NBA
BOSTON WINS AGAIN; SPURS WIN ONE
Boston 89, Cleveland 73
When the Cleveland Cavs' equipment men packed up the team for their trip to Boston, they forgot to include something: LeBron James' shot. King James can only hope he can find it when the Cavs get back to Quicken Loans Arena. If they don't this could be a very short series.
On Thursday, James took 24 shots and hit just six of them, giving him an anemic 6 for 42 shooting mark in the first two games of the series. That, math fans, is 14 percent.
Meanwhile, the big three for Boston-Pierce, Garnett, and Allen-were 16 for 32, hitting 50 percent to their attempts on Thursday as they combined for 48 points. James did manage to score 21 points because he had made nine free throws, but the struggling Cleveland offense needs about 40 from its superstar in order to compete with Boston.
Cleveland jumped out to a 24-17 lead after 12 minutes of play, but in the next two quarters, Boston outscored the Cavs 53-27 to take control.
San Antonio 110, New Orleans 99
So far, home court has been an advantage in every game of the both conference semifinals. The Spurs used that advantage to its fullest as Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker both rode the goodwill of the home crowd to 31-point performances. Tim Duncan pitched in with 16 points and 13 rebounds as the Spurs rode a big second half to the victory.
Chris Paul, who could be the NBA poster child for "Where Amazing Happens," scored 35 points. Two of his points came on a shot that looked like it came right out of a game of HORSE-a back-to-the-basket over-the-head flip-spin that touched nothing but twine. His sidekick David West chipped in with 23 rather normal points.
The big test for the Hornets is whether than can steal a game in the Spurs place or whether this series will have to go seven games as the home teams keep winning.
NBA PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
BOSTON VS. CLEVELAND
Game 1: Boston 76, Cleveland 72
Game 2: Boston 89, Cleveland 73
Boston leads 2-0
Game 2: Saturday at Cleveland
DETROIT VS. ORLANDO
Game 1: Detroit 91, Orlando 72
Game 2: Detroit 100, Orlando 93
Game 3: Orlando 111, Detroit 86
Detroit leads 2-1
Game 4: Saturday at Orlando
WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
LOS ANGELES LAKERS VS. UTAH
Game 1: LA Lakers 109, Utah 98
Game 2: LA Lakers 120, Utah 110
LA leads 2-0
Game 3: Friday at Utah
NEW ORLEANS VS. SAN ANTONIO
Game 1: New Orleans 101, San Antonio 82
Game 2: New Orleans 102, San Antonio 84
Game 3: San Antonio 110, New Orleans 99
New Orleans leads 2-1
Game 4: Sunday at San Antonio
MLB
YANKEES OVERPOWER INDIANS
On Thursday, the New York Yankees hauled out the big lumber to beat the Cleveland Indians 6-3 and avoid a three-game sweep. Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, Robinson Cano, and Wilson Betemit all hit home runs in support of starter Mike Mussina.
Mussina (5-3) won his fourth-straight start with five solid innings against the Tribe. The win was the 255th of Mussina's career.
Ross Ohlendorf, Joba Chamberlain, and Mariano Rivera each followed with a strong inning of relief to finish off the Yankees victory. Rivera earned his ninth save of the season.
Paul Byrd (1-3) started and took the loss for Cleveland.
New York pulled back to .500 (18-18) with the win.
AMERICAN LEAGUE SCORES
Boston 5, Detroit 1
Chicago White Sox 6, Minnesota 2
Texas 5, Seattle 0
Baltimore 4, Kansas City 1
Tampa Bay 8, Toronto 3 - 12 innings
NATIONAL LEAGUE SCORES
Atlanta 5, San Diego 4
Florida 7, Milwaukee 2
Arizona 8, Philadelphia 3
Colorado 9, St. Louis 3
Washington 8, Houston 3
Pittsburgh 5, San Francisco 4
NHL
RED WINGS CRUISE PAST DALLAS
The Detroit Red Wings, who finished the season with the best record in the NHL, appear to be on their road to finishing what they started. After dispatching Colorado handily in the semifinals, they wasted no time in letting the Dallas Stars know they are still hot.
Detroit scored two first-period goals and two second-period goals to take a 4-0 lead before Brenden Morrow finally solved Chris Osgood for the Stars' only tally.
The Red Wings got goals from Brian Rafalski, Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom, and Valtteri Filppula. The first three were power play goals.
Both teams took six fruitless shots on goal in the third period as Detroit protected its 4-1 lead.
CONFERENCE FINALS
East
Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia
Game 1: Friday at Pittsburgh
West
Detroit vs. Dallas
Game 1: Detroit 4, Dallas 1
Detroit leads 1-0
Game 2: Saturday at Detroit
SPORTS SPECTRUM INSIDER
Getting to the heart of what matters in life -- in the words of an athlete in the news.
TODAY'S FEATURE:
MATT DIAZ, outfielder, Atlanta Braves
BIO NOTE: Matt Diaz' brother, Jonny, is a contemporary Christian music recording artist. He is the youngest of four Diaz brothers, all of whom played college baseball. You can read about Jonny's music at www.jonnydiaz.com
RECENT NEWS: On Thursday, Matt Diaz had just one hit, but it knocked in the winning run as the Braves beat San Diego 5-4. Diaz is hitting .290 for Atlanta. Before Thursday, the Braves had lost nine straight one-run games.
FAITH QUOTE: "I find it is easy to trust God, because what happens is so far out of my hands.... If I didn't see God totally in control, I'd really struggle. He's teaching me daily to pick up my cross." -Sports Spectrum magazine
MINI MEMOS
Putting the SS spin on today's sports news
MLB
HOW GOOD IS THIS GUY?
Brandon Webb is turning into something very special as a major league pitcher. Today, as he turns 29 years old, the Ashland, Kentucky, native is more and more looking like one of those pitchers whose career is spoken of in hushed, reverential tones. The 2008 season is, of course, starting out like few ever do. After beating Philadelphia on Thursday, Webb is 8-0 on the season. He has an ERA of 2.41. He pitched all nine innings, giving him 13 complete games in his career in an era when complete games are about as prevalent as dial telephones. He is beginning to pile up some impressive numbers for his career in other categories as well. He has 921 strikeouts since coming to the majors in 2003. H has a won-lost record of 73-55, but in the last three seasons he is 42-18. He has walked just 384 hitters in 1,145 innings. And, of course, his projected won-lost record for 2008 stands now at 37-0. Now, that would get our attention! And here's one more really important fact about this laid-back pitcher. He is a committed Christian who told Sports Spectrum magazine: "I think anybody who knows God knows that baseball is an extracurricular thing. He's got more important things for us to do than just play baseball. No matter what your career, the biggest thing for us to do is to spread His Word."
NBA
NOW WHAT, MARK?
Mark Jackson may end up like the dog chasing a car down the street. Once it stops, what is the canine going to do with it? If Mark Jackson gets the New York Knicks' coaching job, what is he going to do with this team once he gets it. The Knicks are a mess. Is there one player to build around? Surely it can't be Zach Randolph. Or Jamal Crawford. Each has decent scoring averages, but neither is the kind of leader a team needs. Stephon Marbury and Eddy Curry seem always to have issues that blot out team unity. The team has paid a lot of money for not much top NBA talent, so major personnel changes must be made. Yet how do you unload high-priced players that other teams don't want? Larry Brown couldn't fix the Knicks. Isiah Thomas certainly couldn't do it. Can Mark Jackson, with no coaching experience, rescue this team from its own destruction? No matter who takes over this team over, it's going to be a long-range project for someone with a lot of patience.
NASCAR
GORDON'S STRUGGLES CONTINUE
He has more wins than any other active NASCAR driver. He won six races in 2007, and he was in the Top 10 30 times last year. But the former boy wonder Jeff Gordon can't seem to catch a break in 2008. Now 36 years old, Gordon is not even in the Top 10 in points this year-he's 13th, and unless he can begin to turn things around, he may not even make the Chase for the Cup. He's had cars that couldn't finish races. He's had accidents, including a huge jolt at Las Vegas. And he's simply not been a factor in many races. At Texas, he finished 43rd. It's a little unusual to see the 24 car performing this poorly through the first 10 races of a season.
SPRINT CUP STANDINGS
We are 10 races into the 2008 NASCAR season. On Sunday, Clint Bowyer captured the race at Richmond with Kyle Busch in second and Mark Martin finishing in third. The race to get into the Cup Chase looks like this.
1. Kyle Busch 1,495
2. Jeff Burton 1,477
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1,391
4. Clint Bowyer 1,372
5. Kevin Harvick 1,350
6. Denny Hamlin 1,349
7. Jimmy Johnson 1,318
8. Tony Stewart 1,297
9. Greg Biffle 1,269
10. Carl Edwards 1,230
THIS JUST IN
Notes of significance from the Christian sports community
New Book: The Mulligan
By Wally Armstrong
After ending a successful career as a PGA golfer, Wally Armstrong began a venture of teaching golf and of using gold analogies to teach biblical principles. One of his latest ventures is teaching timeless truths through golf is a book called The Mulligan. It's a book that can be used by the Christian for edification, and it can be given to the non-Christian as an outreach tool. Find out more about the book at www.wallyarmstrong.com.
