Basketball-NBA: Giannis’ 50 mark. Embiid hits 33 with Jordan. Lakers stolen win. LeBron out but 117 points away from the top spot.
Basketball-NCAA: Not as many upsets. Big 12>SEC.
Football – NCAA: Bennett PI.
Football- NFL: NFC and AFC champs set for the SB matchup.
Golf: Dad Homa wins Farmers.
Olympic Sports: Shiffrin one behind Stenmark. US nationals.
Tennis: Djokovic gets 22. Sabalkena wins first.
Basketball – NBA:
- Giannis scored 50 points for the 2nd time this month and 5th regular season game of his career. This is the first time the Greek Freak has scored 50 points in multiple games in the same season let alone the same month.
- Emiid has tied Michael Jordan for the most games with 40 points and 10 rebounds at 33.
- The Lakers lost to the Celtics on Saturday to snap the Boston’s 3 game losing streak. But it was making headlines because the refs missed a foul on Jayson Tatum for fouling LeBron. LeBron then would’ve gone to the free throw line with a chance to win as the game was tied 105-105. LA lost in OT 125-121 after that. The union of referees have said this was a mistake as well.
- LeBron and Anthony Davis will both miss tonight’s game vs Nets; both on foot/ankle soreness/injury. The reason why a lot more than Lakers fans care? LeBron is just 117 points shy of breaking Kareem Adbul-Jabbar’s #1 spot on the all-time scoring list.
- The Pacers have extended Myles Turner for 2 years for $60MM. The $17.1MM renegotiation bump is the largest in NBA history.
Basketball-NCAA:
- NCAAM Losses in Top 25 this week: We started off the week with a good one. #17 Baylor beat the #9 Jayhawks, which is Kansas’ 3rd straight loss. Both are now 5-3 in the Big 12. Also on Monday, Nevada beat #25 New Mexico in OT. #5 Kansas St lost its ranked battle to #12 Iowa St after the Cyclones put up 49 in the 2H. For a slow start, #13 Xavier vs #19 UConn ended up scoring a ton of points in the 2H and despite putting up 55, the Huskies lost. Texas A&M handed #15 Auburn their first loss at home, winning 79-63. #8 UCLA lost to its LA rival, USC by 13. On Saturday we had the SEC/Big 12 Challenge and this year the big 12 took the title back. Starting with the biggest upset #2 Alabama goes down to the unranked Oklahoma Sooners 93-69. Sooner fans stormed the court after the game. Alabama had not trailed by more than 17 all season and they trailed by 18 at half. #4 Tennessee did their job, unlike Bama, beating the #10 Texas Longhorns by double digits. #11 TCU fell to Mississippi St in OT. #12 Iowa St had let down game after beating K St, losing to Mizzou. West Virginia then beat #15 Auburn who lost twice this week to unranked teams. #13 Xavier avoided upset earlier in the week but the Creighton Blue Jays spoiled the weekend beating Xavier 84-67. #18 Charleston lost to Hofstra by 4 which snaps their 20-game win streak. Now the longest active streak is FAU at 20. Speaking of #20 Miami lost to Pitt by 3.
Football – NCAA:
- Georgia QB Stetson Bennett is back in the news but not for football activities this time. This time he is getting arrested for public intoxication in Dallas on Sunday morning. He was drunkenly banging on doors early Sunday morning in East Dallas, not that far from Deep Ellum.
Football – NFL:
- Super Bowl is set! The Philadelphia Eagles vs Kansas City Chiefs on Feb 12th at 5:30pm. Mark your calendars. It will feature the first pair of brothers to play in the big game: Chiefs TE Travis Kelce and his brother Jason who plays Center for the Eagles.
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- The Eagles had an easy go of their game winning 31-7. It was 7-7 until the final 2 minutes of the half. The Eagles were able to score a rushing TD to take the lead. By this point Niners QB Purdy was already out of the game, Johnson was playing and he fumbled the snap on their own 36. Eagles recovered and scored another quick TD before the half. With the injuries and penalties, the 49ers had no chance.
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- On the other end of the scale, the Chiefs Bengals game was close and came down to the final minutes. No surprise there as the line went from KC favored by 2.5 to CIN favored 2.5 and landed somewhere in the middle before game time. The teams traded points the whole game with great QB play on both sides. We had nothing but FGs until 3:53 left in the half when Mahomes connected with shocker TE Kelce for the first TD of the game. KC went into half up 13-6 but we were tied early in the 3rd 13-13 and again early in the 4th 20-20. Burrow threw an interception with 9 minutes to go in the game and you thought that miiigt be it but KC did nothing with it. Benglas get the ball back with 2:30 to go. They could only get 22 yards and thus punted. KC now has 30 seconds to get into FG range. On 3rd & 4, Mahomes scrambled for the 1st down and got it with 17 seconds left on the clock. But while Mahomes was clearly out of bound, a Cincinnati defender pushed the QB further drawing an Unnecessary Roughness penalty for 15 yards. That put the KC team into FG range which they kicked with 3 seconds left.
- Brock Purdy suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament on just the 6th snap of the game (elbow injury) and was pulled from the game. That left the SF team with their 4th string signal caller Josh Johnson and he was ruled out of the game in the 3Q with a concussion, Purdy came back in like a champ. He finished 4 for 4 but only for 23 yards with the lowest average yards per attempt by a playoff starting QB since 2006. But can you blame him??
- The NFL has announced the new salary cap will be $224.8MM for the 2023 season, an increase of $16.6MM Y/Y. Teams can negotiate with unrestricted free agents as early as March 13th, 2 days before the league year technically begins. Who does that leave in the best shape? The Bears currently have the most room before they hit that cap with $91MM available. On the flip side, the Saints are $58MM over that cap.
Golf:
- Sam Ryder looked to go wire to wire in the Farmers Insurance Open. But not if Californian Max Homa had anything to say. Jon Rahm was also in the running in the final day but blew up early in the day. Homa was 5 shots off the lead going into the final round and shot 6-under 66. He took the lead at the 12th This was his 6th PGA Tour title but his first as a dad.
Olympic Sports:
- Mikaela Shiffrin is now just one away from tying SWE Ingemar Stenmark’s mark of 86 WC titles. She added 3 straight titles to her belt this week with the slaloms in Italy and then another on Saturday in CZE. She will compete next at the end of Feb in the Downhill and Super G, the next slalom isn’t until March 10th. Shiffrin has 11 titles so far this season. She has only had 2 season better so far 12 titles in 2017-2018 and a record 17 in 2018-2019. Only 4 stops left!
- US Figure Skating Championships was this weekend and no surprise on the men’s side, Ilia Malinin took gold with 3 quads in his free skate. He won by 10 points. Another expected win ws Madison Chock and Evan Bates atop of medal podium in the ice dancing competition. This was their 4th US gold but their first as an engaged couple. They have medals from the last 11 straight years at nationals, tied for the most ever. Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier won the pairs, which was a nice come back from last year when they had to withdraw due to covid. On the women’s side, 15 year old Isabeau Levito earned her first nationals gold by 10 points over the 2x national champ Bradie Tennell. Tennell came back from a foot injury so it was nice to see her back on the ice and the podium. Levito might be new to some of you but she is the reigning junior world champ and got 3rd at senior nationals last year when she made her debut. She came into the competition as the favorite.
Tennis:
- Australian Open is over and we have the veteran as the men’s champ in Djokovic and a newbie on the women’s side. BLR Aryna Sabalenka beat Wimbledon champ KAZ Elena Rybakina in 3 sets. It was not a long match with 7 of the first 13 points being aces. Sabalenka was all or nothing on her serves. She had 17 aces in the final to overcome the 7 double faults she also had. Sabalenka is now #2 in the World. Djokovic won his 10th Australian Open over GRE Tsitsipas in straight sets. To be fair it was straight sets with 2 going to tie breakers. This win also ties him with Nadal at 22 GS titles and moves Djokovic into #1 in the world.
What to watch this week
Basketball – NBA:
- Tues 1/31
- Lakers at Knicks @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Pelicans at Nuggets @ 9pm on TNT
- Wed 2/1
- Nets at Celtics @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Hawks at Suns @ 9pm on ESPN
- Thurs 2/2
- Grizzlies at Cavaliers @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Clippers at Bucks @ 9pm on TNT
- Sat 2/4
- Mavericks at Warriors @ 7:30pm on ABC
- Sun 2/5
- 76ers at Knicks @ 5pm on ESPN
Basketball – NCAA:
- Mon 1/30
- 6. UVA at Syracuse @ 6pm on ESPN
- 11. Baylor at 10. Texas @ 8pm on ESPN
- 13. Iowa St at Texas Tech @ 8pm om ESPN2
- Tues 1/31
- 20. Clemson at Boston College @ 6pm on ACC
- VTech at 23. Miami @ 6pm on ESPNU
- 7. Kansas St at 8. Kansas @ 7pm on ESPN+
- 24. UConn at DePaul @ 7pm on FS1
- Vanderbilt at 4. Alabama @ 7:30pm on SEC
- West Virginia at 15. TCU @ 8pm on ESPNU
- 21. Indiana at Maryland @ 8pm on ESPN2
- 22. San Diego St at Nevada @ 10pm on CBSSN
- Wed 2/1
- Penn St at 1. Purdue @ 5:30pm on BTN
- 17. Providence at 16. Xavier @ 5:30pm on FS1
- 2. Tennessee at Florida @ 6pm on ESPN2
- Georgia at 25. Auburn @ 6pm on SEC
- Villanova at 14. Marquette @ 7:30pm on FS1
- Thurs 2/2
- 19. FAU at UAB @ 6pm on CBSSN
- 3. Houston at Wichita St @ 8pm on ESPN2
- Washington at 9. UCLA @ 8pm on FS1
- Oregon at 5. Arizona @ 9:30pm on ESPN
- Santa Clara at 12. Gonzaga @ 10pm on CBSSN
- SF at 18. Saint Mary’s @ 10pm on ESPNU
- Fri 2/3
- Boise St at 22. San Diego St @ 8pm on FS1
- Sat 2/4
- 6. UVA at VTech @ 11am on ESPN2
- 8. Kansas at 13. Iowa St @ 11am on ESPN
- 24. UConn at Georgetown @ 11am on FS1
- Texas Tech at 11. Baylor @ 12pm on CBS
- 25. Auburn at 2. Tennessee @ 1pm on ESPN
- Butler at 14. Marquette @ 1pm on FS1
- 23. Miami at 20. Clemson @ 2pm on ACC
- 1. Purdue at 21. Indiana @ 3pm on ESPN
- 4. Alabama at LSU @ 3pm on ESPNU
- 20. Texas at 7. Kansas St @ 3pm on ESPN2
- St. John’s at 16. Xavier @ 4pm on FOX
- Washington St at 9. UCLA @ 6pm on PAC12
- Oregon St at 5. Arizona @ 8:30pm on Pac12
- 12. Gonzaga at 18. Saint Mary’s @ 9:30pm on ESPN
- Sun 2/5
- 3. Houston at Temple @ 5pm on ESPN2
Football – NFL:
- Sun 2/5
- Pro Bowl: AFC vs NFC @ 2pm on ESPN & ABC
Golf:
- Thurs 2/2
- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Open – Round 1 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 2/3
- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Open – Round 2 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 2/4
- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Open – Round 3
- @ 12pm on Golf Channel
- @ 2pm on CBS
- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Open – Round 3
- Sun 2/5
- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Open – Final Round
- @ 12pm on Golf Channel
- @ 2pm on CBS
- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Open – Final Round
Hockey:
- Wed 2/1
- Hurricanes at Sabres @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Sat 2/4
- Central vs Pacific @ 2pm on ABC
- Metro vs Atlantic @ 3pm on ABC (these are the names of the divisions)
- TBD vs TBD @ 4pm on ABC
Olympic Sports:
- Fri 2/3
- Gymnastics W: Auburn vs Alabama @ 6:30pm on SEC
- Gymnastics W: Georgia at LSU @ 8pm on SEC
- Sat 2/4
- Freestyle Skiing & Snowboarding: FIS World Cup @ 2pm on NBC
- Track & Field: NY Grand Prix Indoors @ 3pm on NBC
- Sun 2/5
- Figure Skating @ 1pm on NBC
- Figure Skating @ 3pm on NBC
Soccer:
- Fri 2/3
- Premier League: Chelsea at Fulham @ 2pm on USA
- Sat 2/4
- Premier League: Everton vs arsenal @ 6:30am on USA
- Premier League: Aston Villa at Leicester City @ 9am on USA
- Premier League: Teams TBA @ 11:30am on NBC
- Sun 2/5
- Premier League: Nottingham vs LeedsU @ 8am on USA
- Premier League: Teams TBA @ 10:30am on NBC
