Houston-you had a problem plus trade talks!!

Antawn Jamison's 28 points led six Cleveland Cavaliers in double figures as the Cavaliers outscored the Houston Rockets by 14 points in the final quarter in a 118-107 win at the Q.
Kyrie Irving tossed in 21 points,16 in the final 4:14 and Ramon Sessions added 15 more for Cleveland,which won its third game in a row and has put themselves back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Cleveland will host Toronto on Tuesday before traveling to Milwaukee on Wednesday......

Swashbucklings

1) Kyrie Irving continues to step up in the fourth quarter with huge point displays.
Much of this is the willingness of defenders to allow him to drive the lane for high percentage shots and another factor is being able to hit his free throws.
Funny,how hitting free throws tend to add up....

2) Antawn Jamison was 8 for 16 and hit all eight of his trips to the charity line for his points.
Jamison continues to lead the team in scoring at just over 18 points per contest.

3) Daniel Gibson had a nice game with with 11 points and was + 21 for the game,which was the highest of all players for Cleveland.
Gibson is a such defensive terror that he will roll up super plus/minus numbers when he is able to hit a decent percentage from the floor..

4) Add the name Luis Scola as the latest power forward/center to slash the Cavaliers in the paint.
Scola's 30 points was a season high and Cleveland had no answer for Scola all game from any of the interior options that they tried...

5) Trade rumors are flying all over for the trade deadline.
Some have the Cavaliers being a seller with Antawn Jamison and Ramon Sessions.
Some have Cleveland being a buyer as a rumored trade with Atlanta for Josh Smith and Marvin Williams is bouncing around.
Note:If this is an actual offer,I would have done this before they finished the sentence.
But the most intriguing rumor is with the New Orleans Hornets,who have decided (rumor) that the 28 million dollars owed to Emeka Okafor is enough of a drag that they are willing to add one of their lottery picks (Their own and Minnesota's) to any team willing to take Okafor off their hands.
Cleveland is reported to have made this offer earlier this season and were rebuffed,but things may have changed.
Not only would two first rounders put the Cavaliers closer to a final product,but Okafor will immediately be an improvement in the middle over the riff-raff currently posing as NBA big men.
I have no claims on being a salary cap expert and have no clue whether the Cavaliers can do both of these rumored deals,although it seems by all accounts that they could make one of them for sure,but it does seem to be a fun few days with the team on a three game winning streak and two more games between now and the deadline....

Photo Credit:AP Photo

Top line sizzles,Flyers burn 4-1

The top line of the New Jersey Devils continued its strong play as Ilya Kovachuk and Zach Parise each scored a goal and added two assists as the Devils whipped the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 at the Rock.
The Devils scored three times in the final period as Anton Volchenkov (2),Kovalchuk (30) and Parise (28 power play) all scored after Claude Giroux had tied the game at one apiece seconds into the final period.
Patrik Elias scored the only goal (24 power play) of the first two periods late in the first with a flip over Sergei Bobrovsky on a power play.
The same two teams will meet in Philadelphia Tuesday night...

Hell Raisers

1) Martin Brodeur only needed to make 18 saves and aside from a flashy glove save or two did not have to be spectacular,but he did one thing amazing in the win.
Brodeur won his 650th game in his career,giving Marty 100 more than second place Patrick Roy.
If Marty decides to play next year,675 is almost a sure bet-the bigger question is this-Can Brodeur make it to win 700???

2) Ilya Kovalchuk scored a goal for the third consecutive game,but the bigger play to me was his 2 on 1 pass to Anton Volchenkov for what proved to be the game winner.
Considering the lack of an offensive option with him on the breakaway,Kovalchuk could have easily kept the puck himself despite having a more difficult shot..
Instead,showing the confidence in Volchenkov,he made the pass  and Volchenkov buried the puck in the back of the net.
This Kovalchuk is proving far superior to the higher scoring player in Atlanta...

3) Two assists for Marek Zidlicky,both with the Kovalchuk/Parise combo and one on the power play.
Could we be seeing the beginnings of some chemistry there?

4) I really liked the flipped,tumbling goal by Patrik Elias over Sergei Bobrovsky to end the first period.
The shot came off the stick almost like a clear on a penalty kill,popped up into the air and over Bobrovsky's head and into the net.
Pretty neat from short range....

5) More cheap shots from Zac Rinaldo,this time with a really dirty shot on Ryan Carter that resulted in the power play goal from Zach Parise.
What is it with this guy?
Looks like Philly has their very own Sean Avery with the less than clean play,instigating and refusal to drop the gloves.
Looking forward to seeing this guy pasted by someone....

6) Devils and Flyers now tied for fifth in the conference with 85 points,although the Flyers have one game in hand.
Both teams are 13 points ahead of tied for ninth place Winnipeg and Buffalo.
They may not have clinched yet,but I'd say they are in.

7) The races in the Eastern Conference that look to go down to the wire is in the crummy Southeast Division,where the question is does Florida or Washington get the division and undeserved third seed?
Floria leads Washington by one point right now with the Capitals holding eighth by four points over the Winnipeg/Buffalo pair.
I really do not care who the Devils play in round one,as long as it is not Washington!
I don't think I could stand an entire playoff series of Beninati and Laughlin!!!

Photo Credit:Andy Marlin-Getty Images

Boom Boom! Out goes the Islander lights!!

For the first 58 minutes,the New York Islanders and rookie goaltender Anders Nilsson appeared ready to claim their second 1-0 win over the New Jersey Devils at the Nassau Coliseum in less than a week,

The Devils had something to say about that as after the dust cleared from a wild 14 seconds,the Devils staggered out the door with a 2-1 win over the Islanders.
David Clarkson squeezed the puck through a keyhole sized gap (28) between Nilsson and the left post to tie the game with 1:39 to go just before P.A.Parenteau was called for boarding on Bryce Salvador after the ensuing faceoff.
Marek Zidlicky then beat Nilsson on the power play (1) for the game winner just 14 seconds after the Clarkson goal for the victory.
New Jersey hosts Philadelphia tomorrow at the Rock at seven..

Hell Raisers

1) This was easily the best comeback win this season fir the Devils as the team played with more verve than in the loss at Nassau last week,Anders Nilsson was still standing tall in goal before the dam finally broke.
I must admit that I sure did not see this coming!

2)We kept hearing what Marek Zidlicky was going to bring to the power play and finally it arrived with the game winning goal.
It looked like David Clarkson completed his strong fourteen seconds with a super screen on Anders Nilsson,who never seemed to pick up the puck until it got by him and Zidlicky's shot finally showed just what it is that Lou Lamoriello thought he could add to the franchise.

3) Johan Hedberg was the star of the game to me.Hedberg made save after save and the only shot that that eluded him by John Tavares came off of a lazer pass from behind the net that Hedberg never saw coming.
Hedberg continues to step up in his occasional spot starts and to me was the unsung hero of this win...

4) For a game that finished 2-1 and had no goals for the first two periods,this game was fun to watch.
Between great goaltending,one one breakaways and plenty of hard hitting,this game had about all you could ask for from a 2-1 game except for a fight...

5) Underrated game from Jacob Josefson.No points or anything,but from here,I think that Josefson is on the verge of a breakthrough.
Just a hunch...

Photo Credit:AP Photo

No RG III,so now what?

Sitting at work and just heard that the St.Louis Rams passed over the Cleveland Browns offer as Mike Holmgren is reported to have dithered on a final offer as the Washington Redskins leaped over Cleveland and obtained the second overall pick in April's draft.

The Redskins traded their top pick in the draft at the sixth spot,their first rounders in the 2013 and 2014 drafts and their second rounder in this years draft in return for moving four spots up in the first round.

Washington will likely wind up with Baylor's Robert Griffin III unless Indianapolis unexpectedly passes on Stanford's Andrew Luck in favor of Griffin.
Washington will have to use free agency well over the next few seasons as the Redskins will be unable to use the draft for the next few seasons to accumulate talent around Griffin.
Considering the Dan Snyder owned Redskins lack of success in free agency in the past,I would not feel particularly great about the chances of Washington doing that very well.
This deal is a huge pill to swallow for the Washington Redskins and the team had better hope Robert Griffin makes the cost worthwhile because if he does not,Washington is going to be a bad football team for a long,long time to come.

And now what for the Cleveland Browns,who thought they could get Griffin over the Redskins,due to their pick being higher in the first round.
The Browns have to hope Griffin is a bust in the making as if he is not,the Mike Holmgren front office could be looking back at the lack of making the deal with the Rams as the mistake that set the franchise back even further.
 The Browns are reported to have been willing to trade the three first rounders,but were not willing to move the second rounder and that is how the Redskins were able to trump Cleveland and finish the deal that landed them Griffin.
I cannot blast the Browns for not making the deal as much as I would have loved to have seen Griffin in Cleveland,considering the Rams asking price.
The Browns have too many needs and holes to be able to justify paying that type of price at this time and I agree with them not making the deal at the cost that Washington paid.

The bigger question is what now for the Browns at quarterback?
The team was expected to be the frontrunner to trade for Griffin,so where does that leave the Browns without him?
Does Colt McCoy get another chance with hopefully some upgraded talent at the skill positions?
Tom Heckert has denied interest in Matt Flynn,but he denied any substantive talks with the Rams as well,could the Browns have a renewed interest in Flynn now that Griffin is out of the picture?
Will the Browns now focus on another quarterback in the draft such as Texas A&M's Ryan Tannehill or Oklahoma State's Brandon Weedon and hope that their talent outweighs their limitations?

I do not have an answer for those questions,but I will say this-I would rather see Colt McCoy get another year than spend the Atlanta first rounder on either of those two players.
Tannehill has only been a quarterback for a short time after being a wide receiver initially,while Weedon is 28 years old and is a few years older than Colt McCoy.
It is kinda tough to give up on McCoy for either of those two players,in my opinion.

Where do the Browns go from here? That decision will decide the future of the franchise and most likely this management teams legacy as well...

Photo Credit:Unknown

Cavaliers bring down the Thunder!

The Cleveland Cavaliers ripped off a 12-0 run to blow open a close game late in the fourth period and gain a stunning triumph in Oklahoma City by a 96-90 margin over the Thunder.
Antawn Jamison led the Cavaliers with 21 points,but the star was once again Kyrie Irving as Irving was the watercarrier in the late blitz that gave Cleveland the win.
The Cavaliers will host Houston Sunday night at the Q.

Swashbucklings

1) Oklahoma City had lost just one game at home all season before this loss.
The Thunder shot poorly from the field,missing every three pointer in the second half and certainly played their role in the Cleveland win,but the team hustled,dove for loose balls and generally busted their ass in this one.
Effort will on occasion trump talent..

2) I missed the Denver win,but Kyrie Irving took that game over and he certainly did the same tonight.
Irving finished with just nine points on four of twelve shooting,but his fourth quarter performance was the difference in this game.Irving finished with 12 assists on the evening and despite the less than average scoring,I thought that he generally played Russell Westbrook to a draw....

3) Want more evidence of the workhorses tonight? Cleveland outrebounded Oklahoma City 51-40 and considering the lack of a big man,those numbers are shocking.
Five Cavaliers grabbed six boards or more,with three of those each pulling down eight.

4) I have been less than glowing in praise for Anthony Parker this season,but Parker played well in this one.Parker finished the game with 14 points and helped out on defense on Kevin Durant,which contributed to Durant scoring a below par 23 points.

5) The above shows why Durant is such a great player.
When you look at a 23 point,8 rebounds and 8 assist game and think that you controlled Durant for the night-that is a great player...

6) I do not like how Seattle lost their team to Oklahoma City,but I cannot deny just how loud and crazy that the OKC crowd is.
I would give Oklahoma City the edge for the best crowd that I have seen this season.

7) The trade deadline is just days away and these two wins on the road have pulled Cleveland to within two games of the final playoff spot.The question is whether the team goes for the playoff or for the future.
I tend towards the future,but I sure do like winning games like tonight!

Photo Credit:AP Photo

Hats off to Kovy as Islanders fall!

Ilya Kovalchuk's three goals (27,28 power play and 29)each came in a different period and Kovalchuk's fellow Devils helped out and broke a close game open with a strong third period in a 5-1 win over the New York Islanders at the Rock.
David Clarkson (27) and Patrik Elias (23) both scored in the third to enable the Devils to pull away from the Islanders.
Martin Brodeur made 29 saves in earning the win in net.
The same two teams drop the puck for the third time in a week at the lovely Nassau Coliseum Saturday night...

Hell Raisers

1) Want to know the best part of this win?
It shows that last season was an aberration and that the Devils are back,at least as a playoff team,if not a title contender.
The victory gave the Devils 81 points on the season-the exact number that the team totaled last season.

2) Ilya Kovalchuk had said that he had been overpassing during his cold streak of recent and he was going to start shooting more.
Judging by the last two games,that is a good thing. Kovalchuk used his rifle like shot on one timers twice to beat Evgeni Nabokov.Kovalchuk is always more effective as a sniper than a slasher and when the one timer is respected-Ilya Kovalchuk is VERY dangerous..

3) The third line of Jacob Josefson,David Clarkson and Alexei Ponikarovsky has become quite solid of late.
Ponikarovsky returned from injury for the win,but the line has showed some nice chemistry in their time together,particularly on the play that eventually ended with Clarkson's goal that saw some really nice puckhandling up the ice by Josefson.

4) Rachel still has not forgiven Marek Zidlicky for sending Nick Palmeiri to Minnesota,but sharp passes like the one on the second Kovalchuk goal and maybe he will win her over.
Or maybe he will settle for winning me over....

5) 29 saves for Martin Brodeur.
Marty was not as spectacular as he has been in some games of late,but he made the solid saves,gave the Islanders nothing and played his basically solid game...

6) The Devils 81 points ties them for fifth with Philadelphia and places them nine points ahead for ninth place Winnipeg.
I would not go as far to claim the playoffs are a lock yet,but we are reaching the point of  things falling into a perfect storm in order to miss them....

Photo Credit:AP Photo

Looking back at the ACC Tournament

After a  day that saw my aging body taking to the asphalt on a beautiful day here in the Mid-Atlantic,I started thinking more about basketball.
At one time in my life,basketball was the sport that I was most fanatical about.
This time of year meant one thing-the ACC tournament.

The bloating of the NCAA tourney has taken away a bit from the conference tournaments and that has taken away much of the interest that I once had.
When I was a child,I was always scheming in order to stay home and watch the first round of the ACC tournament  and now I would bet that more often than not,I don't even watch it at all.
Of course,the conference shakeups have diluted those tournaments even more and made them less important to most of the fans and I can see how tournaments have lost interest with rivalries that have faded with a lack of home and home matchups along with teams that are just a huge misfit in the traditional leagues-Yeah,Boston College and coming soon Pittsburgh and Syracuse-I am talking to you!

To me,the ACC title meant almost at much as the National Championship and now I pass on it in favor of other sports.
Why?Well,a lot of it has come from what I mentioned above,but another huge factor is the "hired gun" mentality of the top schools that are willing to recruit players that will be a "one and done" player in order to take their title shot.
I was a full supporter of the NBA's rule that made a player ineligible until they were 19 at first,but the rule has not worked.
Instead of helping the colleges by having more talented players playing college basketball,the rule had backfired by having players that clearly are there for one season to play basketball instead of for the entire college experience.

The lack of continuity from the players and often the coaching staff has made following programs tough for me and I am sure for others because you just do not have the fun of following players as they learn and watch their games mature.
That has been the main reason that I have become more of a follower of Xavier than Maryland or Ohio State as the "mid-majors" keep their players for far longer periods of time and as a result,fans are able to invest in the players as part of the program.

From a person that has had some of their fondest childhood memories from college basketball and bonding with my dad over the game,these are some sad developments.
I am not sure on how to totally fix these things and even if I had ideas on how to fix,I would bet that the money involved would make much of those ideas unlikely to be adopted.
I miss the game that I have left behind and the current game is not as enjoyable to follow,but the game still has enough going to for itself to be worth watching.

I still think I'll take the 8 or 9 teams in the ACC though and the old ways of doing things were just fine for me.....