NBA
CAVS EDGE CELTICS BEHIND JAMES’ 33
All the Cleveland Cavaliers wanted for Christmas was a better basketball team—and they got their wish. Since December 25, the Cavs have had a 15-4 record, including Tuesday night’s 114-113 victory over the Boston Celtics at the Quicken Loans Arena.
LeBron James paced the 27-20 Cavaliers with 33 points, 12 assists, and nine rebounds. His big helper in the middle, Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 21 points and 10 rebounds as swell.
The Celtics had to play again without Kevin Garnett, and they nearly avoided their fifth road loss. Their scoring was led by Ray Allen with 24, Rajon Rondo with 20, and Paul Pierce with 19. The Celtics dip to 36-9 on the season.
Garnett is nursing an abdominal strain, and he has missed four games as he waits to heal.
OTHER NBA SCORES
Milwaukee 102, Memphis 97
LA Lakers 105, New Jersey 90
San Antonio 116, Indiana 89
Philadelphia 101, Washington 96
NBA NOTES
• Memphis trotted out its new players on Tuesday at the FedExForum, but the result was pretty much the same as usual. Kwame Brown played some. So did Javaris Crittenton. And nobody confused them for Pau Gasol or Stromile Swift. Those two are off to LA and New Jersey. And the Milwaukee Bucks beat the new-look Grizz with two starters tied behind their back (Michael Redd and Yi Jianlian were out with injuries).
• Meanwhile, the LA Lakers got Pau Gasol going at just the right time. Kobe Bryant had a bad night, thanks to a finger injury, so Gasol revved up his offense with 24 points and helped out on the boards with 12. Imagine how good this combo can be: Gasol and Bryant.
• Wonder how happy Shawn Marion could be if his trade demands end up sending him to the sputtering Miami Heat? As the saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for. You might get it.” And if Shaquille O’Neal ends up in Phoenix, how will he and his balky hip keep up with the running and gunning Suns?
NHL
RED WINGS RALLY TO BEAT WILD
The Detroit Red Wings didn’t play their best hockey on Tuesday night—until it really counted.
For the first two periods of action, the Minnesota Wild outplayed the Red Wings. The scoreboard revealed this truth, with the Wild holding onto a one-goal advantage. But everything changed late in the third period.
Detroit’s Dan Cleary tied the score at 2-2 with 1:20 left in regulation. Then Brett Lebda gave the Red Wings the huge come-from-behind road win when he beat Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom 1:37 into overtime.
Detroit goaltender Dominik Hasek continued his stellar play against Minnesota. Hasek has never lost to Minnesota in 12 career games.
The Red Wings improved to 41-10-4 on the season.
OTHER NHL SCORES
Buffalo 4, Boston 2
Montreal 4, Ottawa 3
Philadelphia 3, Atlanta 2
Los Angeles 4, New York Rangers 2
Florida 8, Toronto 0
Anaheim 3, New York Islanders 0
Tampa Bay
Nashville 1, Carolina 0
Washington 4, Columbus 3 – OT
Dallas 3, Vancouver 2 – OT Shootout
Calgary 4, Phoenix 3 – OT Shootout
FACT OF THE DAY
WRONG WAY
On Tuesday, we noticed the NBA teams with better records at this point than they finished with last year. Now let’s take a look at the teams that have gone the wrong way in 2007-2008—NBA teams whose record is worse now than it was at the end of 2006-2007.
Team 2006-2007 2007-2008
Miami .537 .196 -.341
Chicago .598 .404 -.194
Minnesota .390 .213 -.177
LA Clippers .488 .333 -.155
Dallas .817 .681 -.136
Seattle .378 .250 -.128
New York .402 .292 -.110
New Jersey .500 .417 -.083
San Antonio .707 .652 -.055
Houston .634 .583 -.051
Philadelphia .427 .388 -.039
Phoenix .744 .708 -.036
Cleveland .610 .574 -.036
Charlotte .402 .367 -.035
Indiana .427 .396 -.031
Toronto .573 .557 -.016
Utah .642 .633 -.009
SPORTS SPECTRUM INSIDER
Getting to the heart of what matters in life
TODAY'S FEATURE: DEREK FISHER, GUARD, LA LAKERS
BIO NOTE: Fisher has been in the NBA for 12 seasons after being drafted by the Lakers in the 1996 draft. He played college basketball at Arkansas-Little Rock.
RECENT NEWS: Fisher scored 28 points on Tuesday as the Lakers beat the Nets.
FAITH QUOTE: “The challenge a lot of times is that you feel spiritually alone. You need your prayer partners, your pastor at your church, different friends or associates you have that can help you keep focus. Finding people who share the same beliefs and values I have. That’s the hard part.”
MINI MEMOS
Putting the SS spin on today's sports news
KIDS’ DAY
The latest move by the big boys in the world of sports media is to try to turn college football signing day into something akin to the NFL draft. On this day, a bunch of high school kids will let the world know where they will attend college. Perhaps in one or two cases, this is semi-big news, but in most cases, it should be exciting for the kids’ families and maybe their high school friends—but for the rest of us—a yawner. These are boys who are not yet men, and who knows if or when they will develop into game-changing football players? However, that does not stop highly trained professionals from trailing them as if they were accomplished professionals. And that does not stop institutions of higher learning from spending all kinds of money and effort to win them over to their school—not because the English department has some top profs or the science profs has a Nobel laureate on the faculty, but because the football coach wants them to shine on Saturdays in the fall. This growing attention to signing day seems kind of silly, don’t you think?
COACH IN WAITING
Planned succession. It’s becoming the rage in the NFL. Well, at least in two cities. Perhaps this idea could catch on, and we wouldn’t have to endure the weeks of speculation as in Washington as Dan Snyder interviews the world before naming a head coach to replace Joe Gibbs. Two teams, the Indianapolis Colts and the Seattle Seahawks, have not only a head coach to run their teams in 2008 but also a coach-in-waiting who will run their teams in 2009 and beyond. Tony Dungy will turn his clipboard over to Jim Caldwell at the end of next season in Indianapolis. And in Seattle, Mike Holmgren will be job shadowed by Jim Mora from here until the Seahawks’ final game next year, and then the second-generation NFL head coach will take over as Holmgren rides off into retirement. Imagine how much ink, blogs, and TV talk could be saved if more teams were to do this.
NICE GUY CASEY GOES TO BOSTON
Boston has a new mayor. Guy named Sean Casey. First baseman and left-handed hitting Casey signed up for a one-year, $800,000 gig in Beantown on Tuesday. That means he will be backing up Kevin Youkilis at first base. And it means that when Casey is in the lineup, first base at Fenway will again be everyone’s favorite gathering place. Casey, known as the most gregarious of major leaguers, will again be there to meet and greet any opposing player lucky enough to get to first base. While there, Casey will chat up his new, temporary best friend. And, oh, yes, Casey can hit. Not for power, but he’s a dependable hitter who will help out the Red Sox now and again.
WHO IS HE?
Testing your knowledge of past sports stars—taken from “Legends” articles from the pages of Sports Spectrum magazine
TUESDAY’S MYSTERY PERSON
• Could hit a line drive single harder than anyone in the game.
• Led the NL in hits, doubles, RBI, and batting average in 1982.
• Had 2,743 hits in his career, mostly with Pittsburgh and Montreal. That’s more hits than Joe Morgan, Lou Gehrig, Billy Williams, Ted Williams, Ernie Banks, and Reggie Jackson.
• Scored 90 or more runs five times in his career.
• One of the best hitters not selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
WHO IS HE? AL OLIVER
WEDNESDAY’S MYSTERY PERSON
• Spent his college career playing for the University of Louisville.
• Played for the LA Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA, averaging 13.6 points a game.
• When he retired, he was the all-time leader in games played for Milwaukee: 711.
• Had his best NBA season in 1979-80 when he averaged 17.6 points per game for the Bucks.
• Currently is a successful entrepreneur—the franchisee of nearly 200 Wendy’s restaurants.
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 WEDNESDAY GUEST
KEN JOHNSON, chaplain, Indianapolis Colts
Life was a little less hectic for Ken Johnson in January 2008 than it was a year ago. Last year, he was in the middle of the Indianapolis Colts’ run for football supremacy. As Johnson looks back at the events of 2007, when Indianapolis won the Super Bowl, he talks about the permanent, life-changing things that resulted from the testimony of Tony Dungy and his SB opponent, Lovie Smith.
