Thursday Take-Twos

Say goodbye to the Dallas Mavericks, Washington Capitals and Ryan Zimmerman’s 30 game hitting streak in this week’s installment of Thursday Take-Twos.
The Denver Nuggets put the finishing touches on the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 to reach the NBA Western Conference Finals for the first time since 1985. The Nuggets won the series 4-1. The 124-110 victory occurred in front of the Nuggets’ home crowd at the Pepsi Center. Denver shot 64 percent in the first half to build a 69-55 halftime lead. Carmelo Anthony netted 30, Chauncey Billups bucketed 28 and J.R. Smith scored 18 points for Denver. Billups also led with 12 assists and 7 rebounds while Nene Hilario rebounded 7 and tipped in 17 points. Denver forward, Kenyon Martin, stole four balls and fired 15 shots with success. Anthony hit a 25 foot jumper with 7 minutes left and the Mavericks on his heels to lift the Nuggets. Billups’ drew a technical foul from Dallas’ Antoine Wright to make it a 10 point game. Denver displayed excellent execution and had an answer for everything Dallas drew up. Dirk Nowitzki flicked 32 through the hoop and Jason Kidd added 19 for the Mavericks. The trade for Billups from Detroit appeared to make a difference for Denver this season. Chauncey and Melo are sparks and proven winners for the dark horse Denver team. Both players are forces in generating offense from downtown. The Nuggets are 8-2 in the playoffs and won a franchise tying 54 regular season games. They face the winner of the L.A.-Houston series in the finals. Denver is a championship quality team and will give fits to either of their next foe. An opponent has not beaten Denver at home since March 9th.
Sydney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins closed out their Eastern Conference semi-final series in Washington. Crosby propelled the offense and scored twice as the Pens scorched Washington 6-2 Wednesday night in the marquee match up between the teams. Captain Crosby stole the show with his post-season league-leading 11th and 12th goals. The Penguins skate to their second conference final in as many years. Wednesday, Crosby scored two power-play goals and assisted on the Pens‘ third goal. Sid the Kid wasn’t the only star of the game. Craig Adams slipped in his first goal in 42 post-season appearances. Youngster, Jordan Staal, 38 year old, Bill Guerin and defensive dasher, Kris Letang, both contributed with goals for Pittsburgh. Sergei Gonchar returned for the first time since being sidelined with a knee injury to provide an assist for Pittsburgh. Marc-Andre Fleury was nifty behind net with 19 saves and the defense kept the Caps’ Alex Ovechkin in check throughout the deciding game. Fleury fended off a breakaway attempt by Ovechkin when the game as still scoreless that could have provided momentum for Washington had Alex’s puck gone in the net. Ovechkin did score a late goal for Washington to improve his playoff series points to a commanding 14. The total has not been reached by any NHL player since the 1995 season. The Capitals switched goalies after the Penguins pounded in four goals. It was Crosby who struck first about seven minutes into the game. He added his second in the third period after stealing the puck from rival, Ovechkin, and parlayed the puck past replacement goalie, Jose Theodore for a 6-1 Penguins advantage.
It was a great story to follow. Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals was silenced at the plate for the first time in 30 consecutive games Wednesday. The Nats’ gnat, Zimmerman ,was collecting hits with currency in one of baseball’s hard-to-accomplish acts. It’s difficult enough to get a week’s worth of hits but thirty in a row is quite the accolade. It’s rare in today’s game too because when hitters start getting hot, pitchers intentionally walk them more often. Joe DiMaggio holds the record with his famed 56 game tear in 1941. Only 44 players in MLB history have a hit in 30 games. Moises Alou was the last to secure 30 in his 2007 stint with the Mets. Six players can claim a hitting streak of 40 or more games. Ryan drew two walks and went 0-3 against the San Francisco Giants in the National’s 6-3 win. Zimmerman faced another “z” last name major leaguer. Birthday boy, Barry Zito, was on the hill. I love Zito and am happy he is quietly turning his season around. Hopefully this indicates a return of the old curveball master from his Oakland days. Zimmerman did score a run in the 6th but fell short of the franchise record 31 games streak held by Vladimir Guerrero. Zimmerman grounded into a force with runners on first and second base in the ninth inning during his final at-bat. His streak began April 8th with a 6th inning double against the Florida Marlins. April 13th, he clobbered a 9th inning homerun in Philadelphia to keep the streak alive. An 8th inning shot on May 9th kept it going for 27 straight in a one-run Washington win over Arizona. The 24 year old third baseman batted .382 during the streak. He had 8 frozen ropes and 26 RBIs.


Parting points: I hear the music of Cracker; listening to “Low”.

The salacious story out of USC is making headlines. Did basketball coach, Tim Floyd, pay Rodney Guillory? According to former sportswriter for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Louis Johnson, he did. Johnson is penning a book about O.J. Mayo and he accused Floyd of paying Guillory to help deliver Mayo to the Trojans program. Who should we believe? I am fascinated by stories involving college compliance. I will follow the ongoing drama from Hollywood and if the accusations turn out true, we could also be saying goodbye to Floyd.