NBA
EVERYTHING COMING UP ROSES FOR PORTLAND
This season didn’t seem to promise a rose garden for the Portland Trail Blazers—especially after superstar-in-waiting Greg Oden came up lame before the first ball was even bounced. But the Blazers are doing just fine, thank you, after capturing their 12th straight win at the Rose Garden More than 20,000 fans packed into the place to see Steve Blake and the Blazers defeat the Golden State Warriors 109-91.
Portland raced out to a 30-14 lead after one quarter, and maintained the status quo the rest of the way. Blake scored 24 points for the Blazers, and he got double-figure help from LaMarcus Aldridge with 19, James Jones and Martell Webster with 16, and 10 from Joel Przybilla, who also had 10 rebounds.
The Warriors got just four points from Baron Davis and five from Stephen Jackson. In fact, the Golden State starters scored just 23 points.
Portland has now won 17 of its last 18 games and is in first place in their division of the Western Conference.
OTHER NBA SCORES
Orlando 113, LA Clippers 106
Phoenix 129, Indiana 122 (OT)
Atlanta 90, Cleveland 81
Milwaukee 98, Miami 92
Charlotte 95, Boston 83
Dallas 102, Detroit 86
Toronto 109, Philadelphia 96
New Jersey 99, Seattle 88
Houston 101, New York 92
LA Lakers 109, New Orleans 80
NBA NOTES
• Now Charlotte has two road wins and Boston has two home losses. And that’s why they still play the games.
• Mo Williams did a pretty good impersonation of Michael Redd on Wednesday, scoring 35 points in the absence of the Bucks’ leading scorer. As a result, Milwaukee sent Miami to its ninth straight loss.
• In the battle of the Christian centers on Wednesday in Los Angeles, Dwight Howard had 17 points and 17 rebounds for his 32nd double-double. Chris Kaman of the Clippers had 17 points and nine rebounds, just missing his 26th double-double. Howard leads the league in rebounding, and Kaman was second. Both went to small Christian high schools—Howard at Southwest Atlanta Christian in Georgia and Kaman at Tri-Unity Christian in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
NHL
The defending Stanley Cup Champions are catching fire! On Wednesday, the Anaheim Ducks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs to earn their fifth-straight home victory. Anaheim 5, Toronto 0.
Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned away 28 shots to earn his 27th career shutout. With his stellar play between the pipes, Giguere dealt the Maple Leafs their first shutout loss of the season.
Todd Bertuzzi and Corey Perry both scored goals and handed out one assist in the Ducks victory.
Anaheim improved 23-17-3 so far this season.
OTHER NHL SCORES
Washington 2, Colorado 1
Dallas 3, Chicago 1
FACT OF THE DAY
REDSKINS’ COACHES
The Washington Redskins are searching for a new coach again after Joe Gibbs announced his retirement. Over the past 14 seasons since Gibbs retired the first time, Washington has had six coaches:
Richie Pettibon 1993
Norv Turner 1994-2000
Terry Robiskie 2000
Marty Schottenheimer 2001
Steve Spurrier 2002-2003
Joe Gibbs 2004-2007
MINI MEMOS
Putting the SS spin on today’s sports news
CONGRESS AND CLEMENS
This is good news for Roger Clemens, if his denials of steroids use are to be believed. Congress has decided to wait a month before convening to grill Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Chuck Knoblach about performance-enhancing drugs. An innocent person would be thrilled that Congress is going to take more time to investigate, to really dig into the evidence, and to talk to witnesses before the inquiry begins. If you had been accused of doing something and you knew you didn’t do it, wouldn’t you want your accusers to have every opportunity of getting to the truth? Roger Clemens should now stop taking his case to the people through the media and let the congressional hearings take their course. One would think that innocence would be proved after seven weeks of hard investigative work.
IS ANYBODY CONTENT?
One coach plies his trade in the paradise of the United States. He is offered huge amounts of money to stay with the program he has lifted to never-before-reached heights. Yet he leaves the exotic island of Hawaii to try to fight an uphill battle in Dallas. It’s what he did in Hawaii, but without the beaches. Another coach is the king of all he surveys in the land of Hollywood and the stars. His school is at the very top echelon among college football programs, he’s a perennial favorite to win a national championship, and it never rains in Southern California (or so the song says). But he seems to be interested in taking on a job with little prospects for success in the immediate future in a league that has not been kind recently to college coaches. It seems that discontent is continually gnawing at the hearts of major college coaches. Maybe it’s because of their competitive nature. Maybe it’s a symptom of a grass-is-always-greener philosophy. But for some reason, football isn’t enough, so the top choices in the land often feel as if they must also play musical chairs.
HEAVY-DUTY FORD
T.J. Ford is a little guy in NBA terms. He’s just six feet tall, and he tips the scales at a high-schoolish 165 pounds. But this guard has a heart as big as an original raptor. In 2001, he received word that he’s got a spinal problem of huge proportions—the opening that the spinal cord runs through is getting smaller. In 2004, he ran into Mark Madsen, who is 6-9 and outweighs Ford by about 80 pounds and missed a large portion of the season. He missed the next season recuperating from a neck injury. Then on December 11 this season, Al Horford, a Mark-Madsen-sized guy, ran into Ford and sent him back to the hospital with a head injury and stingers. But T. J. Ford is back on the court. He’s been given approval to practice again, and he will soon be back on the hardwood again. This guy’s not really a Ford. He’s more like a Hummer.
WHO IS HE?
Testing your knowledge of past stars -- taken from the pages of Sports Spectrum magazine.
WEDNESDAY’S MYSTERY PERSON
• Led the San Diego Chargers in scoring five times during the 1980s
• Scored 766 career points for the Bolts
• Named to the Pro Bowl in 1983
• Kicked a 53-yard field goal in 1980
• Was host of Wheel of Fortune in the late 1980s.
• Says, “I realized that God has a plan and how important it is to put your trust in Jesus Christ.”
WHO IS HE? ROLF BENIERSCHKE
THURSDAY’S MYSTERY PERSON
• Was a two-time All-American at Indiana University (1976-77)
• Played on the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers team that went 32-0 and won the national championship.
• Picked as the No. 1 selection in the 1977 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers.
• Scored 6,186 points and grabbed 3,881 rebounds during his NBA career.
WHO IS HE?
SPORTS SPECTRUM INSIDER:
Getting to the heart of what matters in life
TODAY'S FEATURE: JAMES JONES
JAMES JONES, FORWARD, PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
BIO NOTE: James played college basketball for the Miami Hurricanes.
RECENT NEWS: Jones helped the Blazers to another win by scoring 16 points off the bench on Wednesday.
FAITH QUOTE: "God's work in my life goes back to college when things didn't look so great. I didn't really know whether or not I would be in the NBA, but I just knew that if I was committed and I worked hard and I was faithful that God would put me through and He would give me my opportunity. And it happened in college. I had an opportunity to go to Chicago, and I played well there and I made most of the opportunity so I was faithful that God would present another one, and He's been doing that consistently."
—Sports Spectrum magazine
SS DAILY INTERVIEW:
To hear today's interview, go to the Sports Spectrum radio home page. It can be found at www.sport.org.
THE THURSDAY GUEST
RAY MELICK, sports columnist, Birmingham News
Want to hear from someone who doesn’t think the BCS system is a mistake? Ray Melick is your man. He is not so sure a playoff system is the best way to go in D-I. It’s wrap-up time for college football on SS radio.
