NBA – Grizzlies defeat Kings for last Playoffs berth in the West

The Memphis Grizzlies managed to outplay the Sacramento Kings in an entertaining 101-96 win and thus secure the last available berth into the Playoffs in the Western Conference. Zach Randolph hit two free throws with 4.8 seconds and sealed the deal for the Grizzlies, which managed to earn its first ticket into the Playoffs in the last 5 years.

Randolph finished the night with 27 points, 15 rebounds while guiding Memphis to a 45-34 season that eliminated the Houston Rockets from the race for the last spot in the Western Conference Finals. Point Guard Mike Conley had 12 points and eight assists while Marc Gasol chipped in with 18 points and Tony Allen scored 13 as Memphis won for the fifth time in six games.

But it wasn’t easy. Truth be said, the Sacramento Kings put on one heck of a fight in the last quarter. Quite frankly the Kings could very well have won the game. As a matter of fact, Sacramento pulled itself back into the game and when there where only 39 seconds to go in the game, they were down 97-96.

It was a good effort from the Kings. Marcus Thornton led the Sacramento with 18 points, seven coming in the final 2:30 to keep the Grizzlies from celebrating too early. Samuel Dalembert had 17 points and 16 rebounds. Tyreke Evans had 16 points, and Jason Thompson had 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

Had it not been for the Kings turnover rate, things would had been very different. Sacramento was very dominant in the paint, dominating the boards. The Kings outrebounded Memphis 49-42. That is including 16 offensive rebounds that contributed to 31 second-chance points, a season high for Sacramento. The Kings were a bit better shooting, and despite cutting down a 12-point deficit, their 10 turnovers would eventually end up costing them a bit too much.

Marc Gasol had 13 points during the first two quarters to help Memphis carry a 46-43 lead at halftime, but regardless of his performance, the first half was a bit of a disappointment. The Grizzlies shot 38 percent, while the Kings were at 42 percent and both teams missed all five of their 3-point attempts. Francisco Garcia nailed the first 3-pointer of the game right after the halftime break then followed with another to help Sacramento retake the lead.

The Grizzlies will now have to face the New Orleans Hornets on Sunday. These where the last two teams to clinch a NBA Playoffs berth in the Western Conference, neither of them are locked into the last position, so this game will be decisive for securing a higher berth in the final. New Orleans (46-33) secured a playoff berth by beating Houston on Wednesday, and Memphis (45-34) clinched the conference’s final spot Friday with a 101-96 win over Sacramento.

On the other hand, New Orleans is trying to avoid a first-round matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers, who will probably clinch the No. 2 seed in the West. The two-time reigning NBA champions outscored the Hornets by an average of 10.8 points in sweeping the season series, so chances are they might have a similar fate should they meet again in the postseason.

NBA – Houston Rockets outplay the Sacramento Kings

Chase Budinger scored 20 points and Kyle Lowry had 19 points, eight assists and seven rebounds as the Houston Rockets took a 123-101 win Monday night against the Sacramento Kings.

That was enough for Rick Adelman, the head coach of the Houston Rockets, to win his 935th game in the NBA, tying him with Dick Motta for 10th on the NBA’s career victories. To get this into the right perspective you might have to consider that among the top 10 in that list, only Phil Jackson (with great runs with the Chicago Bulls and the LA Lakers) and Red Auerbach, (who made his best run with the Celtics in the 50’s and 60’s) hold better winning percentages then him.

Now, besides being a significant win for Adelman, it was an important confident booster for the Houston Rockets. With a 33-32 regular season, the Rocket’s haven’t been at their finest, and yet, they sure enough are trying to turn the season around. Houston has won two straight games, seven of the last eight, and moved over the .500 mark for the first time all season in this valid and desperate run for a playoff berth.

The Sacramento Kings are on the other side of the spectrum. At 15-46 for the regular season and 8-24 on home games, the Kings are in a serious need of a lift off. There is really nothing this crew can do this season to get into the playoffs, but things could certainly get brighter next year.

For starters, DeMarcus Cousins had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Kings. For instance, there are many who believe that Cousins could really turn out to be one heck of the player. He has the all the talent you could wish for, but there are still many issues concerning his maturity and his concentration that could keep him from exploiting all his potential.

DeMarcus Cousins has had a brilliant start in March, completing his third double-double in as many games. Still, that was not enough to keep the Sacramento Kings from losing their third straight and fifth in six games.

It was certainly not a bomb-proof second half for Cousins. This doesn’t mean he had a bad game, au contraire; he dominated the paint offensively in the opening half when he scored 20 points. But then it all went south. The rookie center missed all five second-half shots, had zero points, and left the game in the fourth quarter after taking a hard hit. He didn’t come back but in the press conference team officials said that the injury was minor. Marcus Thornton had 16 points, Beno Udrih added 15, and Francisco Garcia scored 11 for the Kings.

For the Rockets, Courtney Lee scored 19 points and Martin had 15 for the Rockets, who shot 53 percent. Lowry scored 11 points and Luis Scola had 10 for the Rockets, who used a 36-28 second quarter to go into the half with a 65-58 lead.

The Houston Rockets will now have to face the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday before hosting quite an important and difficult game against the best team in the league, the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday. On the other hand, the Sacramento Kings will play the Orlando Magic on Wednesday and then also face the Spurs on Friday on a very difficult on-the-road game.

Kings Speech For Oscar?

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the last couple of months you will undoubtedly be aware of the phenomenal success of Brit flick The Kings Speech and it’s incredible clean up of awards all over the world. And with Golden Globes, BAFTA’s and Screen Actors Guild statuettes all going their way, there’s only one big one left and that’s the Oscar.

Having been nominated for 12 of them, the most for any single film, The Kings Speech is up against some incredible films for the coveted Best Picture award, including The Social Network, True Grit and Black Swan and despite it’s obvious odds on chances of winning, the Oscars are known to throw a spanner in the works when it comes to this award – anyone remember ‘Crash’ in 2004???

Colin Firth has bagged 26 awards around the world for his portrayal of King George VI and is almost certainly a guarantee for the Best Actor category but anything can happen on the night so if you think it’s a sure bet then the latest and best odds are below for you to have a punt on…

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NBA – LA Lakers win over the Sacramento Kings

The LA Lakers, the NBA defending Champions, where a bit unnerved at the beginning of the season, as the team’s brightest star and key-player Kobe Bryant, had been struggling with his recovery from knee surgery during the off-season. Kobe had to sit back and take things slow during training camp, and head coach Phill Jackson had been quite conservative with the amount of minutes that Kobe was expected to play at the first few games of the season.

The question many fans and NBA betting players where asking themselves was how many games would it take for Kobe to be fully recovered. Let’s be clear with something. When it comes to wagering on the spread on or a Lakers’ game total, Kobe Bryant is always a key-factor to take into account. So, despite their 4-0 record, the Lakers were 3-1 against the spread.

Now, despite not having their top scorer at top shape, the Lakers are now, after game 5, clearly landing their games on the over side of things. The only Laker game so far this regular season that has gone under the total was the 107-83 win over Golden State Warriors. But it also made sense. With such a big margin, why keep on pushing to score more?

Anyhow, after his triple-double against the Sacramento Kings, it seems that Kobe has made it quite evident that it only took him 5 games to fully recover from his surgery. Bryant closed the night with 30 points, 12 assists and 10 boards in the Lakers 112-100 win over the Kings. Taking that last game into the equation, the Lakers are now 5-0 straight and 4-1 against the spread (ATS).

Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom also contributed to the Lakers cause with 22 and 18 points respectively. It is still very early in the season, but it seems as if Phill Jackson’s last season as a professional coach might be en-route to a very good ending.