Bruins game 2 review

So the second game of the season brought to town the detroit red wings, a team playing on the slow end of a back to back, and even worse, three games in four days. Obviously this makes portraying an accurate barrometer for the game difficult, so i'll focus on some other aspects of the game that wouldn't have been as dramatically effected. Torrey Krug had a goal and an assist, both on the power play and finished the night +1 making his stat sheet appear successful. Here is the problem. When you have a team with dead legs as Detroit obviously showed pretty much from the opening face-off, your goal should be as a team to put your foot on the throat of your opponent, take an early lead, and go through the motions for 60 minutes. On two particular occasions, and who knows, their may have been more i didn't notice, Krug pinched into the attacking zone on what were basically unmakeable plays, and failed to break the play up or seperate his opponent from the puck leading to odd man rushes going the other way. These plays are so anti Claude system, that they really stick out. Two games in a row this has happened, and in the first game it lead directly to a goal. However, the news ain't all bad regarding what has become one of Boston fans favorite players. His ability to move the puck out of the defensive zone, and in the attacking zone has brought such an amazing light to a dismal power play that we have been forced to witness since the Mark Savard era ended. He is here for a reason, and will remain here as long as he learns to picks his spots when pinching. Now that that is covered, the rest of the game can be summed up very easily. The power play looked great with Chara camping down low in front of the net. For anyone who thought this was a bad idea, (i.e. everybody) it just goes to show that you can think outside the box every once in a while in Claudes system and have success. My argument from the beginning was that his power play couldn't be any worse, so what the hell? Give it a shot. And boom, success. Tuukka Rask again played amazing, making 25 saves. Detroit came in beat, had a loser mentality all game, especially from its veterans, didn't play an ounce of physical hockey on either end of the ice, and the final score reflected such a game. In the past the Bruins have done two things poorly. Perform in matinee games, and take advantage of a wounded opponent. This is a great sign for things to come. 68 more wins to 70. Bruins 4 Detroit 1 ... Bruins 2-0-0 Coming in next on thursday 10/10, the bruins welcome the Colorado Avalanche.

Bruins Game 1 review

Bruins 3 - Lightning 1 bruins 1-0-0 1st in atlantic The start to what i'm predicting is the nhls first 70 win team. the night began with a montage that had one two many clips from the blackhawks series just three months ago. perhaps a little extra motivation. then the team and coaches were introduced and rene rancourt gave us the anthem to get things underway. two fist pumps. for the game itself, line three consisting of reilley smith, chris kelly, and jordan caron looked the best from start to finish. excluding chris kellys beautiful penalty shot goal which was off a terrible call, caron and smith used their speed all night to keep the puck in the attacking zone. caron who still isn't a lock to stay on the ice all season, proved he can hang with the nhl crowd. He attacked the corners using speed and strength and unfortunatly had a goal taken away due to a quick whistle. line one, with lucic, krejci, and iginla showed at times how dominate they could be. the difference between this season and last is that iginla isn't going to let the other two take a single shift off, let alone entire weeks at a time. And that is not a shot at nathan horton. it takes three guys to suck it up. this line can move the puck together as good as any line i've ever seen on the bruins. Lucic looks primed to take a gigantic step forward this season and become a top skater and player in the NHL. Iginla, unhappy about a clean hit he received decided to fight radko gudas to a draw. however, for this team to be successful they have to play with that chip on their shoulder. make the other team afraid to get hit, and to make hits. line two, of eriksson, bergeron, and marchand had some early struggles getting the puck out of their own end, but like the rest of the team, were dominate by the third period. marchand is so quick with the puck. he elludes defensemen like barry sanders. all three on this line worked the corners magically, but couldn't connect on any passes into the slot. though bergeron scored, it came on a 3 on 4 penalty kill, where for some reason torrey krug was ahead of the play, if anything just confusing tampa bays goalie lindback enough for the puck to squeeze through his legs. The lone dissapointment came from line four. if their is a line that could be an issue on this team it's thornton, paille, and campbell. We saw them struggle early to get the puck out of their own end, and it showed as Claude didn't roll four lines at any point in the game, something we have become accustomed to, especially in early season games. this team has depth and as good as this line has been for years now, the bruins front office has shown they are not afraid to mix things up. luckly all three know their role as thornton stuck up for mcquaid fighting pierre labrie and paille and campbell played well on the penalty kill. for the power play, i believe the bruins had one full two minute powerplay early in the 1st and it was terrible. the dump and chase method only works when everyone is in position and tampa did a great job of pinching early and holding the blue line. A small sample size, but unimpressive to say the least. the penalty kill saw themselves fighting off two 5 on 3s of both 1:54 and 1:58 minutes long. while tampa bay held possesion the majority of the time, the collapsing triangle and charas healthy seven foot frame down low resulted in maybe one or two legit scoring chances. this, plus the scoresheet saying we scored two shorthanded goals on the night because apparently penalty shot goals fall under that stat shows where this teams heart is. right in the defensive zone. the best offense is a good defense. as for the defense, i could tell chara was getting one to many shifts for opening night. while he is arguably the best defenseman in the game, claude is going to have to trust other people to get it done. that being said, chara looked fantastic. hamilton and mcquaid made sure nobody entered the crease and if they did they got a nice handful of glove. nothing bad to say about seidenberg. johhny rocket looked slow to start, but like others picked it up in the third. The issue tonight, if you can even call it that, was torrey krug. the lone goal tampa scored was all his fault on a terrible pinch down low. a pinch you only make when your down a goal late or something. he was the worst player on the ice for the first half of the game, but beating a dead horse, played great in the 3rd period. a theme i hope to see all season. Finally, what can you say. tuu u's. tuu k's, tuu points. while he couldn't handle a rebound to start the game, tuukkas stay at home fundamentals dominated the game. great scoring opportunities looked like routine shots in practice all night. if anyone was worried about his contract slowing him down, its clear, its only made him better. our next match up is satuday 10/5 at home against divison opponent, Detroit. Detroit will be coming in from a game tonight in carolina.

2011 - 2012 NBA predictions... Part 4

And to end, my playoff predictions:

Miami vs Chicago. No brainer. Will Chicago show up vs will Miami choke? Chicago is going to need to exploit the point guard position and play with balls. With Tom Thibedea (no way i spelled that right) coaching, i give them a slight edge. I can promise it won't be one sided like last year.

Denver vs Clippers. When this happens you won't be surprised. Reading it now you think it's insane.

Bulls vs Clippers 2011-2012 NBA finals...

Bulls in 6

thanks,
Wizard

2011 - 2012 NBA predictions... Part 3

Final Season Predictions:

Eastern Conference:

Miami: 54-12
Chicago: 52-14
New York: 46-20
Orlando: 44-22
Indiana: 43-23
Atlanta: 40-26
Boston: 38-28
Phili: 38-28

NJ: 37-29
Detroit: 33-33
Charlotte: 30-36
Cleveland: 26-40
Washington: 25-41
Milwakee: 22-44
Toronto: 15-51

Western Conference:

Dallas: 50-16
OK city: 49-17
LAC: 49-17
Denver: 46-20
San Antonio: 44-22
Memphis: 42-24
Golden State: 39-27
Utah: 36-30

LAL: 35-31
Minnesota: 32-24
Houston: 30-26
Sacramento: 29-27
Portland: 27-29
Phoenix:24-32
New Orleans: 12-44

2011 - 2012 NBA predictions... Part 2

This is my shitty team by team breakdown.

Atlantic:

Boston: Did nothing to improve team. Did enough to dress 12 players.

New Jersey: Love Morrow. Love Williams. Too bad some Russian will do anything he can to ruin team chemistry.

NY: Why not score 120 a game while allowing 121.

Phili: This team will have heart and rebounding. Point's will be tough to come by though.

Toronto: A foreign team with mostly all foreign players. I never thought i'd say it but i feel bad for Bargnani.

Central:

Detroit: My 2nd favorite team. At least for home games they have a beer of the night for $5.

Chicago: Gotta love everything about this team. Rose will continue to strive to be the best. Last year he took a big step in his decision making. I assume that can only improve, regardless of his fake SAT scores.

Cleveland: Post Lebron, year 2. Still twenty more years to go before the wounds heal. Tough luck getting 2/4 top picks in weakest NBA draft of my lifetime.

Indiana: Doing the little things, and signing black players. Sleeper alert

Milwakee: At least the Packers are going 19-0.

Southeast:

Miami: 66 games, and all should be wins. That won't happen. Lebron no showing in playoffs will.

Orlando: Once Howard is traded, they will be worst team in basketball. I mean, a team that shoots 3's and doesn't rebound? When has that ever worked Phoenix?

Atlanta: Joe Johnson's contract. ha

Charlotte: Worst GM in sports history. Bring back morrison. Maybe Cam Newton can hit a jumper.

Washington: Dead money favorite to win any pistol duels. However, big underdogs game to game.

Northwest:

Denver: The Rocky Mountain Knicks have a lot to look forward to. Like teams playing the 2nd night of a back to back 5,280 feet in the air. Wait till my playoff predictions.

Minnesota: The schedule helps them almost more than anybody. Kevin Love will win 20 games by himself. Ricky Rubio sucks as well. They will get some wins, and a lot less ping pong balls.

OK City: The funnest team to watch in basketball outside of the Harlem Globetrotters. If westbrook can take his 10 terrible shots a game down to 5, and make decent passes for 10 extra points, watch the fuck out.

Portland: Heroin capitol of the world. Doesn't explain how Brandon Roys' knees disappeared or how Greg Oden himself died... Or does it?

Pacific:

Utah: Love the starters with big Al, Millsap, and Harris, but this bench is to unstable to do anything. Could be your classic NBA western conference team with 50 wins and a 9 seed. (shortened season adjusted)

Golden State: MONTE. CURRY. DEFENSE. fuck that. DEFENSE. fuck that. DEFENSE. although they should be able to outshoot anybody playing a back to back.

LAC: Beast of west. A team that is cursed with actual expectations? Blake is the best player in basketball. CP3 is the best PG is basketball. and the rest of the team is meh.

LAL: Blowing up the team for some reason. Kobe will still dominate, but i'm not sold on the mental toughness of Pau after trade rumors. and i'm still not sold on Bynum's health for a whole season.

Phoenix: Trade nash then talk to me. until then enjoy winning 1/4 games.

Sacramento: Such a boring team. yawn

Southwest:

Dallas: NBA champs. Only got better with kardashian.

Houston: Talented, but most wins will come off heart. Teams gotta get lucky once in a while.

Memphis: Tony Allen tried to trade rudy gay. When that is your biggest offseason move you may be in trouble. Sneaky though have one of the best fan bases in basketball.

New Orleans: Never heard of them

San Antonio: Early Exit. Lot of wins though. Will be fun up until April for spurs fans.

2011 - 2012 NBA predictions... Part 1

This is where i write down my thoughts so in 6 months i look really smart.

First off, fantasy basketball leagues are only 13 weeks then playoffs. remember that.

OK. My predictions for all awards.

MVP: Blake Griffin. Just got the best point guard in basketball to set up instinctive dunking ability to begin with. Blake could average 20/15. If his FT% improves, that number could be higher.

Rookie of Year: Kenneth Faried. Guys from fake colleges are always dark horses. In a year which will have countless back to backs, the kids will have to play. It helps that Faried might end up starting.

Defensive Player of Year: Lyndsey Hunter... Is he still in the league? He shut down rondo once. This one is obvious. Barkley once told Dwight Howard to get some rebounds. Ever since he has won back to back to back DPOTY awards. He is an absolute lock to win again.

Sixth Man: Tough to predict because we don't know who will end up playing or not. My guess is George Hill from the pacers. Once IUPUI's greatest stud, he is now an important piece on a much improved pacers club.

Coach of Year: I hate saying it, but Vinny Del Negro will run away with this award. If the clippers clinch a playoff birth he is in. It won't be his coaching that earns the award, just the players. Remember, Mike Brown won this thing once.

Executive of year: Don't know his name, don't care. Guy who runs Clippers.

Most Improved: JaVale McGee. There is a ton of talent with this kid. However, he cries like a school girl when people play to physical. Guess i'm just a sucker for raw talent.

I refuse to do any other awards.

What Pink Hats have done to the Red Sox

Our long Red Sox national nightmare finally ended last night as the potentially insane Bobby Valentine was finally reported to be the next Red Sox manager. Now I hate this. I didn't want Dale Sveum either. The guy I wanted was Mike Maddux but he backed out. This was a lame crop of managers by they way. Between the group out there, then yes Bobby Valentine was probably the best choice. He looked like the manager version of Kate Upton compared to the Roseanne Barr of Gene Lamont. What really gets me angry about this whole situation is how the great puppet master Larry Lucchino undercut his new puppet in Ben Cherington so blatantly in the public and totally making it so that we, as fans, can never take anything Cherington says seriously again.


Now lets get to why the pink hats are to take some of the blame for the joke the Red Sox are now. The pink hat fans have totally taken over Fenway Park and have made it tough to be a die hard fan. The ownership has taken full advantage of the pink hats and good for them. They've made a ton of money off them. The pink hats started to pop up in 2003, really emerged in 2004 and are now basically 75% of the fan base. I hate pink hats. Pink hats are the reason that Valentine is the manager now. Lucchino saw and listened to the fans, heard that there wasn't really a lot of excitement for Svuem ( and rightfully so) and then went to the guy that pink hats have seen on ESPN and heard every bandwagon fan from Boston to Maine get excited and boom, next thing you know he's the guy that's been the number 1 choice all along when we all know damn well that Svuem was all but hired. The pink hats helped sign Crawford and now they've helped Lucchino hire Bobby V. They should own a 50% stake in the team.


Now a pink is not just about gender. Men and women can be pink hats. I have probably seen more male pink hats then female pink hats. Also pink hats don't have to physically wear a pink hat. They can wear a whole damn uniform but they're still pink hats. I was a Sox game a few years back and there was some guy sitting in the stands trying to impress his girlfriend and she asked about who the "number 9" was up in right field. The guy didn't know. He didn't know! Its Ted freaking Williams. Only the greatest Red Sox player of all time. Only the greatest hitter who ever lived. Another sign of a possibly pink hat is there reaction when you call them a pink hat. If you call me a pink hat I'm just gonna say "yah ok" and laugh it off. But if you call a pink hat a pink hat, look out. They freak out and almost always say "I'm not a pink hat. I know what I'm talking about. I watch every game" And they always say it in a high pitched voice. It happens 100% of the time, every time.


They've turned Fenway and Yawkey Way into almost a amusement park setting. They get every ticket and phase out the die hards and the people that know what their talking about. Bandwagon fans are every where but the ones I respect are the ones that don't try to act like they know what their talking about. Pink hats I have almost no respect for. I don't have a problem with the girl fans, I say god bless them but the guy pink hats just kill me and suck the life out of me. Nothing could ever drive me away from my love of the Red Sox but they way the operate down there is embarrassing and how they care what the fans say is killing me slowly. Listen to the scouts and your baseball operations people and not Joe Six Pack out in Quincy who saw Bobby V on Baseball Tonight. You think Belichick listens to us? Hell no and things have been working out for him lately.