NFL: WEEK 11 & League-Beaters; Broncos vs. Chargers // NBA: Early Standings; Nuggets & the Heat.
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“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.
NFL: AS of today, six of the eight division-leading teams have seven more games to play before the 2012 16-game NFL season comes to a close. One other team, the San Francisco
But only five of the eight leading franchises are up by two games: the American Conference West’s 6-3 Denver Broncos are ahead of the 4-5 San Diego Chargers, the AC East’s 6-3 New England Patriots are leading the 4-6 Buffalo bills, the AC’s South 8-1 Houston Texans are above the 6-3 Indianapolis Colts, the NC West’s New York Giants are atop the 4-5 Dallas Cowboys, and the NC’s South 8-1 Atlanta Falcons are looking down at the 5-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
So, more in danger of being tied for first place during NFL Week 11, or pushed back to second position within their respective divisions, are the AC North’s 7-2 Baltimore Ravens, chased by the 6-3 Pittsburgh Steelers, the NC West’s 6-2 SF 49ers having the 6-4 Seattle Seahawks at the their heels, and the NC North’s 7-2 Chicago Bears having the 6-3 Green Bay Packers close up.
It’s the three division teams that are one game behind first place today that can change the season’s standings dramatically for Week 12, e.g., the Steelers will be challenging the Ravens on Sunday, possibly winning from the more productive and continuously improving offense led by Pittsburgh quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, a likely 2012 NFL MVP candidate, aided by a Ravens defense that has suffered recent injuries, esp. re. tackle, Haloti Ngata.
Too, the 49ers could go by the wayside on Monday night vs. the Bears, while the Seahawks take their Bye Week, given that last week the 49ers QB, Alex Smith, experienced a concussion, enough to slow him down with occasional blurred sight. However, Chicago
Meanwhile, on Sunday the Packers will be playing the 4-5 Detroit Lions (last place, NC North), a team that it is superior to regarding both offense and defense, and so could be leading the NC North by Week 12.
Not the game of the week but to watch anyway will be the 8-1 Texans vs. the 1-8 Jacksonville Jaguars, if only to see just how great the quality gap can be between what could be the current season’s best franchise vs. what may be the league’s very worst. Will the Texans make it a slaughter with more than 40 points against the Jaguars meager few, like the Week Five Chicago defeat of the Jaguars, 41-3? Or, will the gap be a lot less, say, no more than a seven point difference? There’s only one positive note for the Jacksonville
Broncos vs. Chargers. A win against San Diego will more than suggest a 2012 AC West title for the Broncos, for it will put the Denver franchise three games up with upcoming games against teams that they have a better than fair chance for clear wins, that is, the Broncos will be playing against only one team of serious contention from Week 12 on, the Ravens, then four vs. teams currently below .500, among these contests two games vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, currently 1-8, last place, AC West. However, losing to the Chargers could put San Diego
For the Broncos, a defense as tight and yet as mobile and as punishing as it’s been during the team’s last four wins will be key along with the momentum that can keep a Denver lead going from the first quarter forward, even if during the last meeting against the Chargers it was QB Peyton Manning’s fourth quarter dominance that caused a comeback from a high deficit, resulting in a surprising 35-24 win against the Chargers.
Of late, an overarching Broncos explanation for its recent victories could be “Consistency of power and skill shown from early initiative and a first quarter lead.” This means more of what’s been occurring game-after-game since Week Eight, QB Manning’s handoffs to running back, Willis McGahee, for those 3.5 – 5.0 gains in yardage mixed with short or deep passes to wideouts Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker, or to tight end, Joel Dreesson, as the team reaches or is within the enemy end zone, but with its TD and field goal points remaining dominant from defense spoilage executed by cornerbacks Champ Bailey and Tony Parker and the pass rush involving Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller for the sack; and, let’s not set aside the intercepts and picked fumbles and kick returns that have led to TD’s for the Broncos, in effect, one cannot say that the new Broncos defense is the risk averse squad that existed early in the current season and throughout much of last year. This page’s take, barring excessive penalties and more than two QB sacks: Broncos, 24, Chargers, 17; if not, Broncos still the winner, by six or seven.
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NBA: EVERY NBA season has had its few early surprises, and this year’s include the Charlotte Bobcats, which during last season won only seven games and lost 59. The Bobcats have won four of seven games played as of today, securing second place within the NBA Eastern Conference’s Southeast Division, three games behind the Miami Heat.
Another early surprise is the 3-5 Los Angeles Lakers occupying fourth place within the Western Conference’s Pacific Division, three games behind first place L.A. Clippers and only one up from last place team, Sacramento Kings. Last season, the Lakers finished atop its division and third within the WC behind numero uno San Antonio Spurs and second place team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Additional surprises are the Minnesota Timberwolves being at second place within the WC’s NW Division, up from last place during the 2011/12 season, and current second place WC Pacific Division’s Golden State Warriors having finished second from the bottom last season.
Not surprising, however, is that many teams that finished high and quite low within the standings last season are those teams currently filling the top and very bottom positions of their respective divisions, among them, and leading their divisions or holding second place, are the Thunder, the Timberwolves, the Memphis Grizzlies, Spurs, the Clippers, the New York Knicks, the Heat, the Chicago Bulls, while among this and last year’s bottom-of-the-pile teams are the Portland Trail Blazers, the New Orleans Hornets, the Kings, the Toronto Raptors, the Washington Wizards and the Detroit Pistons.
The Wizards haven’t won a game yet, and they played seven, the number of games won so far by the league’s leading franchise, the Heat. Last season, the Chicago Bulls were the team with the most wins---50, followed by the Spurs, 49, then the Thunder with 47. The Heat won 46 but they became the 2011/12 championship team.
Nuggets vs. Heat. A fourth period comeback almost gave the Nuggets/Heat game of November 15 to the Nuggets, which lost to the Heat, 98-93. The Denver team jumped forward from a 19 point deficit to command a lead briefly, and that is when the Nuggets seemed to stop being a team, when individual players appeared to take unnecessary risks, or went from cool to nearly out-of-control hot and ironically came up cold, namely Danilo Gallinari’s field goal attempt that became an embarrassing airball and his allowing a ball off court, it soon going to an opponent who scored. It seemed in those final moments of the fourth period that the Nuggets reverted to being like the Heat that showed up earlier, stars Lebron James and Chris Bosh doing their “star thing,” fed by lackey teammates; but then the Heat converted, they became like the usually teamwork-motivated team, the Nuggets, with the Heat’s Shane Battier and from the bench Norris Cole scoring well in addition to James, Bosh and Ray Allen bucketing, the three Miami stars often doing the rebounding and the passing, setting up plays, thus creating shooting opportunities for Battier and Cole. It is this that, more than anything else, more than even James’ 20+ points, that won the game for the Heat and that broke the successive 10 game losses that the Heat had suffered at Pepsi Center vs. the Nuggets since 2002, all in spite of a remarkable performance displayed by Nuggets reserve, Andre Miller, who played only three minutes during the first quarter, when the Nuggets were down by eight points. By endgame, Miller had scored 19 points. And, had Nuggest guard, Ty Lawson, played at his usual best, the outcome could have been different: Lawson has been averaging 13 points per game this season---he was 0-7 vs. the Heat.
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