Philly Sports Today

It was a pretty tough night for Philly sports teams. The Flyers dropped the puck on the road for Game 1 of their first round playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and it was just like the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals. The Penguins significantly outplayed the Flyers the entire night as the rolled to an easy 4-1 victory and a 1-0 series lead. On the flip side, it was a good night for the Sixers as they closed out their regular season with a 111-110 overtime win on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers. With the win, Philly clinced the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference and became the first Eastern Conference team to win in Cleveland this year. However, this win becomes a lot less impressive when you find out that LeBron James, Mo Williams, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas didn’t play. Either way, a win’s a win and now the Sixers don’t have to play the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs, even though they’ll still get crushed by the Orlando Magic, but I digress.

Let’s start with the Flyers, who were flat out dominated by the Penguins in Game 1. I’m glad that Philly decided to revert back to taking careless penalties all night since that strategy worked out so well for them all season. Less than five minutes into the first period, Arron Asham couldn’t get off the ice during a line change, stayed out for an extended shift and drew a pivotal hooking penalty. Only fifteen seconds into the power play, Sidney Crosby made the Flyers pay with a goal that gave the Pens a 1-0 lead. Sid the Kid threw the puck down low to Evgeni Malkin, whose rebound deflected off Crosby’s skate, the goal post and Martin Biron’s right skate before settling into the back of the net. The play was reviewed, but the goal was upheld when it was confirmed that Crosby didn’t intentionally kick the puck.

The Penguins extended their lead early in the second period after Braydon Coburn committed a costly turnover in the neutral zone that allowed Jordan Staal to start an up-ice rush with Tyler Kennedy that finished with Kennedy beating Biron, who made 29 saves, with a chip shot that went top shelf. The goal also ended Kennedy’s streak of 20 straight playoff games without a goal. You expect Crosby and Malkin to get theirs during the playoffs, but when guys that are in goal-scoring slumps break out against you, it’s normally not going to be your night. Oh year, it’s also never good when you don’t record a shot for the first ten minutes of a period like Philly did in the second. It’s pretty tough to score goals when that happens.

Pittsburgh blew the game wide open in the third period after another costly turnover by the Flyers. Mike Knuble tried banking a pass off the back wall, but the puck went right to Malkin like his stick was a magnet and he quickly beat Biron with a backhander to make it 3-0. Four minutes later, the Pens lit the lamp once more when Mark Eaton, a Delaware native and former Flyer, scored on a shot from the point that increased the lead to 4-0. Simon Gagne finally got Philly on the board late in the third with a power play goal, but that was pretty much the only bright spot for the Flyers all night. Marc-Andre Fleury, who was idle for much of the first two periods, stopped 26 of the 27 shots that he faced as the Penguins cruised to victory. For his career, Fleury is 15-6 against the Flyers during the regular season and is not 5-1 against them in the playoffs, so Philly is definitely going to have a tough time winning this series.

The Flyers will look to even the series tomorrow night in Pittsburgh. If Philly falls into a 2-0 series hole, it’s pretty much over for them.

Let’s Go Flyers!

Now, a quick note about the Sixers. The win in Cleveland was nice, but barely beating a team in overtime that didn’t have it’s best three players is hardly impressive. Especially when one of those players is LeBron James. Either way, Philly did what they needed to do and now get “rewarded” with a first round game against the third-seeded Orlando Magic instead of the second-seeded Boston Celtics.

The two Andres carried the Sixers as they have pretty much all year. Miller led the way with 30 points, eight assists, three steals, and a rebound, while Iguodala poured in 24 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Thaddeus Young continued his stellar late-season play by adding 20 points, nine rebounds, three steals, and an assist. Louis Williams came up big off the bench with 19 points, and Reggie Evans had a yeoman 10 point and seven rebound effort.

With the stars out of the line-up, it was Daniel “Boobie” Gibson’s time to shine. Despite coming off the bench, Boobie, who averaged 7.8 points per game, went off for 28 points, seven assists, three rebounds, two steals, and a block. Wally Szczerbiak, who only averaged 7 points per game this year, stuffed the stat sheet with 21 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists. It was the first time since May 2, 2008 that Szczerbiak broke the 20-point plateau in a game and it was the first time since February 19, 2008 that he did it during the regular season. I guess that’s what happens when 68.6 points per game are in street clothes. Sasha Pavlovic, who only averaged 4.6 points per game this year, poured in 20 points with three rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Seldom-used Darnell Jackson and his 1.9 points per game average chipped in 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

The Sixers will open their first round playoff series against the 59-23 Magic on Sunday night in Orlando. The Magic swept the season series 3-0, but all of the games were decided by 10 points or less. Additionally, with two of the games taking place in November and the other taking place in February, I’m not sure how much those results will be able to tell you about either team. Orlando is 5-5 in their last 10 games heading into the playoffs, while Philly is 4-6. I think that the Sixers can be competitive, just like they were last year against Detroit, but I don’t see any way that Philly will be able to pull off the upset. The Magic were 32-9 at home this year, so unless the Sixers win all three home games and somehow steal a game in O-Town, they’ll be one-and-done for the second straight year.

Go Sixers!

If the Sixers can’t beat the Boston Celtics when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen aren’t in the line-up, how is Philly supposed to keep up with them when the Big 3 is reunited? Once again, the Sixers collapsed in the fourth quarter against the Celtics and came up short as Boston escaped with a 100-98 win. While the C’s didn’t win in as dramatic fashion as when Ray Allen buried the game-winning three-pointer with 0.5 seconds left back in February, this win may do more psychological damage to the Sixers because they got beat by a bunch of reserves.

I never thought that Philly had any chance of beating Boston in the first round of the playoffs anyway, but now it’s pretty clear that the Sixers have absolutely no chance since they couldn’t even beat an undermanned team at home. It’s pretty pathetic. If the Sixers take Boston to six games, it would be a moral victory, but would also prove that they have made absolutely zero progress since they lost in six games to the Detroit Pistons in the first round last year. Someone needs to be accountable for that, especially when they get swept or, at best, lose to the Celtics in five games.

Andre Iguodala led the way for the Sixers with 25 points, seven assists, five rebounds, two steals, and a block, but came up very small when his floater late in the game went nowhere. That’s the kind of stuff that happens when your team’s #1 option would be a #2 on a good team and a #3 on a championship team. In his first game back from an ankle injury, Thaddeus Young poured in 18 points, while Andre Miller stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, nine assists, and six rebounds. Willie Green also chipped in a surprising 11 points. Louis Williams was the only real contributor off the bench and he added 14 points.

With Garnett and Allen on the sideline, Paul Pierce shouldered the load with 31 points, three assists, two steals, and a block. Tony Allen, who only averages 7.6 points in 19 minutes per game, “went off” for 18 points, five assists, four rebounds, three steals, and a block. Rajon Rondo added 11 points, seven rebounds, and two assists, while Leon Powe tacked on 10 points, four rebounds, and an assist. Kendrick Perkins cleaned the glass with 12 rebounds. Off the bench, Glen “Big Baby” Davis contributed 15 points, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

The Sixers close out the regular season tonight with a trip to the NBA-best Cleveland Cavaliers, who 39-1 at home. These two teams only met five days ago at the Wachovia Center and the Cavs left with a 102-92 win. Philly has now lost six straight games since clinching a playoff spot on April 4th with their win over the Detroit Pistons. Now, the Sixers need to beat Cleveland on the road and have the Toronto Raptors beat the Bulls in Chicago in order to be the sixth seed and avoid a first round match-up with the Boston Celtics. Basically, things are not looking good for Philly.

Go Sixers.

The legend of Matt Stairs continues to grow. The 41-year-old crushed a tie-breaking pinch-hit two-run home run in the ninth inning as the Phillies battled all the way back from an early 5-1 deficit to escape with a 7-5 win over the Colorado Rockies. Stairs is arguably one of the best pinch-hitters as he now leads all active players with 15 career pinch-hit homers. The decision to keep Stairs over Geoff Jenkins has already paid dividends.

The Phightins got off to yet another terrible start thanks to their starting pitching. In his first start as a Phillie, Chan Ho Park was awful. Colorado jumped all over Park in the bottom of the first inning as Brad Hawpe opened the scoring with an RBI double to center. After a passed ball by Chris Coste, Garrett Atkins stroked another single to center to put Colorado up 2-0. Ian Stewart followed with a single and then Troy Tulowitzki walked to load the bases with only one out. One batter later, Clint Barmes singled to shallow left that plated Atkins and Stewart as the Rockies were suddenly up 4-0 before Park could get out of the inning.

The Phillies got one back in the top of the second when Ryan Howard hit a lead-off double and came around to score on a throwing error after Raul Ibanez hit an infield single. Unfortunately, Park gave the run right back by serving up a solo shot to Dexter Fowler as the Rox extended their lead to 5-1. The Phils inched closer in the fourth inning when Jayson Werth hit an RBI single that plated Chase Utley to slice the deficit to 5-2. Park settled down a bit before being lifted with runners at first and second and one out in the bottom of the fourth inning. Thankfully, Chad Durbin came on in relief and got out of trouble. For the game, Chan Oh No allowed five runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and three walks in only 3 1/3 innings pitched. I really hope that he’s out of the rotation sooner rather than later.

Werth continued to be a one-man wrecking crew in the sixth inning as he hit another RBI single that once again scored Utley to make it 5-3. The Phightins squandered a lead-off double by Pedro Feliz in the seventh, but Utley crushed a two-run jack in the top of the eighth inning off of Manny Corpas to tie the game at 5-5. After Ryan Madson pitched a perfect eighth, Feliz led off the ninth with a double and a Chris Coste sacrifice bunt moved Peter Happy to third. Stairs was summoned to pinch-hit for Madson and absolutely crushed Huston Street’s fastball for a go-ahead two-run bomb that gave the Phillies a 7-5 lead. Brad Lidge came on in the ninth inning and things got a little dicey, but Lights Out got out of the inning unscathed to preserve the win.

The Phillies will look for their third straight win this afternoon when they open a three-game series on the road with the winless Washington Nationals. The crafty left-hander Jamie Moyer will face-off against the gigantic Daniel Cabrera. The Nats always seem to give the Phils some problems and Washington’s home opener will definitely be a tough game for the Champs to win.

Go Phillies.

Just some quick comments about the Flyers and Sixers as they free fall into the playoffs. All the Flyers had to do to lock up the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference was force overtime. However, they couldn’t hold onto a 3-2 lead in the third period as the New York Rangers lit the lamp twice in the first half of the period and the Flyers couldn’t answer as they fell 4-3. This is a very disappointing result for the Orange and Black, who have essentially been the number four seed for the entire second half of the season, but their inconsistent play has finally caught up with them. Now the fifth-seeded Flyers get rewarded with a match-up against the fourth-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins. Game one of the series is Wednesday night in the Steel City. Philly’s defense has just been awful, so I’m predicting that Pittsburgh wins in six games.

Let’s Go Flyers!

The Sixers are also slumping their way into the playoffs and have now lost five straight games, including a 111-104 road loss to the Toronto Raptors. Philly is tied with the streaking Chicago Bulls as both teams are 40-40 with two games left. The Sixers finish up with games against the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, so I’m expecting them to finish with the seventh seed and have to meet the Celtics in the first round. I guess it’s going to be another one-and-done playoff appearance. Why couldn’t they have just tanked the season once Elton Brand went down and gotten a lottery pick?

Go Sixers!

With the NBA and NHL regular seasons rapidly coming to a close, both the Sixers and the Flyers have already clinched playoff berths. However, each team’s playoff seed is very much up in the air, and neither team is playing particularly well down the stretch. Due to the recent poor play of both teams, low seeds and quick playoff exits may be what awaits the Wachovia Center’s two tenants. The Sixers and the Flyers were both on the road last night and both teams took one on the chin. The Sixers led by as many as 14 points early in the second quarter and held a slim third quarter lead before the Chicago Bulls pulled away for a 113-99 win. The Flyers didn’t have much luck either as they fell behind 2-0 early in the first period before the New York Rangers edged them out for a 2-1 victory. Bad times.

Let’s start with the Sixers, who have been pretty awful since Thaddeus Young went down with an ankle injury. Although Philly and Chicago were tied 50-50 at halftime, the second half belonged to the Bulls. Both teams shot 52 percent, but the Bulls outscored the Sixers 63-49 in the second half thanks to their unselfish play. There wasn’t much difference statistically between the performance of both teams, but Chicago just played better ball and executed better.

I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but the two Andres carried the Sixers. Again. Iguodala notched his 11th double-double of the season with 19 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds, and a steal. Miller also filled up the stat sheet with 20 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Willie Green had a notable night, which is rare for him, by adding 12 points and four rebounds. Off the bench, Louis Williams continued his torrid April performance by pouring in 16 points with three dimes, three steals, and a board. Marreese Speights also chipped in nine points and three rebounds in a reserve role.

The Bulls were paced by a pair of 24-point scorers. Ben Gordon scored a double dozen to go along with seven rebounds, three assists, and a steal, while Tyrus Thomas poured in his 24 points with four boards and two steals. Rookie Derrick Rose had a solid night with 16 points, eight dimes, two boards, two steals, and a block, while John Salmons added 14 points, three assists, and two rebounds. Off the bench, Brad Miller chipped in 15 points, six rebounds, six assists, and two steals.

With the loss, the Sixers remain in sixth place in the Eastern Conference and trail the fifth-place Miami Heat by a full game with only four games remaining. Philly will look to break out of their slump tonight when they return home tonight to host LeBron James and the Eastern Conference-best Cleveland Cavaliers. Something tells me another loss is on the way for the Sixers.

Go Sixers.

Now, let’s talk about the Flyers, who have been inconsistent for pretty much the entire second half of the season. As a result, they squandered their chance to seize first place in the Atlantic Division from the New Jersey when the Devils went into a free fall and the Flyers had what looked like a very manageable schedule. With two games left in the regular season, Philly is in a three-way tie for fourth place with the Carolina Hurricanes and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are two of the hottest teams in the NHL right now. Since the Orange and Black have a game in hand on both teams, they are going to need to at least win one game and go to overtime in the other game in order to clinch the fourth spot. However, if all three teams finished tied, Carolina would be the four, Pittsburgh would be the five, and Philly would be the six. As a result, this weekend is extremely important for the Flyers.

Philly definitely outplayed the Rangers last night, but a controversial call by the referees in the first minute of the game cost the Flyers a chance at a win. New York opened the scoring just 52 seconds into the game when the Rangers stormed the crease. Despite the fact that Martin Biron had the puck covered, the Rangers took multiple swipes before the puck and Biron slid into the net. Marty blantantly had the puck covered up for a long enough period of time that the refs should have stopped play, but they blew the call on the ice and compounded the error by actually affirming the call after watching it on replay. Unbelievable. The controversial goal was credited to Markus Naslund.

A little over 11 minutes later, the Blue Shirts strolled the red light district again when Ryan Callahan deflected Derek Morris’ blast from the right point. The Flyers cut the deficit in half when Danny Briere scored a power play goal midway about through the second period. Unfortunately, that was the only time that Henrik Lundqvist slipped up all night. King Henrik stopped 37 of the 38 shots that he faced to pick up his 37th win of the season. Biron was no slouch himself in net, making 29 saves. It was just one of those nights when the puck doesn’t bounce your way.

The Flyers will play their final road game of the regular season tomorrow afternoon when they look to complete a season sweep of the New York Islanders. This game is definitely a must win for the Flyers.

Let’s Go Flyers!

The Flyers, Phillies, and Sixers were all in action last night, and the results were mostly not good.

Let’s start with the Flyers, who clinched a playoff spot with a big 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers. Neither team scored in the first period, but Brett McLean put the Panthers ahead early in the second period with a wrist shot from the slot after taking a centering pass from Michael Frolik. The Flyers tied it late in the second period with a fluky goal when Matt Carle poked a shot that bounced off Joffrey Lupul’s skate into the net. Lupul was credited for his 24th goal of the season. In the third period, Jeff Carter’s shot from the side of the crease dribbled past Florida goaltender Tomas Vokoun, who made 28 saves, and gave Philly a 2-1 lead. That would be more than enough for Martin Biron, who had a spectacular performance and stopped 29 shots, as the Flyers held on for a 2-1 victory.

With the win, the Flyers remain tied with the scorching Carolina Hurricanes for fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 97 points. However, Philly has one game in hand over the Canes. The Flyers have three regular season games remaining–a home and home with the New York Rangers sandwiched around a road game against the New York Islanders. Philly travels up to Madison Square Garden tomorrow night to take on the Rangers. The last time that the Flyers traveled up to MSG, they left with a 4-1 loss. Let’s hope this trip is more successful.

Let’s Go Flyers!

Now, let’s talk about the Phillies, who were completely shut down by Jair Jurrjens and the Atlanta Braves during a 4-0 loss. Just like the first game, the Braves got off to a quick start. Kelly Johnson led off the game with a first pitch homer off of Jamie Moyer. One batter later, Chipper Jones doubled off the center field wall and came around to score on an error when Brian McCann’s grounder skipped under Chase Utley’s glove. Atlanta added to its lead in the fourth on Johnson’s infield single with two outs, and Moyer escaped further damage when Raul Ibanez gunned down Casey Kotchman at home on a perfect, no-hop throw. However, Jones led off the fifth inning with a solo shot to left to make it 4-0 Braves. The Phillies’ offense never got it going and couldn’t push a run across the plate against any of Atlanta’s pitchers as they were dealt their second loss of the year.

Through the first two games of the season, the Phillies have been outscored 8-1 and outhit 16-10. However, the silver lining is that the 2008 Phillies started out the year 0-2 and went on to have a pretty decent season if you’re the kind of person that measures success by winning World Series titles. The Phightins are getting guys on base, so they’re due to breakout sooner or later. The Phillies will receiver their 2008 championship rings this afternoon and hopefully they’ll be able to avoid a three-game sweep. However, it wouldn’t be the first time that the Braves swept the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park to open the year. It happened all the way back in 2007 and the Phils still made the playoffs.

Go Phillies.

Finally, the Sixers suffered a devastating 101-98 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats after rallying to completely erase a 19-point first half deficit. With 36 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Philly was clinging to a 98-97 lead. Although Raymond Felton’s go-ahead shot fell way short, Gerald Wallace was in the right place at the right time. Wallace caught the air ball and scored the go-ahead bucket before tacking on two free throws after Andre Iguodala missed a go-ahead jumper. Philly had two opportunities to force overtime, but Iguodala and Willie Green both missed three-pointers as the Bobcats held on for the win.

The two Andres once again did the heavy lifting for the Sixers. Miller led the way with 23 points, seven assists, four rebounds, a steal, and a block, while Iguodala poured in 19 points with four rebounds, four assists, and three blocks. Surprisingly, Willie Green had a solid night and added 17 points, two rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Louis Williams provided major scoring punch off the bench with 20 points.

In the wake of North Carolina’s national championship victory, Tar Heels alum Raymond Felton had a monster night with 32 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Wallace poured in 29 points with 11 rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Boris Diaw added 17 points, six rebounds, six assists, two blocks, and a steal. Off the bench, D.J. Augustin chipped in eight points, six assists, three rebounds, a steal, and a block.

Despite the loss, Philly only remains a half game behind the Miami Heat for fifth place in the Eastern Conference and have one game in hand. The Sixers return to the court tomorrow night when they hit the road to take on the Chicago Bulls. The last time these two teams met, Philly escaped with a 104-101 in the final game at the Spectrum.

Go Sixers.