The San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat will meet in the NBA Finals for the second year in a row beginning on Thursday. The two teams took part in an epic Finals a year ago with the Heat prevailing in seven games to win their second title in as many years.
2014 Stanley Cup Final Preview – Battle of the Big Markets
The Stanley Cup playoff starts Wednesday and pits a New York teams against a Los Angeles team for the first time in Major Sports action since 1981. The New York Rangers earned the right to play for the Cup off series wins against Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and the Montreal Canadiens.
UCLA is 23-12 ATS with an O/U record of 15-19 and Florida is 17-14-1 ATS with an O/U record of 10-21-1. In their last games UCLA beat Stephen F. Austin 77-60 and Florida beat Pittsburgh 61-45.
Dayton is 19-12 ATS with an O/U record of 16-14 and Stanford is 19-12-2 ATS with an O/U record of 14-18-1. In their last games Stanford beat Kansas 60-57 and Dayton beat Syracuse 55-53.
The Stanley Cup Final moves back to Boston on Monday night with the Bruins facing elimination after the Chicago Blackhawks dictated the pace and walked away with Game 5 on Saturday night. While attention should be directed to the players suiting up in the elimination game, most of the ink has been absorbed by the players who may be forced to sit out Game 6 because of injury.
It’s not really about X’s and O’s anymore. The only question that needs to be answered tonight is whether the San Antonio Spurs have enough chops to recover from Game 6, charge up their aging bodies for the second time in 48 hours, and this time make enough plays in the second half to take down the Heat on Miami’s home court.
Bruins Look For Stranglehold in Cup Final
Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night was by far the least competitive game of the series so far – it was the only game that hasn’t needed extra time to determine a winner. The Chicago Blackhawks will be looking for a strong bounce back effort on Wednesday night when they try to even the Cup Final on the heels of a sound beating in Game 3 in every aspect of the game.
You can be pretty certain that at no time this season did the Miami Heat players, coaches or front office think that come June they would be facing two consecutive elimination games at home.
Stanley Cup Final Moves to Boston for Game 3
The Stanley Cup Final makes its first appearance in Boston in two years Monday night when the Bruins, who evened the series Saturday night, look to take control over the hard-luck Chicago Blackhawks who had their chances but were unable to solve Tuukka Rask in Game 2.
It is a little bit odd that Duke beat Creighton by a greater margin than they did Albany. I thought the Blue Jays would be able to push Duke but they shot horribly in a very disappointing performance.
Two games in and the Cardinals have won by 31 and 26 points. If that pattern holds than they should beat Oregon by 21 and might not be challenged until the Championship game.
Marquette has played 2 close games to advance to the Sweet 16 only winning those games by a combined 3 points. After an easy win in their first Big Dance game the Hurricanes struggled on offense in their last win only winning by 4 points.
The Buckeyes escaped their third round game against Iowa State with a victory. In my opinion they were outplayed but a win is a win.
I have long admired the Shockers program and I thought they would play well but I just didn’t see how they would beat Gonzaga. Even if they were able to shorten the game a little bit and play their guts out I still thought they would come up just a little bit short.
Ohio is the Cinderella of the Sweet 16 being the 13th seed and while they face the Midwest #1 seed in North Carolina the Tar Heels and their title hopes took a huge blow in their last game when they lost G Kendall Marshall, who leads the nation in assists, to a wrist injury.
Ohio is not the only Cinderella in the Sweet 16, as 11th seed NC State is still alive and both teams are in the Midwest Region.
