Wednesday, April 18, 2012

4/18: Hoops, Braves, etc.

Greetings everyone! A lot to get to from Tuesday...
  • In the Association - Indiana got 24 from Danny Granger to spur their 6th straight win with a 102-97 decision over Philly on the road. The bigger story for me in this one is the absolute apocalypse that Philly has become and that they only have a 1.5 game lead over Milwaukee for the 8th spot. It was be a disaster if they missed the playoffs after their start to the year. Detroit beat Cleveland by 39 points, and led by 50 in the 3rd quarter. That's all you need to know from that game. Rudy Gay's 28 points led Memphis to a road win in Minnesota and a little closer to home-court in the first round. Tony Parker put up 29 points and 13 assists to lead the Spurs to a road slaughtering of the Lakers. The 112-91 tally was the worst loss of the year for LA and it came at home. I continue to believe that San Antonio is a force to be concerned with for the entire league come playoff time. And finally, Carmelo Anthony dominated in a 118-110 home win for the Knicks over the Celtics. Melo finished with a triple-double of 35 points, 12 boards, and 10 assists on 13-24 shooting, and it proved (along with 20 points on 9-10 FG from Tyson Chandler) to be enough to hold off a throw-back game from Paul Pierce (43 points) and all 5 starters in double-figures for Boston.
  • The entire Kentucky starting five has declared for the NBA Draft. Anthony Davis is the lock #1 pick and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is a very likely top-5 selection that could go as high as #2. After that, it's a little more dicey by Terrence Jones is a lottery possibility, Marquis Teague is possibly the top-rated PG in a very weak PG class, and Doron Lamb could sneak into the first round. So. Much. Talent.
  • Is there anything more irrelevant to discuss in April than the NFL schedule? It was released last night. You've probably seen your team's route by now, and I'm not talking about it until July, at least.
  • Braves 9, Mets 3 - The Braves managed to bounce Johan Santana after 1.1 IP in the shortest outing of his career. It was 6-0 after 2 innings, and the Bravos never looked back. Randall Delgado cruised through 3 innings before hitting a hiccup in the 4th with 2 runs and allowed 3 in 5.1 IP, but secured the win. I loved seeing Jason Heyward in the 2-spot and even if it was just because Prado was out of the lineup, it's progress. Also, Kris Medlen was lights-out in 2.2 IP to bridge the gap to O'Flaherty, who pitched the 9th. The countdown of days until the Chad Durbin release is in full earnest.
  • MLB Check - Gio Gonzalez had the pitching line of the night with his 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 8 K performance for Washington in a 1-0 win over Houston. He out-shined Wandy Rodriguez, who was pretty darn good himself (allowing only 1 ER), in the pitcher's duel. Texas absolutely throttled Boston 18-3 in Fenway led by 2 homers from Mike Napoli and 5 RBI from Josh Hamilton. Jon Lester took the brunt of it, and while I'm not overreacting on Boston, I think Texas is a gauntlet. Did you know that the Dodgers were 9-1 before their loss last night? Javy Guerra blew a save chance in the 9th to result in a 5-4 loss to the Brewers, but at 9-2, LAD is the surprise of the season so far. And finally, Jamie Moyer became the oldest pitcher to ever win a major league game with a 5-3 win over the Padres. Moyer is 49 years old. That's still ridiculous.

What to watch for on Wednesday...

  • MLB - Mets @ Braves - SportSouth 12:10 - Dickey vs. Jurrjens - RA Dickey manhandles the Braves in general, but Dan Uggla is particularly flummoxed by him. I'd give him the day off today. (Update: Uggla is not only in the lineup, he's hitting clean-up. Thanks Fredi)
  • MLB - Rangers @ Red Sox - ESPN2 7:00 - Holland vs. Beckett - Can Beckett stop the bleeding? I really like Derek Holland, and the Texas offense is going right now.
  • NBA - Pistons @ Hawks - SportSouth 7:30 - If the Hawks show up, they should have no issue dispatching the Pistons.
  • NBA - Magic @ Celtics - ESPN 8:00 - I'm going to guess that ESPN isn't very happy that Orlando is without Dwight Howard here.
  • NBA - Lakers @ Warriors - ESPN 10:30 - No David Lee, No Stephen Curry = Lakers win.

Enjoy...

No comments: