Bleacher Report - Preview

Orlando Magic Week Five Preview: Dwight Howard and the Road Warriors

Chad Waylon Pouncy — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:33:47 -0500

Orlando gets a bit of a break after a busy schedule last week. In the process, the Magic have stepped up and now sit atop the Eastern Conference standings with the Boston Celtics at 14-4. Kicking off the week against the Miami Heat at home on Wednesday night, Orlando took a tough loss on a controversial put back dunk by PF Michael Beasley. When Dwayne Wade missed badly on a potential game winner, Beasley dunked the ball with 1.6 left on the clock, putting Miami ahead 99-98. Magic players pleaded with the refs for a goaltending call, to no avail. Vince Carter was unable to counter with his last second shot and Orlando took the loss. Jason Williams had a big game for the Magic, scoring a season high 25 points and adding eight assists. On Thanksgiving night Orlando headed to Atlanta to face the red-hot Hawks. After struggling early, the Magic out scored Atlanta 54-35 in the second half and allowing only 11 points in the forth quarter. This solidified a 93-76 win for the Magic. Dwight Howard returned to form putting up 22 points, 17 rebounds and four blocks. Howard has not looked like an MVP candidate to this point but he is starting to turn things around. Howard's great play carried over to Orlando's 100-98 victory in Milwaukee against the Bucks on Saturday night. Superman led the team with 25 points , 20 boards and four blocks. Vince Carter also added 25 points for the game. The Magic win came despite turning the ball over 17 times and Carter taking an elbow to the mouth in the game. Carter required four stitches in his lip but returned to score 19 of his 25 in the second half. Sunday night in New York it was Rashard Lewis' turn to come up big, leading all scorers with 26 points. Lewis has not looked like himself since returning from a ten game suspension to start the season. Howard continued to have a hot hand adding 24 points and 16 rebounds. With both teams even from the field, fouls were the difference as the Knicks gave up 26 fouls to the Magic's 15. This allowed Orlando to take their sixth straight road win with a 114-102 victory. The Magic will invite the Knicks to Orlando for a rematch on Wednesday night before heading out west for four games. On Saturday night Orlando takes on the Golden State Warriors. Click forward as we breakdown the two match-ups for this week in Magic basketball.

Begin Slideshow

Minnesota’s Free Agent Targets Become Clearer Following Arbitration Deadline

Jeremiah Graves — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:18:08 -0500

Twins general manager Bill Smith had better have the Pohlad’s checkbook ready. As Tuesday night’s 11 p.m. deadline for teams to offer arbitration came and went, it officially sounded the real opening bell on free agency. Don’t get me wrong, I know that free agents, all 171 of them, have been able to sign with teams since November 20th, however, teams rarely sign any Type-A or Type-B free agents prior to the arbitration deadline. If a team signs a player prior to the deadline, the other team will undoubtedly offer arbitration to recoup their losses in the form of draft picks. Tuesday’s deadline, however, was the last opportunity for teams to offer arbitration to free agents. Any players who were offered arbitration now have one week to determine whether or not they’ll accept. Any players who were not offered arbitration just became a whole lot more attractive on the free agent market. The opportunity to sign high-profile players without surrendering draft picks makes them all the more appealing. As such, I’ve taken a look at some of the popular targets for the Minnesota Twins this offseason who were NOT offered arbitration by Tuesday night’s deadline. All of these players who—reportedly and/or hopefully—are on the Twins’ offseason radar are now available, without the added cost of a draft pick. Let the games begin…

Begin Slideshow

Leafs-Canadiens: Gameday Notes (No. 27)

Rocket All Habs — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:55:00 -0500

Pre-Game Notes

Scott Gomez and Matt D'Agostini return to the lineup tonight after being out with injuries.

Hall Gill skated today and should be back later this week.

Tomas Plekanec has two goals and eight points in his last six games.

Phil Kessel has eight goals in 13 games with Toronto.

Carey Price makes his ninth consecutive start in goal.

Jonas Gustavsson makes his Bell Centre debut.

Game time is 7:30 pm. EST. at the Bell Centre.

Expected Canadiens Lineup

Plekanec, Cammalleri, Sergei Kostitsyn
Gomez, Moen, Pacioretty
Metropolit, Chipchura, D'Agostini
Lapierre, White, Pyatt

Hamrlik, Spacek
Mara, Bergeron
Gorges, O'Byrne

Carey Price starts in goal for the Canadiens; Jonas Gustavsson for the Leafs.

scratches: Wyman, Leach, Andrei Kostitsyn (foot), Pouliot (wrist), Laraque (suspended), Gionta (foot), Gill (leg), Markov (ankle)

Read more Preview news on BleacherReport.com

Keys to the Game: Eagles vs. Washington Redskins, Part 2

Bob Cunningham — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:06:00 -0500

Like last week, this is absolutely a must-win game for the Birds. In fact, every game from now on is a must-win game because teams like the Packers and Falcons are just waiting for the Eagles to lose and gain more of a foothold in the NFC wildcard race.

I say the "wildcard" race, but the Eagles are still looking at the possibility of a Week 17 showdown in Dallas determining who wins the NFC East. Barring a monumental collapse from the Cardinals or Vikings, the NFC East is the only contested division left in the conference.

But with the Giants losing to the Broncos in embarrassing fashion, the Eagles have a real shot to move up in the division and keep pace with the Cowboys. A win against the 'Skins would give Donovan McNabb and company only one loss in the division with two games left to play—one against the Giants, and of course the season finale with the Cowboys.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's look at what the Eagles need to do to avoid a letdown and complete the sweep of the 'Skins.

Don't Be Afraid to Run Up the Middle

Albert Haynesworth will be a game-time decision, but whether he plays or not, Andy Reid cannot be afraid to attack the middle. The 'Skins will be expecting to see a lot of stretch and off-tackle plays with LeSean McCoy because of Haynesworth’s presence, but I believe running right at him is the better way to go.

Even if Haynesworth plays, he'll be dinged up and less than 100 percent. So if Reid just tells Jamaal Jackson and either guard (depending on which way the play is going) to double-team him, the line should be able to open up some holes up the middle.

That would then leave McCoy one-on-one with London Fletcher who should not able to bring down a shifty McCoy in the open field. I'm not saying Fletcher won't get his hands on McCoy from time to time, but at least seven out of 10 times McCoy should be able to shake him and keep moving.

Don't Lose Sight of Antwaan Randle El

It's not because I think he's a great receiver, but because he's the key to any trick play that they may try. He has a background as a quarterback, so using him to throw the ball just makes sense.

With the Eagles' aggressive style of defense, running a few trick plays would make a lot of sense, and would probably work. It's the risk you take when you have a defense that swarms and attacks like the Eagles' defense does, but as long as you keep an eye on Randle El, the defense should be able to sniff it out.

For instance, if he just stands at the line of scrimmage and doesn't seem interested in running a pattern, it's probably because he's got some other assignment. A double-pass, wide receiver pass, or some funky reverse is most likely.

Also, expect the Redskins to try and use the Wildcat this week more than they have in the past.

Get Creative With Mike Vick and the Wildcat

Vick's long run last week, I think, instilled some confidence in the coaching staff. Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg told everyone to expect to see more of Vick this week, but then again, he's been saying that every week.

This week, however, could be different. In the weeks prior, Vick hasn't shown a whole lot to warrant playing time. But against the Bears, he was able to break off a 34-yard run to set up an Eagles field goal.

He seemed to lack the speed he once had, but he appeared as shifty as ever, freezing a defensive back in his tracks as he ran around him.

I'm not part of the crowd that believes the Vick experiment is a failure if he doesn't make an impact this year. In fact, I don't think it's possible to fail with Vick. He was brought in as a backup quarterback who can do some other things, so there was only a factor of reward and very little risk.

That said, I do think that Mornhinweg and Reid are wasting the man's talents. Use him when the offense is struggling, not when they're rolling, and I think you'll see a guy who can make a clutch play to keep a drive alive and the offense moving.

Read more Preview news on BleacherReport.com

2010 World Cup Finals Draw Idle Speculation

Mike Towers — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:48:00 -0500

Seven days and counting before the draw in Cape Town: Let’s take a closer look at the structure of the draw to see if any easy to spot but almost certainly ill-judged conclusions emerge.

First things first; there will be eight groups comprised of one team from each of the four pots. The pots will probably follow the pattern set out here on Nov. 19 .

So, the top seven teams and South Africa will be seeded in Pot One. Pot Two will consist of the remaining UEFA qualifiers. Pots Three and Four will include the Asian, South American and North, Central American and Caribbean qualifiers. No pot can contain more than two teams from the same geographical area.

Next, tradition dictates that the host nation kicks off the tournament. Since the first game is the Group A clash on June 11 between teams A1 and A2, and the No 1 team in each group is the seed, it is fair to assume South Africa are A1. That’s the probable bare facts out of the way. Now for the speculation.

We don’t yet know whether the other seeds will be placed in alphabetical order. If they are this is what will happen:

Group B: Argentina
Group C: Brazil
Group D: England
Group E: French 2012 Olympic Handball Team / The Netherlands
Group F: Germany
Group G: Italy
Group H: Spain

Obviously, this may not be how the seeds are drawn at all. But an intriguing scenario awaits us if I am proved wrong—and it has to do with the two sides of the draw. Whoever qualifies from the group stage, only teams from groups A – D can play each other in the last 16.

This obviously means only teams from groups E – H can meet in the last 16. The pattern repeats itself in the quarter finals, when teams can once again only play sides from their half of the draw. The semis are the first opportunity for the fancied teams from either half of the draw to meet.

An example: England are Group D seeds. They win the group and take on the second placed team from Group C in the last 16. England prevail and then face the winners of the match between the winners of Group B and the second placed Group A side in the quarters.

Let’s say this is Argentina and no-one fancies them to go through. England win and take on the top seed from either Group F (Germany) or Group H (Spain). Then it’s the final...(well, I can dream, can’t I?).

And what’s the upshot of all this hypothesising? If all goes to plan, Brazil and Spain, sorry, Brazil and England, will meet in the final. This can only happen if the seeds are drawn in alphabetical order or a random draw puts Brazil and Spain on a converging route to the final.

Such a random draw could obviously throw up all kinds of other alternative possibilities which FIFA may not appreciate, such as Brazil meeting Spain in the quarter-finals. I will watch this anytime but you have to wonder whether FIFA would be quite so enthusiastic.

Let’s wait and see if the extraordinary FIFA meeting on Dec. 2 offers any clues ahead of the actual draw two days later.

Everyone in England “thinks they know it already and that it’s their job to set the author right”. So says Simon Kuper, author of Soccernomics , in a Q&A session with the New York Times. Kuper has lots to say about football in France, Lyon especially, the methods Guss Hiddink uses to coach difficult players, and the belief that “England will now fulfill its destiny to win [in South Africa]. It is ludicrous,” says Kuper .

A little known legal challenge which threatened Chile’s place at World Cup has been resolved. The problem began when Rangers disputed their relegation from the Clausura championship. It seems they fielded one too many foreign players under the Clausura's 6+5 rule and were docked three points.

The move consigned Rangers to automatic relegation, a prospect they weren’t exactly thrilled by. So they mounted a desperate legal challenge which forced the playoffs for relegation and promotion, plus the championship's semi-finals, to be put on hold.

The conflict seemed set to drag on indefinitely until FIFA sent a letter to the ANFP, Chile's football association. The matter would go before FIFA’s Executive Committee next week, which had the power to suspend Chile for the World Cup, unless Rangers backed down.

They did , and now we can all look forward to seeing ex-Liverpool winger Mark Gonzalez repeatedly falling over and losing the ball before being substituted. Hooray.

This at least means we won’t see the array of endorsements on Gonzalez’s shirt, which is more than can be said for the sturdy figure of John Terry. According to a report in today’s Independent , if Terry gets his way he could be wearing the footballing equivalent of a Boy Scout’s jumper next summer.

The England captain’s new marketing company sent out a mass e-mail with the words “Want John Terry to endorse your brand?” in the email subject field. I’m already thinking of the fun we’ll have next summer waiting for Terry to namedrop his sponsors in interviews after games: “That was tough. Honduras are a good side and we really hard to work hard. I’m gagging for a Smoothie.” It will happen .

Read more Preview news on BleacherReport.com