NBA
WIZARDS OVERTAKE HORNETS
The New Orleans Hornets let a sizeable halftime lead slip away, allowing the visiting Washington Wizards to edge them 95-92 at the New Orleans Arena.
Just 11,289 fans bothered to show up to watch one of the top teams in the West battle the Wizards.
New Orleans led at the half 52-41, but Washington scored 54 second-half points while holding the Hornets to just 40. But the game wasn’t decided until DeShawn Stevenson buried a fadeaway three-pointer as the final buzzer was sounding to send the visitors off with the win.
Stevenson was the X-Factor for the Wizards, scoring a career-high 33 points to pace Washington.
Chris Paul led New Orleans with 22 points and eight assists, and Mo Peterson had 18.
New Orleans dips to 37-18 on the season while Washington improves to 27-29.
OTHER NBA GAMES
Toronto 102, Indiana 98
Boston 104, LA Clippers 76
Dallas 102, Chicago 94
San Antonio 89, Atlanta 74
Detroit 98, Denver 93
NBA NOTES
• How often does an NBA team score five points in the first quarter—and win? How many times does a high school team do that? The San Antonio Spurs pulled off that backwards miracle on Monday in a home win against Atlanta. Atlanta led 16-5 after one, but the Spurs eventually turned things around. The Hawks got just two points (1 for 11 shooting) and five assists from their take-us-to-the-playoffs hope Mike Bibby.
• The Bulls’ Kirk Hinrich had four points and two technical fouls in Chicago’s loss to Dallas. Not a good ratio if you’re trying to help your team beat one of the best teams in the West. Hinrich was excused from the game early in the second period.
• What happens when the LA Clippers take the floor without Sam Cassell, Chris Kaman, and Elton Brand? Boston 104, LA 76, that’s what. Talk about being outmanned.
NHL
BRIERE BEATS FORMER TEAM TO END FLYERS FUTILITY
Daniel Briere helped changed the recent trend of two franchises with one shootout goal.
Hearing plenty of boos from the Buffalo faithful, the former Sabres star beat netminder Ryan Miller for the decisive goal in the Flyers come-from-behind 4-3 shootout victory.
The win put an end to the Flyers 0-8-2 streak, and slowed the Sabres strong play (10-3-3) in the last month. The teams are now tied for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Buffalo scored the game’s first three goals, but couldn’t find the net the rest of the evening. Conversely, the Flyers got a pair of goals later in the first period (Jeff Carter and Scott Hartnell), and another (R.J. Umberger) midway through the third period to send the game into overtime. Where Briere netted the game winner.
Earlier in the day, the Flyers acquired high-scoring Vaclav Prospal from the Tampa Bay Lightning for their playoff push.
OTHER NHL SCORE
Toronto 5, Ottawa 0
FACTS OF THE DAY
NBA ATTENDANCE
So, which teams’ fans are supporting them the most in the 2007-2008 season? And which are not. Here’s a look at the Top 10 and the Bottom 5.
Top 10 Average attendance
1. Detroit 22,076
2. Chicago 21,987
3. Cleveland 20,446
4. Dallas 20,247
5. Utah 19,905
6. Miami 19,623
7. Golden State 19,532
8. Toronto 19,395
9. Portland 19,288
10. New York 19,006
Bottom 5
26. Seattle 13,451
27. Philadelphia 13,078
28. New Orleans 12,895
29. Memphis 12,878
30. Indiana 12,262
SPORTS SPECTRUM INSIDER
Getting to the heart of what matters in life
MIKE JAMES, GUARD, NEW ORLEANS HORNETS
BIO NOTE: James was recently acquired by the Hornets in a trade.
RECENT NEWS: James scored seven points on Monday in the Hornets’ loss to the Wizards.
FAITH QUOTE: "My main thing is that no matter what is going on around me to just keep my faith strong. I'm so thankful when I'm on a team where I have true Christian brothers who are really in for my best interests. That is so encouraging."
MINI MEMOS
Putting the SS spin on today's sports news
EDWARDS CAPTURES AUTO CLUB 500
arl Edwards took advantage of Monday racing by running down and passing Jimmie Johnson to capture the race in Fontana, California. Edwards, driving his Roush Fenway No. 99 Ford to the win, served notice that he’s ready to compete for the Sprint Cup. Johnson finished second, and Jeff Gordon came back from his disastrous Daytona 500 to finish second. The victory by Edwards gave the few NASCAR fans who made it to the track for a Monday race the chance to see him do his characteristic backflip to celebrate his victory. For Edwards, who first raced on the Cup circuit in 2004, it was his eighth victory. He won four races in 2005 and three more in 2007. Last year, Edwards finished ninth in points standings for the Nextel Cup.
NON-STORY
It’s hard to report about a non-story without reporting on it, but the Barry Bonds to Tampa Bay conjecture seems like a good candidate for a Much Ado about Nothing award. What seems to have happened is that some of the decision-makers for the Rays sat around and talked about thinking about considering the remote possibilities of going after the home run king. One has to wonder who hasn’t had at least a germ of a conversation about Bonds. One official to the other: “Hey, nobody’s signing Bonds. Think we should go after him?” Other official: “Uh, give me a minute to think about it. That’s long enough. No.” First official: “Okay. Want to go get a burger?” End of non-story.
SOMEBODY STOP THIS MADNESS
There is no human who can possible decipher the facts in the now belabored Roger Clemens saga. Clearly, this is a case of one man’s words against other men’s words—a case that seemingly will go on forever without resolution. Yet it seems that the federal government is lining up Clemens in its sights with a possible attempt to prove perjury looming. The cliché question relating to this now begins to make the most sense: Do not our legislators have something better to do than to attempt to prove the nearly improvable? We all know that there are more pressing needs than to tie up all of the layers of congressional personnel chasing down some possible smoking gun that will prove that Clemens lied while under oath. Indeed, truth is valuable, and lying should be punished, but does anyone think they have a way of solving this mystery completely? The bottom line on this is that baseball should intervene with a foolproof testing program and announce it with a big splash—a program that would satisfy Congress—and then simply move ahead from here. The mess created by performance-enhancing drugs in baseball’s past can truly never be cleaned up. Too many questions remain about who did and who didn’t use PEDs. The answer is to draw a line in the sand and move ahead. Causing people like Roger Clemens to continue to twist in the wind is not solving the problem.
WHO IS HE?
Testing your knowledge of past sports stars—taken from “Legends” articles from the pages of Sports Spectrum magazine
MONDAY’S MYSTERY PERSON
• Spent 17 years as a successful major league outfielder.
• Pounded out 2,375 hits during his career.
• Finished with a .290 career batting average.
• Had the end of his career interrupted by a bout with cancer, but he came back to play again.
• Currently managing in the minor leagues for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
WHO IS HE? BRETT BUTLER
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 TUESDAY GUEST
SEAN MCDERMOTT, secondary coach, Philadelphia Eagles
What’s going on with the Philadelphia Eagles as the team watches players at the combine in Indianapolis? What are the Eagles trying to do to improve their position in the NFC East? McDermott also discusses a little-known aspect of what many coaches do—participate in Bible studies.
