Prince Fielder Signs With Tigers
Prince Fielder wanted a long, lucrative contract. He got just that from the city where he grew up and where his father, Cecil, starred. The Tigers and the slugging 1B/DH agreed to a nine-year deal worth $214 million, according to CBS’ Jon Heyman. Fielder will play first base, according to Heyman, with Miguel Cabrera taking on a different role.
Detroit had a gaping hole in the middle of their lineup when Victor Martinez tore his ACL a week ago. The 27-year-old lefty spent six full seasons with Milwaukee and hit 228 home runs, including 38 last season when he led the Brewers to the NLCS, where they lost to the eventual champion Cardinals. His .299 average and .415 on base percentage in 2011 were both career highs as was his 36 doubles. He also struck out a career low 106 times.
Like Ryan Braun in Milwaukee, Fielder will have superb lineup protection in Miguel Cabrera, and a Fielder-Cabrera-Martinez trio in the middle of the batting order starting in 2013 will be tough to top in all of baseball. Detroit had a gigantic offensive hole with Martinez out, and Detroit flew in to make the huge Fielder move with Washington the only suitor believed to offer Fielder anything close to what he wanted.
The Tigers will have one of the best offenses in the American League for a long time with Fielder following his father’s footsteps in the Motor City.
Alex Ovechkin Bows Out of All-Star Game
After receiving a three game suspension from the NHL’s safety director Brendan Shanahan, Alex Ovechkin has decided to not play in this Sunday’s All-Star game.
Original speculation regarding this decision centered around Ovechkin bowing out because, well, the All-Star game is meaningless. However, recent reports have emerged that Ovechkin believes he “doesn’t deserve to play as a suspended player.”
Quotes like this one are, for lack of a better word, unusual coming from Ovechkin’s toothless mouth. The gritty Russian forward is known for his brash, unrelenting play on the ice – a skill set that has earned him elite scorer status as well as ire from other players around the league.
Ovi hits hard, shoots even harder and isn’t afraid to speak his mind. The recent suspension is evidence of his style of play. It is not like him, however, to take himself out of the All-Star game – an honor he has all but assured himself every year in the past but one that he might not be so deserving of this time around.
Ovechkin’s Capitals currently sit in eighth in the Eastern Conference, and Ovechkin is slotted in at 38th overall in league scoring; hardly a stellar season for either of them. The question that can now be raised is whether Ovechkin is taking the high road by not playing in the All-Star game during his suspension, or whether he’s realizing he didn’t really deserve to make it in the first place and is simply taking a mulligan on it?
Whatever his true feelings are, it’s tough to deny the fact that Ovechkin is having a less than impressive season. His selection to the All-Star proves it is more of a popularity contest than performance reward. His suspension only adds to the fact that he isn’t exactly the best role model in the league right now.
Since I am a fan, I think Ovi did take the high road here, and hope that he uses all this to bounce back for a strong second half. I also believe that he shouldn’t have been selected to head to Ottawa on Sunday and his realization of that could mean a newfound maturity that will really help his career flourish.
Wizards Fire Flip Saunders
After a 2-15 start and a complete loss of control over an NBA team, the Washington Wizards fired head coach Flip Saunders. From this morning’s Inside The NBA:
Saunders said that “I’m a little disappointed in that I thought we’d be more energized early. We were probably tired. You have to give them (Philadelphia, who beat Washington by 20 on Monday night) credit. That’s what you do in back-to-back situations; you jump on teams.”
That’s a quote from a man who should no longer have a job. At 2-15 and 0-7 away from DC, what are they waiting for?
Washington is currently 27th in scoring offense and 26th in scoring defense despite a team with young talent like John Wall, Nick Young, JaVale McGee, Andray Blatche, Jordan Crawford and Jan Vesely. The team didn’t play with much energy and responded poorly to a veteran coach like Saunders. Assistant coach Randy Wittman will take over the head coaching duties on an interim basis, according to CBS Sports’ Ken Berger. Berger also said the team was informed there would be a coaching change after Monday’s game against the Sixers. After Washington’s incredibly poor start, there’s nowhere to go but up.
Inside The NBA- Tuesday 1/24/12
Boston Makes Orlando’s Offense Disappear
How does an offense the caliber of the Magic’s attack only manage a franchise low 56 points in 48 minutes? ”They came out and absolutely dominated us with their energy and defensive intensity,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said.
That’s coach-speak for a defense completely kicking your ass in a historic way. Orlando shot an embarrassing 16-65 from the field, good for a congressional-approval-rating low 24.6 percent. The Magic committed 25 turnovers and were destroyed by the Celtics 87-56 on Monday night at the TD Garden.
Instead of Boston’s usual starting backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen, neither was able to play and Avery Bradley and Sasha Pavlovic started at the guard spots for coach Doc Rivers. Rivers credited Bradley with his defensive effort in slowing down such a strong shooting Orlando team.
“Defensively that was as good as you can get,” Rivers said. “Started with Avery, the ball pressure — and then it led to everyone. They’re a great shooting team. … Everything had to be precise and it was.”
The Magic hadn’t scored less than 78 points in a game this season. Where did a 21 point dip from the season low come from? Jason Richardson, Jameer Nelson and Von Wafer each shot 2-5, and those were the best percentages on the team! Dwight Howard was 4-15, Ryan Anderson (the NBA leader in made three pointers) was held scoreless with an 0-8 night and Glen Davis was held to 2-9 shooting in his return to Boston.
Paul Pierce and Brandon Bass led Boston with 19 points each and the 7-9 Celtics have to make this a starting point for a winning streak that could save their season. For Orlando, a date against the defensively strong Pacers comes Tuesday night before a redemption game against Boston on Thursday.
Memphis’ Comeback Runs Streak To Seven
Down by 16 points in the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies scored 39 to shock Golden State 91-90 in Oakland for its seventh straight victory. It’s the longest winning streak for the team in six years, and Rudy Gay scored three of his 23 points in the final 30 seconds to get this improbable win.
“We went through a lot to get it,” Gay said. “We showed what we’re made of and we showed our toughness.”
Memphis scored 35 points in the entire first half, but rallied for an explosive fourth quarter and a win head coach Lionel Hollins described as sweet. Mike Conley had 20 points and nine assists as he continues his breakout season and Marc Gasol added 15 points and 11 boards.
Warriors coach Mark Jackson said his players should feel embarrassed after that loss and that his team could have knocked Memphis out in the first quarter. ”They would have been ready to surrender,” he said. “We didn’t when we had a chance to. They got underneath our skin, and we didn’t respond.”
Memphis remains percentage points ahead of San Antonio and Dallas for first place in the Southwest Division, with Houston just a half game back.
Thoughts & Theories
-The Rockets are on a seven-game win streak of their own after defeating Minnesota 107-92 behind a triple-double from most improved player favorite Kyle Lowry. Wolves point guard Ricky Rubio is enjoying his own success on the court, but is having one of the worst shooting months in recent memory.
Rubio was 2-10 from the field on Monday, but most people probably paid attention to his 12 assists. His field goal percentage over his last five games is at .235 and he’s at .364 for the month of January, which is the fourth worst in the league for players that have taken at least 140 attempts. Only Jamal Crawford, Danny Granger and DeMar DeRozan have been worse this month. For Rubio and the team to improve, he needs to become far more efficient on the offensive end.
-Philadelphia didn’t have Spencer Hawes, Nikola Vucevic (its top two centers) and Andres Nocioni on Monday night. They still led the Wizards 62-32 at halftime and won by 20. That’s how bad Washington is.
“I’m a little disappointed in that I thought we’d be more energized early,” Washington head coach Flip Saunders said. “We were probably tired. You have to give them credit. That’s what you do in back-to-back situations; you jump on teams.”
That’s a quote from a man who should no longer have a job. At 2-15 and 0-7 away from DC, what are they waiting for?
Games To Watch
Tuesday- Coming off their offensive performance in Boston, Orlando heads to Indiana to take on the Pacers. Memphis looks for its eighth win in a row in Portland on NBATV and the dysfunctional Knicks look to end its six game slide in Charlotte.
Wednesday- There are 13 games on the schedule, highlighted by an NBATV doubleheader featuring the Bulls playing the Pacers in a battle between the Central Division’s top teams followed by the top two Pacific Division teams going at it with the Clippers playing the Lakers. Atlanta will be at San Antonio and the Rockets puts its seven game win streak on the line against Milwaukee.
