01 November 2008

What a sports day!

AP Photo

Highlights from this Saturday in sports:

1. BYU beat CSU 45-42. The defense is terrible, the offense is really good, and Hall and Co. made a nice game-winning drive with 1:36 to go. Unga ran for over 100 yards, Hall passed for over 400, and Pitta and Collie had over 150 yards receiving each. Like the mtn announcers said, it's the old WAC days all over again. It's weird to go from "hoping for a BCS berth" to "being glad when the Cougars squeak a win over CSU, but here we are.

2. The Jazz beat the Clippers 101-79. Again, the depth of this team impresses me. Ronnie Price and Brevin Knight combined for 14 points and 13 assists and only one turnover in Deron's absence. Eleven Jazz players scored, with Boozer leading the way (25 points on 12-18 shooting). The offense looked good, lots of movement, lots of easy shots. Andrei racked up 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and three blocks. I'm telling you, when he feels needed, he plays very, very well. 

And finally, the Jazz turned the ball over only five times, a team record. Added bonus: three of those came in garbage time, late in the fourth quarter when the scrubs were in. To have two turnovers for the vast majority of a game is unheard of. 

I know, I know, it's the Clippers, but this was an encouraging game. 

3. And finally, Texas at Texas Tech tonight was the best football game I've seen in a long time. Lead changes, game-winning drives, dropped interceptions...  Michael Crabtree's catch and subsequent game-winning touchdown was absolutely incredible. To adjust to the ball, make the catch, break a tackle and stay inbounds required impressive skill. 

I love college football.

Oh, and it looks like my prediction of the night was correct. Two-night winning streak! The Suns beat Portland 107-96, dead close to my 108-98 prediction. Amare was quiet early (a disturbing early trend), but scored 16 in the third quarter to help Phoenix get the win. Nash went for 20 points and seven assists with a single turnover. 

Quick (and abbreviated) Power Rankings:

1. Lakers
2. Celtics
3. Hornets
4. Spurs
5. Suns
6. Jazz
7. Rockets 
8. Pistons

2 comments:

Nicholas G. James said...

yeah BYU needs to work on it's defense, but its offense is working their butts off

check out my NBA Power Rankings on my blog

Josh said...

The D played pretty good. If you don't recall, CSU's first possession was a 3 and out. Later, there was another 3 and out, but Latu dove for the block, and they called Roughing. Crud. He dove, and the kicker tripped over him. Then, Collie killed them. He had a TD, but they called it back because he stepped out of bounds, but he was pushed.