NBA
UTAH MAKES IT 20-3 AT HOME
Salt Lake City is a beautiful place to be in the winter-unless, of course, you happen to be an NBA team not named the Jazz. On Wednesday, the New York Knicks had the disadvantage of having Utah on their schedule-at the EnergySolutions Arena. As a result, the lost 100-89 to the Jazz.
With the win, Utah improves to 28-18 on the season, including a 20-3 mark at home. They have won their last 10 home games and their last six overall. New York drops to 14-31 on the season and 0-3 on their current road trip.
Deron Williams was the star of the game for the Jazz, tossing in 22 points and dishing out 12 assists. He got scoring help from Carlos Boozer with 17 and Paul Millsap with 15, while Mehmet Okur swept the boards for 11 rebounds.
New York got more than half of its offense from Jamal Crawford with 26 points and Zach Randolph with 23.
OTHER NBA SCORES
Cleveland 84, Portland 83
Golden State 116, New Orleans 103
Orlando 107, Miami 91
Philadelphia 112, Milwaukee 69
LA Clippers 95, Atlanta 88
Sacramento 105, Charlotte 91
Denver 106, Memphis 102
Toronto 122, Washington 83
NBA NOTES
Yikes! Milwaukee mailed in this one, it appears. They lost by 43 points on the road in, of all places, Philadelphia. The Sixers hadn't beaten a team by that margin of victory since Ronald Reagan was president (1982).
LeBron James saved the best for last in Portland. He scored 17 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter, and he made a reverse layup for the gamewinner just before the buzzer as two teams with nearly identical records tangled. Cleveland is now 25-19 and Portland is 26-19.
Baron Davis blew into New Orleans with his Golden State Warriors, faced down the boo-birds, and led his team to a win over the Hornets. And even after it was over-after facing a torrent of negativity from the fans, Davis revealed that he still loves the Crescent City and still does charitable work there. Classy. Truly classy.
Did the banged-up Clippers ever need their win over Atlanta Thursday! With the bags packed for a seven-game road sojourn, they beat Atlanta without Chris Kaman and Corey Maggette. What's worse, they embark on this journey with a seven-game road losing streak.
NHL
RED WINGS RALLY TO BEAT COYOTES
Detroit netminder Chris Osgood got pummeled in Sunday's All-Star Game. The veteran goalie allowed five goals in the first period. Now back with his team to start the second half of the season, Osgood turned things around quickly! With his team leading 3-2, Ozzie stopped Coyotes star Shane Doan on a one-on-one breakaway with 30 seconds in regulation. That sealed the Wings come-from-behind victory. Detroit 3, Phoenix 2.
After Red Wings star Henrik Zetterberg scored first for Detroit, Phoenix came back to post a 2-1 lead after two periods.
Detroit veterans Tomas Holmstrom and Niklas Lidstrom scored third-period goals to give the Red Wings the lead. But that lead was in serious jeopardy when Doan broke through Detroit's defense and could have tied the score in his match-up with Osgood. But it was not to be, and Detroit prevailed in its first game back following the All-Star break.
Detroit improved to 38-10-5, while Phoenix slipped to 27-22-2.
OTHER SCORES
Buffalo 1, Florida 0
Minnesota 5, Anaheim 1
Atlanta 4, Pittsburgh 1
Colorado 6, Chicago 3
Calgary 5, San Jose 4
FACT OF THE DAY
LEBRON'S POINTS
LeBron James has been in the NBA since 2003. Here's a look at his scoring so far.
Total NBA points: 9,614
Average: 27.1 ppg
Scoring average Top 5
Michael Jordan 30.12
Wilt Chamberlain 30.07
Allen Iverson 27.8
Elgin Baylor 27.4
LeBron James 27.1
SPORTS SPECTRUM INSIDER
Getting to the heart of what matters in life
TODAYS FEATURE: KYLE BRADY
TIGHT END, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
BIO NOTE: The "other" Brady is in his first season with the Patriots after spending 12 seasons with the Jets and Jags.
RECENT NEWS: Brady has started nine games for the Patriots during their perfect season.
FAITH QUOTE: "I am looking to serve God today and do my best each day by using His power to make the most of every opportunity I get. Success to the world right now is my going out and catching footballs. But success to God is my going out and doing the absolute best I can do every day, having a good relationship with Him, and being obedient."
MINI MEMOS
Putting the SS spin on today's sports news
IS THIS THE BEST?
You'd think baseball could do better. Sure, the fans want MLB to put the most descent, most honorable umpires on the field to arbitrate the games properly. But knocking on the doors of umpires' neighbors and asking leading questions of them does not seem to be the most professional way to go about accomplishing that. Surely there is a better way to find out about umpires than to ask the folks on their street if their neighborhood umpire is a part of the KKK or if he has wild parties. What kind of employer would do that to his employees? One of the umpires about whom such questions were asked was Greg Gibson, a church-going Christian with a spotless reputation. Now do you think his neighbors in Ashland, Kentucky, might wonder about him because these weird ideas were put into their heads by investigators? Who signed off on this wrong-headed approach?
BEASLEY'S A BEAST
Slowly but surely, Michael Beasley is emerging as one of the top players in NCAA men's hoops. On Wednesday, the sharpshooting lefty scored 25 points (he's fourth in the nation in scoring) and six rebounds (he's first in the nation in rebounding) to lead Kansas State to an upset win over previously undefeated Kansas-at Kansas. That's something KSU hadn't done in 25 years.
WHY THE EXTRA WEEK?
There is one good reason to keep the extra week between the NFL finals and the Super Bowl: Injury recovery. That is a good thing, because it enables the teams to go into the biggest game of the year at full speed. But is that enough of a reason to keep that extra week in the calendar? Almost everything else the additional time brings is superfluous and silly. While the NFL might think it needs the bonus time to hype the game, it doesn't work that way. Instead, it just leads to more silliness about more inane stuff that no one needs. Think about it. What valuable and helpful information, news, or data has been uncovered as a watching world waits for the teams to take the field? Has anything happened over the past days since New England and New York won their way into the big game that would lead more people to go to the game (that's impossible) or to watch the game on TV? The extra week has resulted in a silly prediction by Plaxico Burress, more embarrassing appearances by non-football people at media day, and a chance for the non-news about Tom Brady's foot to blow over. The extra week is not valuable, and the NFL should drop it, go back to the old way, and end the season in January.
WHO IS HE?
Testing your knowledge of past sports stars—taken from “Legends” articles from the pages of Sports Spectrum magazine
WEDNESDAY'S MYSTERY PERSON
* Hit 52 home runs for the Cincinnati Reds in 1977
* Was named NL Most Valuable Player that year.
* Played on the Reds' 1975 and 1976 championship teams.
* Closed out his career in 1986 with total of 348 home runs and 1,239 RBI, plus 1,925 base hits.
Quote: "The strong point in my life has been letting Christ be in control. He's the way, the truth, and the life."
WHO IS HE? GEORGE FOSTER
THURSDAY'S MYSTERY PERSON
* Played 14 NHL seasons for Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Washington
* Scored 391 goals in his career. Add 383 assists, and he tallied 774 points in 998 games.
* Once scored a goal six seconds after an NHL game started.
* While with Washington, he led Ryan Walter and Mike Gartner to faith in Jesus Christ.
WHO IS HE?
SPORTS SPECTRUM RADIO
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
THOMAS TAPEH, running back, Philadelphia Eagles
When Thomas Tapeh was a little kid, he could not care less about the Super Bowl. In fact, he probably never even heard of it. He was a soccer player, and he lived in Liberia, half a world away from anywhere that cared about American football. But he moved to the US, attended the University of Minnesota, discovered the pigskin, and now makes his living carting the ball through lines of defenders. Join in on this fascinating discussion with Tapeh as he tells how God has directed his life.
