when they play the Los Angeles Lakers, the team has fired coach Lawrence Frank. ESPN reports that the team was going to fire Frank after the game, "Yet it appears that Nets management determined that it had to make the move before facing the Lakers after reports became more widespread that Frank's dismissal was imminent."

Usually you would hear the words as you made your way to your seats, “Good Afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Yankee Stadium.” The cadence was deliberately slow, with each syllable pronounced and it reverberated across the façade of the old stadium, bouncing back at you from different angles. Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Frank Gifford, Reggie Jackson, Lawrence Taylor, Chris Mullin, Derek Jeter, all of them were introduced by Bob Sheppard. And despite his absence from the new stadium, Derek Jeter used a recording of Sheppard to introduce his at bats there.

At 4-6, the Jets are not on the path to the playoffs. At this point, their season is all about making themselves feel better for next year and after that. That's why the debate over a starting quarterback is misplaced. Why sit Mark Sanchez now? Rex Ryan may talk a lot, but he's not silly enough to bench the man the team drafted to be a franchise quarterback.

• Pittsburgh 8 Rangers 3: It has been two nights to forget for New York, but the question is, where did the defense go? Surely it cannot be the loss of Wade Redden that sparked the total breakdown in the defensive zone. Whatever it is, the Rangers have an off day Sunday to figure out why they have given up 13 goals in two games before the Penguins come to MSG Monday Night.

For those that thought the Giants' overtime win over the Falcons last week spelled a turn around, think again. New York gave up the first 16 and final 10 points in a 26-6 loss to Denver on Thanksgiving night. That drops the Giants to 6-5 and puts them in a world of hurt in the NFC East. The Giants, who snapped a four-game losing streak of their own Sunday, helped the Broncos break theirs. Denver held the Giants to 57 yards rushing and sacked Eli Manning three times. Big Blue's quarterback needed 40 attempts to accumulate 230 yards and an interception.

In hockey news, the Rangers and Devils won, the Islanders lost. And in the depressing basketball update, the Knicks and Nets lost—the Nets are now 0-15.

The Giants stayed out of the abyss this past Sunday. Losers of four-straight, they blew a 14-point fourth quarter lead, but managed to prevail in overtime to keep their season moving. Now, they have to go on the road in a short week and beat a Denver team that has its own problems. Denver started out 6-0 on the season and has lost four games in a row to date. Things have gotten so bad that they started fighting each other last week.

The Knicks' record is now 3-11 after a loss to the Lakers and the Nets are at 0-14, just three losses short of tying the NBA's record.

• Islanders 4 Toronto 3 (OT): Dwayne Roloson made an amazing 58 saves as he carried the Islanders to victory. Despite Roloson’s heroics, he did surrender a 3-0 lead as the Maple Leafs were rewarded for all their tenacity in the offensive end. But, Josh Bailey scored the game-winner in overtime, rewarding Roloson with a well-deserved win.

     

The Giants win in overtime (finally), the Jets lose their sixth game of the last seven and more playoffs hopes, and the Knicks' winning streak ends at two, with a Celtics loss.

They are a lot of issues that Allen Iverson brings to the table. He sulked his way out of Memphis and he has never been a great distributor of the basketball. But, he is still a great scorer and a great defender and for a team lacking both of those attributes, the Knicks were foolish not to sign him.

During the Knicks' "Basement Battle" win over the Nets yesterday, there was one sour moment for New York coach Mike D'Antoni. It was when Nate Robinson threw the ball at the Nets basket—and it went in—just after the first quarter buzzer. As Deadspin put it, "rather than quietly hand the ball to an official, or even chuck a desperation heave 80 feet down the court, [Robinson] decided to show what a good three-point shot he's got when no one is guarding him, and there's nothing at stake."

• Knicks 98, Nets 91: Something is rotten in the state of New Jersey. Al Harrington and Danilo Gallinari each had 17, but the real story is the Nets. They have lost 13 straight to start the season. The NBA record is 17. Devin Harris played 26 minutes off the bench and had 12 points. Chris Douglas-Roberts led the Nets with 24. All Knicks starters had double figures in points. The Knicks have won two straight and sit at 3-9.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: A Knicks Winning Streak"

The last time the Jets swept the Patriots in one season, Bill Clinton was president and Vinny Testaverde was quarterback. Since 2000, there have been four Patriots sweeps and four splits. Thanks to a 16-9 win over the Patriots at the Meadowlands in Week 2, the Jets can end their drought this week.

The Giants have had two weeks to think about the unraveling of their season. A four-game losing streak punctuated by a last-second loss to the Chargers has put the entire season into question after a 5-0 start. But, New York will get a couple of fortunate breaks this Sunday.

For the first time in six games, the Islanders fell in regulation in a 3-2 loss to Minnesota on Friday. They allowed the Owen Nolan game-winner with 67 seconds remaining. Jon Sim had a goal and an asssist. Despite trailing by one goal after the first period, the Islanders rallied to take a 2-1 lead entering the final session. But the Wild tied the game 6:58 into that one and then won it late. Martin Biron had 26 saves in the loss.

When we previously noted on the Knicks burgeoning interest in signing free agent guard Allen Iverson, it seemed as though it was a long shot to happen. But new reports have come out in the last two days that are making us question everything.

• Knicks 110, Pacers 103: What's this? A Knicks win? Al Harrington handed it to his former team, scoring 26 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter to help the Knicks snap a six-game losing streak. He wasn't the only one to fill up the stat sheet. Larry Hughes had 22 points, Wilson Chandler had 18 and David Lee had 17. Even Eddy Curry, playing for the first time this season after a calf injury, had 10 points in 12 minutes. The Knicks outscored the Pacers 56-34 in the second half. That kind of performance will end a lot of losing streaks.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Knicks Double Win Total"

• Washington 4 Rangers 2: Marian Gaborik had two goals, but it wasn’t enough as Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals beat the Rangers again. Gaborik tied the game with his 15th goal of the year in the third, but the Caps added two goals in the final five minutes for the win.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: No Wins Here"

• Flyers 3, Devils 2: For the first time this season, the Devils were losers on the road. Martin Brodeur allowed a goal in each period as New Jersey lost for the first time in 10 away games this season. Had they won, it would have been a record for most consecutive road wins to start a season. Zach Parise scored with less than a second left and David Clarkson had a power-play goal to make it 2-1. The Devils visit Nashville on Thursday.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: History Denied"

Jacksonville 24 Jets 22: The Jets rallied from an 11-point fourth quarter deficit only to see the Jaguars comeback and win the game. Trailing 21-10, New York kicked a field goal at the start of the fourth quarter and then the defense forced the Jaguars to go three and out. New York then launched a 16-play drive that culminated in a touchdown run by Thomas Jones to put them up 22-21. They went for two, but Braylon Edwards dropped the conversion attempt, a mistake that proved to be very costly.