NBA
CELTS TUNE UP FOR ROCKETS, BEAT SPURS
Sure, the Boston Celtics are supposed to win on St. Patrick's Day. It's just seems right for the team doing the wearin' of the green. But it's not so easy to do when you're facing the defending NBA champs. In their home arena. And that team has already lost three straight and don't take losing lightly. And the home team jumps out to a 22-point first-half lead.
But "saints an' begora," the Celtics came back and beat the San Antonio Spurs on Monday 93-91. The well-balanced attack of the Green was led by Paul Pierce with 22, Kevin Garnett with 21, Rajon Rondo with 20, and Sam Cassell with 17. Cassell must be pinching himself-not to make sure he's not a leprechaun, but to make sure he's not dreaming about no longer being an LA Clipper. Cassell hit a key trey late in the game-a shot that put the Celtics ahead for the first time.
Manu Ginobili was his usual superb self, pouring in 32 points for the Spurs. Tim Duncan, though, scored just 10.
The Celtics, who have the best record in the NBA, are now 53-13. The Spurs, now that they have lost four straight, are 44-23.
San Antonio has lost six of seven to drop to sixth in the playoff standings. Here's the shocker: They are just two games from last place in the conference standings and three and a half games from dropping out of the top eight. Conversely, they are also just 2 1/2 games out of first in the West.
Boston plays at Houston Tuesday night.
OTHER NBA SCORES
Utah 96, Toronto 79
Memphis 98, Charlotte 80
Orlando 104, Cleveland 90
Indiana 110, New York 98
Atlanta 105, Washington 96
Minnesota 99, LA Clippers 90
New Orleans 108, Chicago 97
NBA NOTES
* The Orlando Magic used threes and frees to beat the Cavs in Orlando. They rained down 14 three-pointers over Cleveland (14 for 32) and made 22 free throws (22 of 28), to beat Cleveland by 14, despite the fact that the Cavs scored one more total field goal than the magic.
* The Utah Jazz have not lost a home game in 2008.
* Chris Paul: 37 points, 13 assists. Hornets win again. Is he or is he not MVP material? The evidence is beginning to pile up in his favor.
* How far has the Miami Heat fallen since winning it all two years ago? They are 41.5 games out of first place in the Eastern Conference. That means that if the season were long enough for this to be possible, the Heat would have to win 42 straight games and the Celtics would have to lose 42 straight games for Miami to catch Boston.
NHL
WILD BEAT AVALANCHE
The Minnesota Wild had the intensity and drive of a playoff team in their Northwest Division showdown with the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night. The Wild beat the Avs 3-1 to move into first place in the hotly contested division.
Brett Burns scored a power-play goal in the first period to get the Wild started. After Colorado's Joe Sakic tied the score early in the second period, Minnesota answered with goals from Branko Radivojevic and Stephane Veilleux to earn the victory.
The win gives the Wild 86 points. That's two points ahead of the Avalanche and the Calgary Flames. The Vancouver Canucks are four points back.
OTHER NHL SCORE
Vancouver 2, Phoenix 1
FACT OF THE DAY
HOUSTON'S STREAK
How did the Houston Rockets construct a 22-game winning streak? Take a look.
January 27 Utah 97, Houston 89
This stopped a four-game winning streak for Houston, or they would be standing at 27 straight now.
January 29 Houston 111, Golden State 107
Yao scored 36, McGrady did not play
February 1 Houston 106, Indiana 103
Chris Landry leads the way with 22
February 2 Houston 91, Milwaukee 83
T-Mac gets 33 to lead the way; streak at 3
February 4 Houston 92, Minnesota 86
McGrady again takes honors with 26
February 7 Houston 92, Cleveland 77
Yao has 22; LeBron drops 32 for Cavs
February 9 Houston 108, Atlanta 89
Yao's 28 takes game honors.
February 11 Houston 95, Portland 83
Streak at a respectable 7; Yao again leads with 25
February 13 Houston 89, Sacramento 87
A two-point win; Alston helps Yao (25) with 23
February 19 Houston 93, Cleveland 85
Alston has 22 for honors
February 21 Houston 112, Miami 100
10 straight; McGrady has 23
February 22 Houston 100, New Orleans 80
T-Mac, Yao combine for 62
February 24 Houston 110, Chicago 97
Seven in double figures
February 26 Houston 95, Washington 69
Luther Head leads with 18; first game without Yao
February 29 Houston 116, Memphis 95
T-Mac scores 25, Mutombo has 13 rebounds
March 2 Houston 103, Denver 89
T-Mac has 22; Battier, 20
March 5 Houston 117, Indiana 99
Chris Hayes gets 11 boards; T-Mac, 25 points
March 6 Houston 113, Dallas 98
At Dallas, T-Mac, Alston combine for 55
March 8 Houston 106, New Orleans 96
NO's Paul gets 34, but T-Mac goes for 41
March 10 Houston 91, New Jersey 73
Dikembe blocks five Nets shots
March 12 Houston 106, Atlanta 75
T-Mac leads with 28
March 14 Houston 89, Charlotte 80
McGrady plays all 48 minutes, scores 30
March 16 Houston 104, LA Lakers 92
Alston's career-high 31; 12 straight under 100 points
SPORTS SPECTRUM INSIDER
Getting to the heart of what matters in life
TODAY'S FEATURE:
DEB PATTERSON, women's coach, Kansas State
BIO NOTE: Patterson has been the women's coach at KSU since 1996.
RECENT NEWS: On Sunday, Patterson's Wildcats grabbed a No. 5 seed in the New Orleans regional of the women's NCAA tournament. KSU will take on No. 12 Chattanooga in Round 1.
FAITH QUOTE: "In recruiting is when you have that first moment of complete honesty with the players. I have to be honest about what I expect, and I have to be honest about my relationship with Christ. I'm not going to yell and scream and curse at my players to get them to do the things that get them to where they need to be. That's not the kind of motivation I'm going to use."
-Sports Spectrum magazine
MINI MEMOS
Putting the SS spin on today's sports news
NORTH CAROLINA, CONNECTICUT, MARYLAND, TENNESSEE
Those are the four No. 1 seeds in the women's NCAA tournament, which tips off Saturday. North Carolina heads up the New Orleans regional and will battle Bucknell in Game 1. Tennessee stands atop the Oklahoma City regional and will face Oral Roberts University. In the Greensboro regional, No. 1 Connecticut will take on Cornell. The Spokane regional No. 1 team, Maryland, will take on Coppin State.
AN ANNUAL RITE: LIBERTY IN THE TOURNEY
For the 11th time in the last 12 seasons, the Liberty University Lady Flames are one of the 64 teams in the women's NCAA tournament. The Flames (28-3) will take on Old Dominion in an intra-state battle in Norfolk, Virginia. The Lady Flames, coached by Casey Green, sometimes have a unique situation in their starting lineup: Megan, Moriah, and Molly Frazee. They are triplets, and they combined to average 40 points a game. The Frazees are from Xenia, Ohio, and attended Xenia Christian High School.
WHO ARE THESE GUYS?
The beauty of the play-in game is that for one day, the eyes of the nation are on your teams like no other time except the finals. On Tuesday night, Coppin State vs. Mt. St. Mary's is the only game in town, and although most fans wouldn't take a second look at this matchup in January, they'll be watching as two No. 16 teams battle for the right to be tossed around by Tyler Hansbrough. So, here's a little primer on the two.
Coppin State Mount St. Mary's
Record 16-20 18-14
Conference Mid-Eastern Northeast
Location Baltimore Emmitsburg, MD
NCAA Tourney Fourth Third
Nickname Eagles Mountaineers
Enrollment 4,300 1,522
The game will be played in Dayton, and it will be televised on ESPN.
DODGERS SKIP TOWN AGAIN
It's 1958 all over again. Fifty years ago, the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, leaving behind a storied history and broken-hearted fans in the New York City borough to lead baseball's first foray's into the West Coast. And now the Dodgers are moving west again, and again they are leaving behind loyal fans and a city that will always be associated with the team. On Monday, the LA Dodgers played their last game as the home team in Vero Beach, Florida, a resort city that each spring becomes Dodgertown. The Dodgers first started training in Vero Beach in 1948, and in 1953 their spring home, Holman Stadium, was built. Just five years ago, the Dodgertown complex was renovated. It has been voted the top spring training complex on several occasions. But not it is being left behind as the Dodgers move their spring training operations to Glendale, Arizona, in 2009. Where else have the Dodgers trained? Among the many cities where they trained before 1948: Havana, Cuba; Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic; Bear Mountain, New York; New Orleans.
SPRINT CUP STANDINGS
With five races in the books, here's a look at the leaders in the Sprint Cup standings. Next up for the NASCAR guys: Martinsville's half-mile track in Martinsville, Virginia and the Goody's Cool Orange 500. The NASCAR circuit, as is tradition, takes Easter weekend off. Good for NASCAR.
Driver | Points | 2007 finish
1. Kyle Busch 782 5
2. Greg Biffle 752 14
3. Kevin Harvick 749 10
4. Jeff Burton 745 8
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 686 16
6. Kasey Kahne 674 19
7. Tony Stewart 656 6
8. Ryan Newman 635 13
9. Clint Bowyer 606 3
10. Kurt Busch 605 7
Other notables:
Matt Kenseth 11th
Jeff Gordon 14th
Carl Edwards 16th
Sam Hornish Jr. 35th
INSIDE SPORTS SPECTRUM
Do you read Sports Spectrum magazine? If you do, you'll be able to identify the following athlete featured in the March-April edition of the magazine, which is arriving in mailboxes across the country this week.
TUESDAY'S SPORTS SPECTRUM FEATURE
* He played for the World Champion 1999 New York Yankees.
* He was named in the Mitchell Report.
* He nearly let his use of PEDs lead to his demise. He contemplated suicide after what they did to him.
* He trusted Jesus Christ as Savior after that and is now a pastor with a wife and two little boys.
WHO IS THIS PERSON?
MONDAY'S SPORTS SPECTRUM FEATURE
* He's the guy on the cover.
* He finished second in MVP voting in the National League in 2007.
* He hit .340 with 36 home runs and 137 RBI for his World Series team in 2007
WHO IS THIS PERSON? MATT HOLLIDAY
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 TUESDAY GUEST
LORENZO ROMAR, men's hoops coach, U of Washington
You never want to miss an opportunity to hear Lorenzo Romar. He can fill you in on what's going on in college basketball today as the coach of a Pac-10 team, but he can also take you back to his days as a player for Athletes in Action and the Golden State Warriors. Or he can talk about his long, winding road to getting a D-I head coaching job-including being there when UCLA last won it all. Faith and coaching. Coaching and faith. They go together when Lo-Ro is around.
