Results tagged “sportsredux”

Nothing lasts forever, certainly not an unbeaten NBA season. The Boston Celtics lost for the first time this season on Friday, dropping a 110-103 decision to the Phoenix Suns, who lost their first game on Wednesday. For a close game, the Suns were in control most of the way. The NBA's top two shooting teams didn't disappoint the crowd. The Celtics shot 51.7% from the field. Phoenix finished 13-24, or 54.2%, on three-pointers.

It's one point. A shootout loss. One goal. The Bruins will gratefully take it right now. With the offense struggling to even find the goal, let alone put the puck in it, and with swine flu racing towards the team, it's time to think about baby steps.

Let's face it. That was uglier than Minnesota's starting power forward. But if the Celtics are going to make a run at 70+ wins this season (and while PTI and the Globe and others are speculating about the possibility, we say, let's can that talk and let things unfold), they have to win games like last night. Trap games, against young athletic teams, on the second night of back-to-backs. And somehow, finally, the Celtics did.

Superficially, it looked like the old rivalry again. The Sixers have brought back the old logo, the old floor from the Spectrum (more or less) and uniforms that hearken back to the days of Dr. J and Andrew Toney. But the team that Philly put on the floor last night was no match for the early 09-10 Celtics. The '83 Sixers might not have been.

The Celtics are beating good teams by double digits. They're ticking off All-Star opponents. They're 4-0 after dispatching the Hornets last night at the Garden. And most importantly, they seem to have locked up their point guard for a few more years.

Another even-numbered game on the schedule; another win. It's a more reliable way of telling time than waking up this morning and not remembering if your cell phone/computer/alarm clock made the change for you.

When we last saw the Chicago Bulls, it was after the Celtics survived a seven-game street fight of a playoff series. Last night, the Bulls tapped out in about seven minutes. Perhaps that's an exaggeration on the part of Bostonist but the Celtics thoroughly outclassed the team, 118-90.

Eleven games, and for better and worse, the Bruins still haven't been able to put together a two-game streak of any kind. They had a chance last night, and played pretty well, but came away short with a 2-1 loss to the Devils. "This is one of those nights throughout the course of a season where you lose a hockey game only because the other team got one extra bounce going their way," said Coach Claude Julien.

Maybe the results are a little skewed, since the Charlotte Bobcats clearly didn't belong on the same floor or in the same league as the Celtics last night. Or maybe the Bobcats just looked like that because the C's' defense locked them up so tight that Amnesty International was handing out flyers by the end of the game. Final score: 92-59.

So says Doc, and it's a little easier to say now, after the Celtics withstood an early barrage from the Cavaliers and came back to win their season opener, 95-89.

It's hard not to experience a letdown after a 59-0 thrashing like the one the Pats put on Tennessee last night. The schedule makers, though, were kind enough to put another winless patsy in the Patriots' path, and the boys responded, delighting Londoners (well, we like to think so, anyway) with a 35-7 mauling of the Buccaneers.

But that's kind of a big deal, since it matches their season high. The "team goes up...team goes down" Bruins survived a tough beginning to come back and win in a shootout in Ottawa last night, 4-3.

Fans of American Football in London won't see a textbook example of the sport when the New England Patriots play the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Wembley Stadium on Sunday. If the game on display isn't something the league really wants on display - unless the NFL loves potentially one-sided games - then that leaves this year's London game as a means to promote the league through its stars. In other words, Tom Brady. That's what Mike Reiss theory is, and he believes Brady has embraced that theory, too. That would explain the sight of Brady in a suit surrounded by teammates in their casual team gear. It might explain more detailed, emphatic answers to media inquiries instead of the usual Belichick-speak we are treated to.

"It’s the only team that has the word ‘England’ in it," joked Alastair Kirkwood, the managing director of NFL UK. Ah, so that's why the Patriots had to spend last night flying across the Atlantic to get ready for Sunday's game against the Bucs in London.

Half the team is hurt. Much of the other half is brand new. But somehow, this bunch of strangers wearing Bruin black and gold managed to squeeze out a win over Nashville, 3-2. The first two goals all came from Bruins vets (Michael Ryder and Patrice Bergeron), but the game winner, Steve Begin's first Boston goal off an assist from Daniel Paille, was all n00b. "Most important thing is we won the game but it's great to get my first goal out of the way," said Begin.

The Patriots made a lot of roster moves yesterday. A LOT. To the point where we wonder if (a) Bill Belichick wasn't happy with the 59-0 win on Sunday, or (b) they were worried about jettisoning some extra weight for the team flight to London this week. Officially gone are TE Michael Matthews and WR Joey Galloway, who was handed his walking papers and promptly dropped them. Not gone long enough to be forgotten were linebackers Eric Alexander and Tully Banta-Cain, who were released and then promptly resigned, possibly for paperwork reasons. "There’s a lot of different procedures and rules, and I don’t even know if I understand them all," said Belichick, who's a lot more concerned right now with puffing up the 0-6 Buccaneers in his players' minds to make them think the Bucs are the second coming of the '66 Packers.

Some time this winter, you'll no doubt read about a storm that dumps an inch of snow on some Southern locale and sends the entire town to hell in a handbasket. It happens every year; when you don't see it much, you don't know what to do with it, and it's good night, Charlotte. Or Little Rock. Or Nashville.

Technically, the Patriots aren't playing the Tennessee Titans today. In honor of the 50th season of the old AFL teams, the Titans are dubbing themselves the Houston Oilers today in Foxboro. But whatever they call themselves, they're a good (or so we thought) team that's somehow 0-5, and the Patriots are a good (or so we thought) team that's 3-2 and hasn't really looked like itself. Something's got to give.

After starting the year with a 2-3-0 record that, quite possibly, looked worse than the actual record did, the Bruins left Boston looking to play better hockey. Coach Claude Julien actually said it's not that bad. Bostonist will just agree to disagree. One quick trip to Dallas and a complete 3-0 victory later over the Stars, and all is agreeable to Coach Julien and Bostonist. Call us crazy if you wish, but some Bruins hockey was on display in the first two periods. Marc Savard asserted himself with two goals and Patrice Bergeron added the third score. Tim Thomas turned back all 27 Dallas shots for his first shutout of 2009-10.

Manny vs. Pedro. Two guys we loved while they were here (well, maybe not the last month or two or eighteen of Manny, your mileage may vary), who helped us out a lot in 2004, and stuck around long enough to pose for some goofy pictures.

The Celtics returned to more-or-less full strength, and in their first game in Hartford in over a decade, mauled the Raptors 106-90 in their finest preseason outing yet.

Nobody can say anything official, but everyone in Foxboro is unofficially saying that Junior Seau, who never strayed far from the phone, will be back with the Patriots sometime soon. Maybe. The amount of information runs from Seau's optimistic "I want to thank the management of both for making my return to the NFL with the New England Patriots a reality", to Bob Kraft's gushing "I’d love to have him part of our team for as long as he wants to be", to Bill Belichick's terse "we don’t have anything to say about it."

“The season doesn’t wind down. It just comes to a crashing halt,” Boston manager Terry Francona. That quote wraps up the entire sports day as the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots were on the losing end of comebacks today.

• The early action in ALDS Game Three favors the Red Sox. A 5-1 lead thanks, in part, to Dustin Pedroia finally proving the Sox can score runs against the Angels. J.D Drew homered, too. Clay Buchholz leads Boston's potential last stand and needed 152 pitches to complete the first two innings versus the LAA.

• The New England Patriots face another key test today against Josh McDaniels and the Denver Broncos. Denver is 4-0 thanks to a stout defense worthy of Belichick.

• The Boston Bruins were thoroughly outplayed by the recently dreadful New York Islanders for most of Saturday's game, and looked headed for a third bad loss in four games. The Bruins ended with a memorable comeback featuring two Marc Savard scores, including the game-winner in a shoot-out.

• No need to wory about a third straight ACC title game forBoston College as the Eagles lost to #5 Virginia Tech, 48-14.

The Boston Red Sox have scored one run in 18 innings against an Angels pitching staff that has been too hard for them to handle. The 2-0 deficit the Sox are in is even harder to deal with. We'll find out Sunday. We do know that the Red Sox have overcome a 2-0 deficit twice in a five-game series, most recently in 2003 against Oakland. Friday's 4-1 loss featured great pitching from the Angels and some textbook small-ball examples like stolen bases and hitting and running that produced runs.

"Whatever the hex is, I guess somebody un-hexed it," said the Angels' Chone Figgins. We're not sure what that hex may be, or if it's really gone, but last night, the Angels looked like hex-free division winners. And the Red Sox looked like a team that staggered into the playoffs, mustering no offense and succumbing meekly to Anaheimorwhatever 5-0.

Man. It seems like it's been forever, doesn't it? At least a week and a half since we had very much local to talk about.

The Twins beat the Tigers, so the field of eight is set in the baseball playoffs. All we can do now is wait. And wait and wait and wait. The Red Sox won't play until tomorrow night, when all the other first-round playoff series start today.

In some ways, the game was as ugly as the pink accents all over everything (yeah, we know, good cause and blah blah blah and all, but in the words of MAD Magazine, bleccch). In other ways, it was one of those tight, efficient Patriots game that may not be aesthetically pleasing but get the job done. In any case, it's a win, a grinder of a 27-21 over the previously undefeated Ravens.

Last time the Bruins saw the Carolina Hurricanes, Scott Walker beat Tim Thomas in OT to put an abrupt end to the magical 2008-09 season. Last night, they got together again, and the Bruins beat them on the scoreboard, in the face, and up and down the ice in a 7-2 pummeling that almostsortakinda erased the pain of last season, or at least redirected it onto their foes.