Classic Catches

Adelaide United Upset Perth Glory

Monday 5/1/15

The A-League games today witnessed the victory of Adelaide with 2 – 1 to Perth. Marinkovic got the first goal for Perth at 11 minutes, Goodwin evened the result after 20 minutes, and Jeggo helped Adelaide to win the game with a key point at 48 minutes. Adelaide performed better than Perth in each aspect during the game. Wish them to hold the victory to the following games.

Today’s NBA games show some struggle results between Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat, also Indiana Pacers and LA Lakers. Brooklyn was beaten by Miami with 84 – 88, and both played to the last second. When there was only 0.4 seconds, Nets was 84 to 86 left behind. However, the two free throws made by Chris Bosh took away their hope. LA Lakers won narrowly one point with 88 to 87, beating Indiana Pacers. Kobe Bryant got the key shot at the end of the game. LA Lakers did not have an excellent performance these two seasons. Kobe needs to prove his value and leads the whole team to the victory. Dallas Mavericks beat Cleveland Cavaliers with 109 – 90. Sacramento Kings was beaten by Detroit Pistons with 95 – 114. NY Knicks kept bad performance, losing with 82 – 95 to Milwaukee Bucks. Phoenix Suns beat Toronto Raptors with 125 to 109.

By Wang Shikai

References

Football Image: http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/6001470-3x2-700x467.jpg
NBA Image: http://nytimes.stats.com/nba/recap.asp?g=2015010414&home=14&vis=17&final=true

Mariners Break The Drought

Sunday 4/1/15

Central Coast Mariners earned an upset 2 – 0 win over Melbourne City with a Mitch Duke Double in A-League. Duke squeezed between two defenders and slotted a Glen Trifiro through ball past Velaphi from about 15 metres, achieving the first score. He then drilled a fierce shot from the edge of the area past Velaphi and got his second goal in the game. City failed to capitalise on a number of chances either side of the break after this game. Hope Duke to show more excellent performance after breaking his personal drought.

As for the NBA news, Clippers routed 76ers 127 – 91 for third win in a row. The Clippers pulled the 76ers in a worse situation. Chris Paul got 24 points, 12 assists and 8 rebounds. The Clippers reserved outscored Philadelphia 39 – 17 in the fourth, led by Jordan Farmer, who shot each of his 13 points in the period. Atlanta beat Portland with 115 – 107 in another NBA game. Paul Millsap had 27 points, Jeff Teague achieved 22 points and the Hawks improved to 11 – 5 on the road with 6 straight wins away from home on the second game of a back to back. The Trail Blazers’ four-game winning streak has been shut down; despite this loss, they just lost 3 games at home this season. LaMarcus Aldridge led Portland with 30 points and 12 rebounds.

By Wang Shikai

References

Football Image: http://images.performgroup.com/di/library/sportal_com_au/b2/cd/a-league-central-coast-mariners-v-melbourne-victory_15ktpiej8foc2174pni2oxqmgv.jpg?t=148826522w=1000&h=750
NBA Image: http://hosted.stats.com/nba/photos/201501041835669001836-p3.jpeg

Shock Results In The NBA

Saturday 3/1/15

The NBA results today shows the loss of Toronto to Golden State with 105 to 126. The Warriors beat the Toronto Raptors in a matchup of conference leaders. Stephen Curry got 32 points and 12 assists and Draymond Green achieved the first triple-double in his career life. Green had 16 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds, and three others scored in double digits to help Warriors finish the game. Golden State started with a 23 – 5 run on the third quarter and thwarted the Raptors’ brief rally with contributions from all over. The Warriors outshot Toronto 53.3 percent to 46.5 percent, and they also had a season-low with nine turnovers, while the Raptors had 17. Atlanta has moved into first in the East due to Toronto’s loss. Another loss for LA Lakers today resulted in 106 – 109, and they are beaten by Memphis Grizzlies. Kobe Bryant had only 0.6 seconds to shot a 3-point and it bounced off the rim as time expired. This is the fifth time in 11 games against the Memphis.

By Wang Shikai

References

Image: http://hosted.stats.com/nba/photos/201501041332487411024-p3.jpeg

NBA Action

Friday 2/1/15

The NBA action today saw the Denver Nuggets losing to the Chicago Bulls who were led by strong performances from potential all-star duo Jimmy Butler and Pau Gasol. Jimmy Butler continued to build his case for being the most improved player of the year producing a statline of 26/8/8 while Pau Gasol also flirted with the triple double finishing with 17 points 9 rebounds and an astonishing 9 blocks. For the Nuggets Kenneth Faried continued his strong performances of late with 18 points and a game high 19 rebounds. Sacramento played Minnesota in the only other game today in which the Kings prevailed in a close encounter. No overly dominant performance from Sacramento tonight with an even contribution from all starters reflected by each of them scoring at least 14 points. Andrew Wiggins is now starting to build a gap from the other rookies in the race for the Rookie of the Year Award asserting himself on the game with 27 points and 9 rebounds, continuing to show signs of improvement as he becomes more comfortable within the league.

A thrilling game in the Big Bash tonight with the Hurricanes just managing to eclipse the Brisbane Heat total of 208 with 6 balls to spare. George Bailey won the toss and elected to field which early on looked like a poor decision as Jimmy Peirson and Peter Forrest of the Heat roared along to a 119 run opening stand with each player hitting a fifty. Quick cameos from Dan Christian and Ben Cutting saw the Heat post an extremely imposing total of 208 from their 20 overs – which despite it appearing to be a flat pitch would be difficult for the Hurricanes to chase down. However when the Hurricanes began their innings most fears were quickly dissipated with their opening pair of Ben Dunk and Tim Paine putting on 120 as their opening stand at over 12 runs per over, flaying the bowling to all parts of the ground. Once the opening stand was broken it was already too late and the damage was done with skipper George Bailey applying the finishing touches with a frantic 28* off just 12 balls to seal the deal with an over to spare.

By Adam Stevens

References:

NBA Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Ep2Rv1pFE
Big Bash Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCVWg_yjAho

Happy New Years Sports Goers!

Thursday 1/1/14

Hope you all kicked in the New Year in style! Overnight in the Big Bash the Sydney Thunder found themselves back on the winners list with a comprehensive win over the Perth Scorchers away from home. Led by the great man himself Jacques Kallis putting in a vintage allrounders performance with 70 runs opening the batting then 2 wickets during the Perth innings. The other old head of the Team Mike Hussey also found ways to involve himself closing the innings with a very handy cameo of 36* followed by taking a blinder at second slip off the bowling of Kallis to dismiss Ashoton Turner. For the Scorchers Michael Carberry may have discovered a little bit of form towards the back end of their innings with 69* off just the 48 deliveries.

Todays NBA results reflected a continued struggle for the Cleveland Cavaliers with superstar LeBron James being ruled out injured for the next couple of weeks leaving only Kyrie Irving of the new big 3 fit to play for the side. The loss of James was further soured by an emphatic loss to the Milwaukee Bucks who were simply to good for the shorthanded Cavs coasting home to a 96-80 victory. A vintage Tim Duncan clutch play forced the Pelicans into an overtime game which saw the Spurs end up prevailing with a 93-95 victory for Timmy and the boys. Kevin Durant was welcomed back to the OKC lineup against the Suns and saw fit to help himself to an extremely dominant stat line of 44/10/7 with an efficient 13-23 shooting seeing the Thunder home to an overtime win against Phoenix.

By Adam Stevens

References

NBA Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz28_vOCQBg
Big Bash Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTna6Z-PGJo

Last Update for the Year!

Wednesday 31/12/14

The Adelaide Strikers wound up their 2014 with a real bang in the Big Bash overnight crushing the Hobart Hurricanes in an 8 wicket victory with 33 balls remaining in the chase. The Wild Thing Shaun Tait starred with the ball taking an impressive 3/22 from his 4 overs and really winding back the clock with a ferocious 147kph yorker to end Darren Sammys innings before it even began. With the bat Tim Ludeman continued his love affair with Adelaide Oval this season smashing a quick-fire 54 from just 33 deliveries which included 4 fours and 4 sixes, he was ably supported by Jono Deans 54 not out which featured an Adelaide Strikers record of 6 sixes and a unique highlight of a broken bat as he tried to flay a ball through the covers.

In an NBA roundup the Cavaliers continued their recent slide following the loss of Centre Anderson Varajeo for the season with an Achilles tendon injury falling to the Atlanta Hawks 109-101 away from home. The Portland Trailblazers were able to outlast the Toronto Raptors in a see-sawing affair the saw the game taken into overtime before Portland ultimately prevailed 102-97 at home. Golden State continued to maintain its lead atop the Western Conference ladder handing out a 40 point drubbing to the ever lowly Philadelphia 76ers with a final score of 126-86, the ideal way for the Warriors to kick off their 6 game home stretch.

Happy New Year Readers!

By Adam Stevens

References

Big Bash Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWp03EDGGs8
NBA Image: https://espngrantland.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/stephklaytop.jpg?w=1003