How did it come to this?
How did the Utah Jazz have a playoff spot pretty much in hand less than two months ago, win 8 of their last 10 games, and still find themselves in must-win pickle tonight on the road against a good team that has also plenty of incentive?
Is Wednesday, April 17 the day that Dwight Howard finally grows up?
The RBC Heritage has its work cut out for it – it is impossible to recreate the drama that culminated in Adam Scott’s first major win at the Masters. But the top dogs are not shying away from this week’s event – 14 players that finished inside the top 25 at Augusta will tee it up at Hilton Head Island.
The Boston Bruins play in what is the first major sporting event in Massachusetts since the Boston Marathon tragedy Monday. Heightened security and heavy hearts will unfortunately be a big part of the game between the Bruins and the Buffalo Sabres – sad that the focus won’t solely be on the joy that professional sports brings to New England.
Are the Lakers ready to turn the team over to Dwight Howard?
Is Kobe Bryant, who succeeded in banishing Shaquille O’Neal from Los Angeles because Shaq was claiming too much of the spotlight, willing to play understudy to Howard when Bryant returns from his Achilles injury?
Two weeks left in the NHL’s Regular Season and things are really heating up as the Power Players flex their muscle, the bubble teams scramble for a playoff spot and the weaker teams in the NHL look toward next year.
Flyers Look to Keep Slim Playoff Hopes Alive – Host Rangers Tuesday Night
The Philadelphia Flyers broke out in a big way on Monday night with a 7-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens. In turn they kept their razor-thin playoff hopes alive. The next challenge for the Flyers? A date with the New York Rangers, a team that has won 11 of the last 12 meetings between the two clubs and has looked vastly different since reshaping their lineup at the trade deadline.
Let’s see. There’s the Heat and all that firepower.
And San Antonio, with all that experience.
Don’t forget the Thunder. Any team with Durant and Westbrook can do some damage.
The Padres may have won yesterday to break their losing streak but they are still struggling greatly this season. They are already 6 games back in the standing of the N.L. West standings and will need more than just fire in their bellies to overcome.
The Phillies should be encouraged by the fact that they got a solid pitching performance from Roy Halladay yesterday. After taking two of three against the Marlins they are at .500 but still looking way up at the Braves in the National League East standings.
All in all, it’s been one heck of a year for the Denver Nuggets, who need only a victory in one of their final two regular season games (tonight in Milwaukee or home on Wednesday against the lowly Phoenix Suns) to clinch home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
A pair of five game winning streaks will be on the line Monday night when the Dallas Stars visit the Chicago Blackhawks. The mood for each team will likely be very different however – the Hawks have all-but sewn up top seed in the West while the Stars have scratched and clawed their way back into playoff contention on the heels on their own five game win streak.
With eight games remaining in the NHL’s regular season for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks both teams find themselves in very different fights. For the Wings, they are scrapping just to make the playoffs on the heels of a 2-4-1 stretch while the Hawks are on top of the NHL standings, trying to hold off the Anaheim Ducks for the President’s Trophy. .
This one looked pretty juicy when the schedule came out last summer, but since the coach of just about every NBA playoff team has started channeling Gregg Popovich and has been sitting out stars to keep them fresh for the playoffs, Boston at Miami now has the look and feel of a September baseball game littered with minor league call-ups.
The offense has been much less impressive as they have are the 4th worst team in the Majors in runs scored so far, a real disappointment given they were supposed to have a revamped lineup and the seeming return to form of OF Carl Crawford.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are holding a slight advantage over San Antonio as they enter the final week of the season dead spanking even at 57-21.
