Wizards Sweep NY

After winning in dramatic fashion at the Garden the Wizards traveled to Barclays and took care of the Brooklyn Nets making it a clean sweep of the New York teams.  The Wizards are led by their young explosive and emerging point guard John Wall who is putting together a solid year.  He led the Wizards with 21 points and made two big defensive plays down the stretch against Deron Williams.(steal, block)   The story early on was their amazing field goal percentage from the arc, as the Wizards netted 7 of their first 9.  By halftime the Wizards were up six,  as the Nets displayed mental toughness despite the 3 point makes.  The Nets made a run in the second half but wasn’t able to completely switch the momentum over in their favor.  At the end of regulation the Nets lost 107-113.  They will play the Sixers next, the team they just blew out by 30.

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KNICKS STRUGGLE FOR WIN!

The Knicks find a way to get a victory in double OT last night in Milwaukee. Getting a win is always great news, taking two overtimes to get it done against the worse team in the league is nothing to brag about.  As I watched the game last night there seems to be one consistent trait with the Knicks.  And that sadly is the amount of mental errors the team makes, especially in closing games.  In the previous game the Knicks failed to foul or use a timeout against the Wizards making the task at hand way more difficult than it needed to be.  To not even get a decent shot to try to win the game was so disappointing considering they were winning majority of the game.  Last night the Knicks never built a sufficient enough lead to even get comfortable.  They are playing the Bucks whose best player is Brandon Knight. (that played) They were without OJ Mayo and Larry Sanders and I couldn’t imagine what the results have been had they played.  Either way the Knicks came out as if the game was in the bag and their hustle and effort was proof of it.  I’m not a big stats kind of guy, I am more interested in the quality of basketball being played itself.  However somethings I just can’t ignore, primarily JR Smith shooting 17 3 point field goals.  I want the Knicks as a team to shoot more 3 point field goals, but one person shooting 17 is ridiculous.  Along with JR shooting so many and poorly I might add, a bonehead play by Andrea Bargnani resulted in a second overtime.  The Knicks secured an offensive rebound with a lead and fourteen seconds left, instead of securing the ball and getting fouled Bargnani with no hesitation launched a three.  Little mental errors like these hurt teams, if you don’t believe me look at the picture.  This is the reaction of the team after Bargnani’s mistake.  In the second overtime the game was basically iced after a Carmelo Anthony 3 with a final score of 107-103.  Another big story was the return of Tyson Chandler, who returned from an leg injury and had to log thirty plus minutes. The anchor finished with 9 points and 9 rebounds.  Clearly not anticipating to play this much the center started cramping in the extra periods.  It is no secret the Knicks have a lot to work on.  The Knicks play Memphis next, in my opinion is a winnable game but they have to play smart.  Frankly that isn’t the teams identity right now.

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Yea Joe yea Joe

While the Knicks were crumbling at home last night, their crosstown rivals were handling business in Brooklyn.  The Nets played a struggling Sixer team and blew them out by 30.  The story of the night was Joe Johnson who finished the game with 37 but literally took over in the 3rd quarter.  He ended up canning 10 3 pointers in total, while getting fouled on one of them.  The Nets have won 4 of their last 5 games and have been playing good basketball.  The even better news is they have been doing it without all-star center Brook Lopez.  Deron Williams after returning from injury has led the charge as he is more aggressive but also managing to get his other teammates shots.  You can only imagine the team will be better once Lopez returns. Besides the return of DWill,  another change that was made but hardly gets talked about was bringing Paul Pierce off the bench.  I think this was the best move Jason Kidd has made as a coach thus far.  Bringing Pierce off the bench gives the other guys opportunity to score like Joe and Deron.  It also gives them depth past the starting five which had been an issue in the beginning of the season.  The Nets after last night are now 9-15 and third in the Atlantic Division.  Their next game will be home at the Barclays as the Wizards look to sweep the NY teams on their road trip.

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Knicks lose at Mecca to Wizards

Being down 1 with a foul to give, the Knicks fail to do so as Bradley Beal gets an uncontested layup to win the game for Washington.  Martel Webster a lethal 3 point shooter led the Wizards in scoring with 30 points but it was Beal who scored the last seven to give Washington the edge in the end.  Beno Udrih who was defending Beal on the last possession gave the two guard a lane to the basket where he was expecting help but it was never there.  To make matters worse the Knicks didn’t use a timeout to advance the ball to half-court and draw up a play.  Instead the ball is in-bounded to Carmelo Anthony who gingerly walks the ball up the court with 6 seconds left, eventually launching a one-legged three pointer that hits all glass.  As a fan and critic of the sport I have never seen such a bizarre ending to a game.  After the game, Coach Woodson took full responsibility for not calling the timeout to at least try to get a better shot.  The miscommunication on defense can also be pointed in his direction as well because the play occurred after a timeout.  Woodson’s coaching or lack there of have been a hot topic with the NY media.  And for some, his time as a Head Coach of the Knicks is narrowing by the day.

The Knicks after the loss last night are now (7-17) and fourth place in the Atlantic Division.  Luckily for them, the majority of the Eastern Conference is struggling.  The Boston Celtics lead the Atlantic Division with a (12-14) record when this was supposed to be a rebuilding year for them.  To add insult the Knicks are constantly struggling with injuries.  As of today, Pablo Prigioni broke his toe and will miss two weeks.  Kenyon Martin is also expected to miss two weeks with an abdominal strain.  Amare’s surgically repaired knee started to swell up and his time-table of return is to be determined.  On a more positive note Tyson Chandler is expected to be back for the next game Wednesday and the Knicks desperately need his intensity especially on the defensive side.  To also help the Knicks have called Chris Smith (younger brother of J.R.) to help with the point guard duty.  Let’s just say it will be interesting to see how the next few weeks play out for the New York Knicks.

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Week 15/ FF

Week 15 ladies and Gents ……hope your in what we call the Championship Bracket

QBs – Ryan, Wilson, Foles, Brady, Luck, Cam, Romo, Brees, ……..Other plays I like are Big Ben, Dalton, Stafford, Flacco, Cousins, Kap, Smith , Cutler

RBs- Morris, Bush, Steven Jackson, Lynch, Shady, Forte, AP (if he plays), Charles, Murray, ….like Gore, Stacy

WRs- Roddy, VJax, Desean, Cooper, Elderman, BMarsh, Jeffrey, Dez, AJ, Megatron, Gordon………like Antonio Brown, Fitz, Torrey Smith

TEs- Graham, Davis, Cameron , Tony G, Walker, Witten…..if your lucky enough to have a stud at TE start them

Def – Cardinals, Panthers, Chiefs, Seahawks, Niners, Eagles

Good LUCK today

 

FANTASY PLAYOFFS!!!

Ok guys hopefully this week you have made it to the fantasy playoffs. For some it’s a bye week , for others every player counts. I’m writing this at 7 am this morning so if there are any injuries adjust accordingly . I will be on a plane by 1 so I won’t be able to answer any questions regarding your lineups. Best of Luck ppl …..Let’s get to it

QBs – Manning, Brady, Foles, Stafford, RG3, Flacco, Brees, Cam, Eli, Rivers, McCown , …….I really wouldn’t trust any other but if you have a stud you Start Him don’t get cute

RBs – Moreno, Jennings, Bush, Shady, Bills RBs , Rainey, Forte …..AP and Lynch have tough matchups but you start them

WRs- all of Denver, AJ Green, Gordon, Calvin, Deasean, VJax, Torrey, Fitz , Cruz, Dez , BMarsh

TEs- play your Stud if you have one …production here is limited

Def – Cardinals , Chiefs , Broncos , Raiders , Bills , Bengals , Patriots …all solid plays this week

Fantasy Help Week 13

For some people these following weeks are really important in the fantasy world…..Most leagues playoffs start either this week or next week ….Well I am here to help folks

I must admit I did start Flynn and man did that backfire against me this week ….but it didn’t hinder my playoff birth so I really didn’t mind…..not to mention this week isn’t over yet

Anyways lets get to it shall we?

QB – Manning, Brady, Brees, Cam, …..other solid plays I like this week – Rivers, Kap, Wilson, McCown

RB – AP, Morris, Shady, Forte, Moreno, Charles………other plays – Stacey, CJ, Fred Jackson, Woodhead

WR- Gordon, Marshall,  Fitz, Desean, AJ, Garcon …..I like Amendola, Vjax, Tavon

TE – Gronk, Cameron, Gates, Thomas, Graham

Def- I like the Bills , Bengals, Dolphins , Titans

This Week I will do Pick Em – Straight Up

Colts, Browns, Panthers, Bears, Patriots,  Cardinals, Jets, Bills, Niners, Chargers, Chiefs, Redskins, Seahawks