2011 NBA Playoffs

Eastern Conference Finals

Bulls host Heat

The Chicago Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday 93-73, moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat. Again, MVP Derek Rose led the way for the Bulls, but this time with help from Carlos Boozer who scored 23 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and 5 assists.

Rose dished out 12 assists and scored 19 points as the Bulls avoided having to go seven games against the Hawks. Josh Smith led the scoring for Atlanta with 18 points.

The Bulls square off against the Miami Heat on Sunday in the Eastern Conference finals.

Western Conference Semifinals

The Oklahoma City Thunder, who leads the series 3-2, play game six Friday night against the Memphis Grizzlies. Eighth seed Memphis try to even the series and force a game seven. After sweeping the Champion Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday, May 8, the Dallas Mavericks wait for the winner of the Memphis-Oklahoma match-up.

No Lakers? No Celtics? No Spurs? What now? No Problem!

The Miami Heat ousted the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals with a score of 97-87. Dwayne Wade and LeBron James scored a combined 67 points for the Heat. The Heat won the series, 4-1. With the Boston Celtics out, two of the most storied franchises in the history of the NBA are nowhere to be seen.

The Los Angeles Lakers were swept by the resurging Dallas Mavericks 4-0 on Sunday, May 8. The Mavs are waiting for the winner of the Oklahoma City-Memphis series. The Oklahoma City Thunder drubbed the Memphis Grizzlies, 99-72, who looked anemic in their own home court. The Thunder lead the series 3-2. Once again, the bench play of the Thunder proved too much for the Grizzlies. Scoring champion Kevin Durant led all scorers with 19 pts followed by Daequan Smith, coming off the bench, with 18 pts.

Will the NBA still get the same audience with the Celtics and the Lakers now sharing the same fate? The youth movement is evident. And of course, “super team” from Miami seems to be living up to its hype after a tumultuous summer known as the “decision.” James and Chris Bosh joined Wade, three of the best players in the league, joined up to win a championship. Miami waits for the winner of the Chicago-Atlanta series which Chicago leads as well 3-2. The Chicago Bulls is led by Derek Rose, this seasons MVP. The Bulls had a league best 62-20 record for the 2010-11 regular season.

Regardless of which team you root for, you have to admit, it’s not going to be the same. We will be seeing new faces hoist the O’Brien trophy. Which team are you rooting for? Think about it.

2011 Kentucky Derby

The 137th Kentucky Derby comes off tomorrow Saturday May 7th, 2011. And it has been confirmed that one of the favorites, Uncle Mo, will miss the action. Though this is not enitirely suprising, it reminds us of how really fragile thoroughbred horses can be.

This is the third year in a roll that one of the favorites for the cup has missed the Kentucky Derby. Uncle Mo has lost almost 70 pounds due to a gastrointestinal infection.

The 2008 Kentucky Derby saw the firm favorite,I want Revenge, miss the race because of a leg injury. The 2009 Derby also witnessed the withdrawal of one of the favorites for winning a Tripple Crown. Eskendereya arrived in Louisville with everyone expecting something special from him. But he withdrew after a swollen lower leg.

And this year 2011, Uncle Mo has also been scratched. His departure from the 2011 Kentucky Derby is not really a suprise compared to the previous two horses. There have been rumors throughout the week that he will not race. The horse had not lost a race until almost a month ago when he finished third at Wood Memorial. This led to rumors that there was something not right with the horse.

The owner Mike Repole and trainer Todd Pletcher held a press conference Friday morning to announce Uncle Mo will not be taking part in the race tomorrow. There were also questions raised about the future of the horse. When asked if he thought the horse will ever race again, Pletcher did not exactly gave a confident answer. He said, “we’d like to think so.”

Despite a diagnosis of some kind of gastrointestinal infection, no one really know exactly what is wrong with Uncle Mo. It is only known that the horse has lost appetite and coat does not look right.

Pletcher said there is no intention to enter any races until doctors are able to figure out exactly what the problem with the horse is.

But even without Uncle Mo, we are still sure to witness a very exciting 2011 Kentucky Derby as is always the case.

Real Madrid 0-2 FC Barcelona UEFA Champions League April 27 2011

FC Barcelona have taken a big step towards the UEFA Champions League finals in Wembley after beating bitter rivals Real Madrid 2-0 in Madrid on Wednesday evening. Lionel Messi proved to be the difference in an otherwise ill-tempered affair at the Santiago Bernabau.  The little magician scored both goals in the later stages of the second half after Pepe was sent off for Real Madrid for a foul on Macherano.

The match will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. The game itself was boring and there was too much drama both on and off the field of play.

Right from the start, it appeared Jose Mourihno had set up Real Madrid to sit behind the ball and play Barcelona on the counter attack. He started with no real striker, just as he did in the Copa del Ray final a week ago. Barcelona kept most of the possession of the ball and Madrid appeared to be content with sitting back and preventing Barca from playing their through balls.

The first half had no real incidents to talk about or any chances for that matter. The half-time whistle saw some scuffle on the touchline that resulted in the referee showing the Barcelona substitute goalkeeper a red card.

Mourihno brought on Adebayor for the second half and that saw Madrid having a little bit more possession of the ball. But the pattern of play was very much like that of the first half.

In front of a packed Bernabau, the players seem more like actors as every tackle  was milked by the player being fouled. It seem the Barcelona players in particular were trying to get the Madrid players sent off as they rolled and held their face from every tackle. And the tactic worked when Macherano made the most of a tackle by Pepe and was shown a straight red card. It’s up to anyone’s judgement how much the red card decision was influenced by the Barcelona players surrounding the referee and demanding a red card. Sergio Ramos was also shown a yellow card for a foul on Lionel Messi which will see him out of the second leg.

The Lionel Messi show vs Real Madrid

The breakthrough came when Marcelo slipped for a split second, which allowed Afalley to run down the right flank and put in a low cross that was expertly tapped through the legs of Casilas for the opener. Moments later, Messi made it two after picking the ball up some twenty yards away from the penalty box and jinxing  his way through the Real Madrid defense before putting a beautiful finish pass the Madrid goalkeeper.

Real Madrid now have big task to try and come back from behind at the Camp Nou in a weeks time. The Champions league semi-final march that promised so much great football between Real Madrid and Barcelona turned out to be anything but great football as the much was full of mis-tackles and players surrounding officials at any given opportunity.

For now things are shaping up for a repeat of the 2008 UEFA champions league final match between Barcelona and Manchester United.

Is it possible for Real Madrid to go to Barcelona and win the UEFA Champions league semi-final second leg? We want to know your opinions. Leave a comment below.

The first installment of four El Classico matches in a space of three weeks between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona has ended with victory for.

The result of the first El Classico, which took place today April 11 2011, was Real Madrid 1 Barcelona 1.
The match this time round was a more level affair with both Barcelona and Madrid creating chances. The first clear-cut chance of the game fell to Barcelona’s Lionel Messi. He run through on goal and tried to chip Casilas. But the Madrid goalkeeper stood firm to make the save.

Morinho tried to change tactics this time by playing Pepe in midfield and that seemed to have worked very well. The portuguese defender played a very good game breaking down Barca’s midfield.

There was a contentious decision taken by the referee in the first half. He booked David Villa for diving when replays suggest he may have been felled by Casilas.

Real’s closest chance in the first half came after a corner in the 44th minute. Sergio Ramos headed the ball back across goal from the corner and Cristiano Ronaldo saw his header cleared off the line.

The second half began much quieter with nothing much happening in front of goal. That all changed in the 52nd minute when Villa was put through on goal but was manhandled by Raul Albiol. The referee pointed to the spot and gave Albion a red card as he was judged to have prevented a clear goal scoring opportunity.

Lionel Messi stepped up and scored from the resulting penalty. That was the little Argentine’s forty-ninth goal of the season. It was always going to be a tough match for Madrid and it became more difficult with ten men. The goal seemed to have sucked the energy out of the Real Madrid Players as the well-balanced game swung in favor of Barcelona.

Real Madrid struggled to go forward after the red card incident. But just as it looked like the match was going to be won by Barcelona, a quick move by Real Madrid saw Marcelo brought down in the box. The referee pointed to the spot with strong protests coming from the Barcelona Players.  Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to the plate and slotted the ball past Victor Valdez to level the scores.

Sami Kedhira could have won the game late on for Madrid when he got the ball on the edge of the box but shot straight at Valdez.  The draw leaves Barcelona eight points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga. The two teams will meet again on Wednesday April 20 2011 in the Copa Del Ray final.

2011 US Masters Leaderboard Updated Sunday April 10th.

The 2011 US Masters golf tournament is underway in Augusta National Golf Course. It is the first major of the year and this year’s edition is sure to throw up some surprises as we do not have a clear favorite to win the competition. All the top players in the world will be fighting to top the leaderboard at the end of it all on Sunday. We at freshnewsdaily.com will do out best to keep you udated on what is going on at the 2011 Masters by bringing you up to the minute update of the latests leaderboard as the lead is sure to change hands from stroke to stroke.

And at the end of it all, South African Charl Schwartzel has won the 2011 US Masters Championships.

2011 US Masters Leaderboard – Final Results

Click here to see the full final leaderboard for the 2011 US Masters Championships.

Last updated on Sunday, April 10 at 10:30 EDT.  Click here for the full and more detailed 2011 US Masters Leaderboard.

Rory Mcllroy tops US Masters Leaderboard

The international Olympics Committee (IOC) has added six new events to the Winter Olympics starting from the 2014 Sochi Olympics. This will enable more women to take part in the Winter Olympics games.

The events added are biathlon mixed relay, ski half-pipe for men and women, team figure skating, women’s ski jumping and luge team relay. This was revealed in an announcement by the IOC on Wednesday.

There are discussions underway whether to include an additional five events to the Winter Games. This decision will be made soon. The five other events being considered are Snowboard slopestyle for men and women, ski slopestyle for men and women and Alpine team parallel.

According to the IOC, these events were considered to increase universal appeal, gender equity and the appeal of the Winter Games to the youth population.

The President of the IOC, Jacques Rogge said including the six additional events will please athletes and fans. He goes on to say the events will add more excitement and entertainment to an already great Winter Olympics program. He also said he new events will bring appeal and increase the number of female participants in the Winter Games.

The IOC is also preparing to introduce new rules to prevent the controversy of Caster Semenya from occurring again.

After wining the 800-meters race at the World Athletics Championships in Germany in 2009, Semenya’s gender came into question. The controversy that followed forced the South African runner to miss an entire year of competitions whiles they performed tests to determine her true gender.

She has return to competing as a woman but the IOC wants to avoid any such controversy at the 2012 London Olympics Games.

A report from the UK Press Association yesterday said the IOC will meet in London this week to discuss and approve the new rules which has been agreed upon in principle.

The opening race of the 2011 Formula 1 season took place early this morning with the Australian Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel started the defense of his Formula 1 world title with a bang. The young German Red Bull driver won the race in Melbourne to make it a perfect start to the defense of his title.

F1 fans had to wait a further two weeks for the start of the 2011 season after Political unrest forces authorities to postpone the Bahrain Grand Prix which was scheduled to have taken place earlier this month.

Vettel dominated the race from pole position. He won ahead of Mcralen’s Lewis Hamilton. A surprised third place went to Renault’s Vitaly Petrov. It was the first Podium for the Russian in his second F1 season.

Fourth place went to Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and Red Bull’s Mark Webber finished fifth. Sixth place went to Jenson Button of Maclaren.

There was a very good debut performance by Sauber’s sergio Perez. The rookie managed a very respectable seventh place finish in his maiden Formula 1 race. Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi, Felipe Massa of Ferrari and Sebastian Buemi of Toro Rosso completed the top ten in that order.

The opening race of every formula one season always seem to only bring questions about the competitiveness of the drivers and the effects of new rules on the race.

This year’s major new change in F1 is the switch of tire suppliers from Bridgstone to Pirelli. Pre-season testing had led to people fearing the new tires might wear out faster than the Bridgestone tires. But the race in Melbourne revealed that wasn’t the case.

In the race, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso both made three stops. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton made two stops each while Sergio Perez made only one stop.

Sebastian Vettel put in a supreme performance to win the Australian Grand Prix of 2011. His victory was more impressive as Red Bull did not use their KERS speed boost.

Starting from pole position, Vettel got off the starting line ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was then passed briefly by Red Bull’s Mark Webber going into turn one.

Petrov moved up two places into fourth place and Felipe Massa got himself a very good start by jumping three places to fifth from eighth. Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso both lost places from the start.

Jenson Button, who got behind Felipe Massa at the start of the race, took an escape road to get past Massa on lap 12. This enabled Alonso to also get past his team-mate. Button was then given a drive through penalty for illegal overtaking move he made on Massa.

There were retirements for Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen and Pastor Maldonado.

The next Formula 1 race will take place in two weeks time with the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Get the full results of the Australian Grand Prix here.

For the second game in a row, the Butler Bulldogs college basketball team escaped with a narrow victory. On Sunday, Butler knocked out the No. 1 seed Pittsburgh Panthers from the NCAA Tournament with a 1 point victory. The final score at the end of an enthralling but controversial game was Butler 71, Pittsburgh 70.

And for the second straight game, the hero for Buttler was once again Matt Howard. He held his nerve to convert one free throw with just 0.8 seconds left in the game. Pittsburgh becomes the first seeded team out of the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

Butler’s last game before this one also ended in a narrow 60-58 victory over  Old Dominion.

In today’s game, Howard received a layup from Andrew Smith with just 2.2 seconds left in the game. That made the scores 70-69 in favor of Butler. Then some controversial calls were made in the dying seconds of the game.

First there was a committed on Gilbert Brown of Pittsburgh. With only 1.4 seconds left on the clock, Brown made the first throw and missed the second. Howard got the rebound and was fouled by Pittsburg’s Nasir Robinson. He was judged to have slapped Howard on the left arm.

Officials then had to go to the replay screen to determine how much time was left when the foul was committed. The referees judged that there was 0.8 seconds left on the clock.

Howard made the first free throw but deliberately missed on the second one to send the Bulldogs through the next round. Butler will now face No. 4 seed Wisconsin. That match in the Sweet 16 round game will take place on Thursday in New Orleans.

The game itself was a very enjoyable watch with both teams playing very well. Mack scored 30 points, making 7 of 12 free three-point attempts, and Howard scored 16 points.

The first half saw the Panthers behind by 12 points as the scores was 30 – 18 with 6 minutes left in the half. But they fought back to within 1 point as they scored 11 unanswered points to make the score 30 – 29.

But Butler regrouped and took an 8 points lead into halftime with scores at 38 – 30.

In the second half, Pittsburgh finally took the lead for the first time with the scores at 43-41. later in the half, they extended their lead to 53-48.

But the frantic last seconds of the game saw Butler snatch the victory.

Last year, Butler knocked out no.1 seed Syracuse before losing to Duke in the finals by 2 points.

Manchester United vs Bolton preview – 19th March, 2011. Match time is 15:00 GMT.

Manchester United are a side ravaged by injury as they prepare to take on Bolton Wanderers later today at Old Trafford.

The race for the title is very close at the top. United sit three points clear of second place Arsenal but have played a game more than the gunners.

Today’s match will also be Owen Coyle’s first match at Old Trafford as manager.

Bolton Wanderers will be looking to narrow the gap to sixth place Liverpool. With Liverpool playing later in the day, Bolton can go above them by one point if they defeat Manchester United today.

Today also marks the beginning of Alex Ferguson’s five-match touchline ban. Ferguson will have to watch the game from the stands.

Manchester United also have many injury troubles with the defense being the most affected. Rio Ferdinand will miss the rest of the season. Vidic picked up a calf injury just before their Champions League game against Marseilles last Tuesday. The same match also claimed John O’Shea and Rafael Da Silver. Both players suffered hamstring injuries. Paul Scholes is out through suspension for picking too many yellow cards.

For Bolton Wonderers, the injury list is much more less than that of United. Mark Davies, Gretar Steinsson, Jlloyd Samuel an Joey O’Brien will all be absent for Bolton.

Bolton have been very strong this season and have players like Kevin Davis who can cause problems for Manchester United at the back. With their depleted defense, United could look vulnerable at the back. If ever there was a perfect time for Bolton to get victory at Old Trafford, then this is it.

But Manchester United are yet to lose a game at home this season and have not conceded a first half goal in the Premier league since April of Last year. They are a team with great winning mentality at Old Trafford and this might just be enough. And with the added boost of Antonio Valencia, they should still have enough to beat Bolton today.

We are predicting a 2-1 victory for Manchester United.