NBA: Lakers Below the Margin, Nuggets Still Climbing; Status, East and West.   

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  . 

.  .  .   SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner.

NBA  ---  That other Los Angeles team, surely you know who they are, “the Lakers!”  What’s that? You only know about them vaguely? Sports fans, check your NBA history, the Lakers came to grace “tinsel town” from Minnesota decades ago, purchased huge talent and became a kind of dynasty---Jerry West, Magic, Kobe, Shaquille, head coach Phil Jackson, champions!

Well, the Lakers still have spark, except not all 48 minutes of a match, more like two-thirds of that. Not that the Lakers aren’t still “Basketball with the stars.” There’s Kobe, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace, packin’ the stands! For a Lakers/Nuggets match on Monday, February 25, all seats at Denver, Colorado’s Pepsi Center seemed taken, and then some----but the Lakers lost to the Nuggets, 119-108, becoming 28 wins-30 losses, still under .500, the NBA season more than half over.

Go to a Lakers game and you’ll marvel at feats performed by Kobe, Nash, Howard, Gasol and M. World Peace. On Monday against the Nuggets, Kobe scored 29 points, making him the games leading scorer. Nash scored 16, Howard and M. World Peace scored 15 each. Nash set up plays and passed dynamically enough to feed Kobe the ball for much of the 29. Howard still blocks and takes rebounds most smoothly. Versus the Nuggets, Howard accrued four offense and 10 defense RB’s, compared with Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried’s four (O) and six (D). And, MWP defended close-in at Mach-speed, responsible for a high share of the Nuggets missed shots. . . note: Gasol did not play on Monday night.

Speed comparisons can probably be expressed in whole numbers and decimals, but it’s enough to say that in the first quarter of the Lakers vs. Nuggets game the Denver team was perfect hustle, all five were Usain Bolts, the Lakers as if in a potato sack race, Nuggets 35, Lakers 29 as the first quarter closed. At halftime, it was Nuggets 67, Lakers 54.     

So, what’s missing from the Lakers? A key factor for sure, “Consistency of performance from the team’s four stars, especially ‘defense.’”

Whether the “inconsistency” is from the four Lakers stars still learning how to play together in ways that no other team could take apart, or from the four losing a step or two from their mileage in the game, such is hard to tell from a single season of play, and perhaps the Lakers head coach just hasn’t come up with means-testing for a strategy that could raise the consistency bar.

Also, the Lakers inconsistency could be a matter of physics, in that placement of four star players on the same team actually diminishes the impact that each player could have separately moment-by-moment afield, forcing each to squelch some of their best moves as they must work as a team.

Or, teams that the Lakers defeated with ease in the past have been raising their own performance bars + stats .  .  .  which brings us to February 25 and the Denver Nuggets, the latter creating a lead early on and keeping it almost throughout, finishing eleven points up, shooting 78 points in the paint (nearly 57 percent), completing 43 of 78 field goal attempts. The Lakers were able to attempt more FG’s (88) than the Nuggets but they had a higher number of misses per number of attempts.

Too, a lion’s share of the Nuggets-versus-Lakers points were from under or over the basket out of drives and assists that appeared to stun the Lakers the way that Kobe and cohorts worked their shock-and-awe against the Nuggets a year ago and before that, enough to knock the Denver franchise out of first round playoffs more than once.

If the Lakers front office planners brought four wonder boys together to outmatch all talent in the NBA game, they may have paid insufficient attention to the fact that other teams would be setting up their own wondrous effects, for instance, Monday night’s “on game” skills demonstrated by the Nuggets high scorer forward Wilson Chandler (23 points) and by guard Ty Lawson (22 points) and forward Faried (12 points) finding holes in the Lakers defense lightning-fast, so many of their shots being tipped/netted by teammates.

Right now, the Lakers are safely in third place of the Western Conference’s Pacific Division, more than 10 games ahead of the Sacramento Kings and the Phoenix Suns, both performing poorly, below .400. Yet the Lakers are 12 games behind first place L.A. Clippers, and six behind the Golden State Warriors, “catch-up will demand a much better than .500 game-after-game record now that there are fewer than 25 Lakers games left before the post-season commences.”

The Nuggets are at second place within the WC’s Northwest Division, six games behind the 41-15/.776 Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that the Nuggets defeated 121-118 in January, and will face on March 1, again on March 19.  .  .  doesn’t look like the Kobe-led quartet will be available for the Nuggets to avenge those post-season/first round losses to the Lakers, not this year anyway.

STATUS, EAST & WEST   ----  There’s less certainty within the NBA’s Eastern Conference than inside the Western Conference with regard to which teams will lead their divisions as the current season ends. The EC’s Southwest Division leading team, the 40-14 Miami Heat, is the only numero uno to have a sizable lead, over the second place 32-23 Atlanta Hawks, while the EC’s Atlantic Division New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets are at first and second posiitons, 33-20 and 33-24. Leading the EC’s Central Division are the 35-21 Indiana Pacers, three games ahead of the ascending 32-24 Chicago Bulls.  .  .  The Western Conference leading teams seem safely locked in, the 41-15 Thunder being six games ahead of the 36-22 Nuggets within the WC’s Northwest Division, the WC’s Southwest Division’s 45-13 San Antonio Spurs six games up over the 37-18 Memphis Grizzlies, and the WC’s Pacific Division’s 40-18 L.A. Clippers six games ahead  of the 33-23 Golden State Warriors. . .  Meanwhile, the rising underdog story belongs to the 18-37 Washington Wizards, having risen to third place within the EC’s Atlantic Division from recent wins, a surprise being the team’s 119-113 defeat of the Denver Nuggets, February 22.

END/ml

NBA: Denver Nuggets, Rising // WORLD SPORTS: World Baseball Classic; Formula One Grand Prix Racing.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  . 

.  .  .   SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner.

NBA/Denver Nuggets   ---   ASK NBA fans outside Colorado to name a player with the 34-21 Denver Nuggets and most will think quite hard and come up zero. A gains + high stats/national recognition ratio would probably show the Nuggets starters + bench to be among the least known basketball players in the country, but ask the Oklahoma City Thunder, the San Antonio Spurs, the Boston Celtics, the Chicago Bulls and other high-end franchises that the Nuggets have defeated since the start of the 2012/13 season, praise will be offered then for Nuggets forwards Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, Corey Brewer, Andre Iguodala, Wilson Chandler, point guards Ty Lawson and Andre Miller, center JaVale McGee, and for Nuggets head coach, George Karl.

Why the Nuggets recognition gap between (a) what NBA athletes see, and (b) the fan charts? One way to answer is to say that whether or not narcissism is a player-trait within the Nuggets franchise, it doesn’t show, not as it had when forward Carmelo Anthony and guard J.R. Smith were starter + bench for the Nuggets (both now w/the N.Y. Knicks), and so magazine and newspaper stories + advertisements won’t be of any Nuggets players repeatedly.

Another way of characterizing the recognition gap is to say that no Nuggets player is consistently at that higher skill level where players become a brand that is known everywhere even between NBA seasons. In other words, there isn’t a Nuggets superstar, no Lebron, no Kobe, no K. Durant, instead a collective of athletes that together emphasize teamwork/teamwork/teamwork! This offsets the star absence admirably when it comes to purchasing playoff candidacy by late March.

Though no Nuggets player has a ppg average higher than 17 ppg, six have double digit ppg averages + high field goal percentages, and nearly all are above the margin re. assists and rebounds. It’s been talent spread = empowerment in 17 wins since January 1, evident from the Nuggets having put on the board a nine-game winning streak and a six-game winning streak, January 1 thru February 9.

The Nuggets beat the Boston Celtics on Monday, keeping Celtics superstars Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to fewer points than Gallinari had put up in either of four periods. In the week before, against the Brooklyn Nets, the Nuggets scored 12 three-pointers, which was 70 percent of the team’s 3-pointer shots taken.

Tonight, the Nuggets will play the Washington Wizards, tomorrow the Charlotte Bobcats, two teams at the bottom of the NBA. And, nearly half of the Nuggets remaining 27 games for the season will be against teams below .500, but there will also be bouts with the Western Conference leading team, the Spurs, and Western Conference second place franchise, the Thunder.

In January, the Nuggets won 12 of 15 games. In February so far, the Nuggets have won five of eight. Not being up against a high ranking team until March 1 (the Thunder), the Nuggets could on that day be nine wins/three losses, which is more than post-season contention calls for. In March, the Nuggets will be displaying teamwork vs. the superstar-loaded Spurs (X2), Thunder (X2) and the Knicks. In light of what’s been happening for the quiet professionals that the Nuggets have been since the 2012/13 season began, they can prevail. As for national name recognition, no change, but why should anyone on the Denver team really care about that if it’s to be a post-season billet for each?

 

WORLD SPORTS.

WBC    ---   IT begins one week from now, the World Baseball Classic, which will consist of teams from 16 countries competing to be crowned best. Alphabetically and post-qualification, the teams for battle are from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Spain, Taiwan, USA, Venezuela.

The first round of WBC play will be round-robin, with games at Japan, Puerto Rico, Taiwan and the U.S. (Phoenix, Ariz.). The second round of play (double elimination) will occur at Japan and at the U.S. (Miami, Florida). The third and final round (single elimination, determining the championship team) will be at a U.S. park (San Francisco, Calif.). The last go-round championship team (2009) was from “Japan,” the U.S. club having been eliminated during the second round.

            Team USA/2013 will be managed by Joe Torre (former mgr, New York Yankees;  Los Angeles Dodgers). From 11 of the 30 MLB franchises, Team USA will comprise 15 pitchers, three catchers, six infielders and four outfielders. Pitching coach: Greg Maddux.

Here’s our guess re. players starting and/or receiving the most game time:

Pitchers: RHP R.A. Dickey (Toronto Blue Jays, 2012 Cy Young winner); RH Ryan Vogelsong (San Francisco Giants); LH Derek Holland (Texas Rangers); catcher: Joe Mauer (Minnesota Twins).

Infielders: 1B, Mark Teixera (NYY); 2B, Brandon Phillips (Cinc.  Reds); S/st, Jimmy Rollins (Phila. Phillies); 3B, David Wright (N.Y. Mets).

Outfielders: Ryan Braun (Milwaukee Brewers); Adam Jones (Baltimore Orioles); Giancarlo Stanton (Miami Marlins), Shane Victorino (Boston Red Sox).

Formula One:      Starting in March and ending in November, the 2013 Formula One Grand Prix Racing series will consist of 12 teams for 19 events, with approximately two weeks between each event, sequentially at Australia, Malaysia, China, Bahrain, Spain, Monaco, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Singapore, Korea, Japan, India, Abu Dhabi, USA, final race: Brazil.

The teams/car-constructors that are set to compete (one driver each for two cars per race) are Red Bull Racing (Renault); Scuderia Ferrari (Ferrari); Vodafone-McLaren (Mercedes); Lotus-F1 (Renault); Mercedes AMG-Petronas (Mercedes); Sauber F1 (Ferrari); Sahara-Force India (Mercedes); Williams F1 (Renault); Scuderia-Toro Rosso (Ferrari); Caterham F1 (Renault); Marussia F1 (Cosworth); HRT F1 (Cosworth).

Expect the sleekest and more powerful among modern racing cars along 3-5 mile tracks less oval than found in other major racing series, more like actual rural and urban roads, including steep turns + high angled straightaways.

The F1GP series is second to soccer as the world’s most popular and biggest revenue-earning sport, more than that earned by U.S. baseball and the NFL.

In the U.S., most F1GP races can be seen on TV’s Speed Channel. There will be a movie out this year about F1GP, diected by the award winning Ron Howard. 

Last year’s F1 champion driver was Sebastian Vettel, of Team Red Bull. Second best was Fernando Alonso, Team Ferrari; and. Third, Kimi Raikkonen, Team Lotus. Fourth, Lewis Hamilton, Team McLaren.

            END/ml

MLB:  Finding the Winning Edge; Colorado Rockies // NBA: Intensity Doubled; Denver Nuggets.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  . 

.  .  .   SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner.

MLB    MOST of today’s sports have been around for more than a hundred years and no manager, coach or player has ever been one hundred percent sure about what it takes to stay a winning team deep into a season and then dominate in playoffs for a championship year. All keep trying to figure it out, and some get close to a few victory-prone ideas. Right now, the spotlight for answers is on baseball.

So, as an MLB team’s spring training gets underway for the 2013 162-game season, will greater emphasis be on pitching, that is, primarily on starter rotation and/or reliever + closer? Will batting order construction be the priority, with line-ups arranged and rearranged until it seems to managers and GM’s that power has been distributed for least outs and maximum runs? Will the emphasis be on individual player enhancements for hitting, fielding and throwing skills? Or, for a lot of teams will all known aspects for winning get equal emphasis?  

Probably no MLB team will have the same approach during pre-season days, but if there’s a constant it will surely be of attempts to identify vulnerabilities during spring training, with all-out efforts to correct those vulnerabilities, which implies that ball clubs with the least known weaknesses will have the better chance at keeping to the win side April through September. With more than luck, teams engaged at this will also learn to exploit their strengths, for example, getting the very best from that rostered MVP and Cy Young winner.

Were some stats-junkies to set up two columns, one for strengths, the other for vulnerabilities, and then add up characteristics to place in each, we’d probably learn that there are more vulnerabilities than strengths in baseball when it comes to team competency for being a winning club all season long. Maybe that’s why no team won 100 games last season, while two lost more than 100 (the AL’s Houston Astros lost 107, the NL’s Chicago Cubs, 101). We won’t try the data crunching here, but we can look at a few of the MLB clubs likely to kick in quickly as winning teams in 2013 and get a sense of what could keep them up front or drag them down, for instance, last year’s American League and National League winners, the Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants, neither having won the most games in 2012 (the Tigers finished at 88-74, the Giants, 94-68). The Washington Nationals led both leagues, finishing 98-64. Without question, while Detroit’s starter rotation will probably be sharpened for wins by RH Justin Verlander (17 wins-eight losses in 2012, with a 2.6 ERA), plus Max Scherzer (16-7/3.7 ERA) and three other hurlers with ERA’s below 3.9, such could slip into oblivion from the Tigers NOT having a closer capable of stopping opposing hitters from racking up winning runs in a ninth inning, which is today's missing Tiger tooth. A strength factor, of course, consists of MVP/.330 Miguel Cabrera and .313 Prince Fielder, possibly offsetting any pitching vulnerability with their RBI’s, 139 and 108 respectively.  

And though the SF Giants won the 2012 World Series and showed steadiness in the win column nearly all season, few of the team’s players have had careers reflecting the top-of-the-line consistency of power and skill that they showed during the 2012 playoffs and especially during the WS. Too, another bad year for RH hurler, Tim Lincecum (10-15/5.3 ERA) could hold the Giants back.

Meanwhile, the talk about which club will soar highest/fastest in the AL has centered around the Los Angeles Angels line-up that will include Josh Hamilton (BA .285/43 home runs/128 RBI’s), Albert Pujols (.285/30 HR’s/105 RBI’s) and last year’s AL rookie of the year, Mike Trout (.326/30 HR’s/83 RBI’s), but this may not be enough to overcome a marginal pitching staff except for RH Jered Weaver (20-5/2.5 ERA) and LH C.J. Wilson (13-5/3.8 ERA).

The National League talk about top teams includes the Washington Nationals, possibly the NL’s most fit team if least vulnerabilities is part of the measure, its line-up now including Denard Span, traded from Minnesota, a .283 hitter last season (38 doubles, 17 stolen bases), in addition to .300 hitter, Jayson Werth (31 RBI’s), and .282 Ryan Zimmerman (95 RBI’s). Led by LH Gio Gonzalez (21-8/2.8 ERA) and RH Stephen Strasburg (15-6/3.1 ERA), the Nat’s have a strong starter rotation (one of the best ERA’s in both leagues). The Nat’s Achilles heel? As with the AL's Tigers, uncertainty re. a consistently effective closer, a problem that led to the Nat’s 2012 playoff-dropoff.

The NL’s L.A. Dodgers starter rotation will also be hard to unravel, consisting of RH Zack Greinke (15-5/3.4 ERA), LH Clayton Kershaw (14-9/2.5 ERA), and RH Chad Billingsley (10-9/3.5 ERA), though the latter pitcher has had an elbow issue. The Dodgers line-up this year will include .303/69 RBI Matt Kemp and .299/108 RBI Adrian Gonzalez, but the rest of the line-up will be iffy against a slew of starter rotation improvements throughout most of the NL, especially those within the NL West.

Colorado Rockies   ---    This team finished second from the bottom in the majors last year, winning 64 games and losing 98. That sealed the loss of manager Jim Tracy, replaced by first time as manager of any MLB club, Walt Weiss, a former Rockies shortstop with player experience on other MLB teams, notably under managers that any smart ballplayer would want to learn from—Bobby Cox, and Tony La Russa, and so Weiss won’t be a rookie boss in the traditional sense during the 2013 season. A good sign for the Rockies is that Weiss won’t be employing the four-man starter rotation/70-75 minimum pitch rule chartered during 2012, which had close to zero effect on game winning chances before the start of a sixth inning. Instead, better alignment of relievers-to-starters will exist, a strategized one-two punch before a closer enters in an eigth or ninth inning. As to line-up reinforcement, the Rockies will be counting on long-ball hitters Troy Tulowitzki and, in his last year before retirement, Todd Helton, both back from injury lists. Add power hitter, .303 Carlos Gonzalez being early in a line-up led by .300 Dexter Fowler, whose strong suit is his .389 on-base percentage (highest among Rockies hitters), though Fowler needs to convert more base-stealing attempts into achieved steals (he should work on this with Carlos Gonzalez, who led the Rockies with 20 steals in 2012). Yes, were the Rockies pitching staff even at the margin, the Rockies would have enough good hitters to reach playoff competition come September. Last year, the Rockies 15-man pitching staff included only four winning hurlers, and all were relievers, all having played in fewer than 10 games, Rex Brothers at the top, 8-2/3.8 ERA. Best among the starting pitchers was LH Jeff Francis, 6-7/5.5 ERA. Unless there are fixes vs. vulnerabilities within the Rockies pitching staff during spring training and in April and early May, chances for a Rockies comeback and winning status will remain dim (good hitters can do just so much).

*    *   *

NBA  ---    After the All-Star game, it’s business intensified, all eyes strictly on the prize, “those playoff billets.” Second and third place teams will be strategizing for climbing up in the rankings, maybe surpassing today’s numero unos. And, it will be hard going. Presently, only two of the NBA’s six second place teams are fewer than six games behind their respective division leading franchises, the 31-22 Brooklyn Nets being two behind the New York Knicks, and the 30-22 Chicago Bulls one behind the Indiana Pacers. Third place teams are seven and more games behind their leading franchises. Ascending will only be easy if within the NBA Western Conference the consistently winning 39-14 Oklahoma City Thunder, 42-12 San Antonio Spurs and 39-17 Los Angeles Clippers loosen and fall back considerably, and, in the NBA Eastern Conference downslides occur for the 32-18 Knicks, the 36-14 Miami Heat and the 32-21 Pacers. Still at the very bottom are the 12-40 Charlotte Bobcats, the 15-37 Orlando Magic and the 15-36 Washington Wizards. Ironically, a team that is 21 games behind first place within its division is in third place, the Washington Wizards, and that’s because the East’s Southeast Division’s Bobcats and the Magic have been doing so poorly.

Denver Nuggets.   Of five games played since the 33-21 Nuggets nine-game winning streak ended, the Denver franchise has lost three, and tonight they will face a team that they lost to in a third overtime period on February 10, the 28-24 Boston Celtics, after which the Nuggets will have four games versus losing franchises, vs. the Wizards, the Bobcats, the 25-28 Portland Trail Blazers and the 25-29 L.A. Lakers, before meeting the Thunder. Being fourth now within the Western Conference and close behind the 33-18 Memphis Grizzlies, the Nuggets will want enough wins to leap ahead into conference-third and to then rise and overtake the 39-17 L.A. Clippers, thus achieve conference-second.

Winning the next five games can at least keep the Nuggets at the status quo if the Thunder, Spurs, Clippers and Grizzlies win their next five. For Nuggets head coach, George Karl, this and all other leaps forward mean rostering/fielding players for increases in power of defense, and for defense rebounds allowing ball recovery, fast-to-the-paint breaks and then the field goal, plus increases in free throw accuracy.

END/ml      

MLB:  Cutting Edge Franchises; Colorado Rockies.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  . 

.  .  .   SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner.

MLB    Let’s begin by dispensing with the idea that anyone’s pre-season predictions about MLB end-of-season standings can be super-precise. That’s because most of the 30 MLB franchises have just enough strengths over weaknesses to pull up some surprises April through September, while as many as a dozen MLB teams have enough strengths at the start of a season to appear likely division champions. However, from a few mid-season mistakes or from injuries, the latter can fold and fall back. Not one of the six divisions comprising the National and American Leagues (three per) is without  this two-sided coin, that is, every team within each division is capable of avoiding last place during and as a regular season closes, yet at the start of each season one or more teams always appear to have the greater number of capabilities for being numero uno, for instance, the American League West’s Los Angeles Angels 2013 batting order today including Josh Hamilton (outfielder-batting average .285, 43 home runs), Albert Pujols (1B-.285), and Mike Trout (OF-.326), plus starting pitchers, RH Jered Weaver (20-5) and LH C.J. Wilson (13-5); or, the AL Central’s Detroit Tigers order blessed still with triple crown/MVP winner, Miguel Cabrera (3B-.330, 44 HR) and Prince Fielder (1B-.313, 30 HR), plus starter, RH Justin Verlander (17-8).

Last year, the Tigers finished at 88-74 and won the AL title, though the Angels ended, 89-73. Also, regarding number of games won, both teams completed 2012’s regular season behind the AL East’s New York Yankees---95-67, second to the year’s highest win/loss record, 98-64, achieved by the National League East’s Washington Nationals. Neither the Angels, nor the Yankees, nor the Nationals moved ahead of the Tigers during the playoffs, though the Tigers had the fewer regular season wins.

Yet while the Nationals could boast of only one hitter at .300 (OF, Jayson Werth), the team’s order included four players with batting averages higher than .260. Worst win/loss record for the 2012 season belonged to the AL West’s Houston Astros, 55-107, yet the Astros also had four hitters finishing with batting averages higher than .260, 2B Jose Altuve having reached .290, which suggests that 2012 ought to have been a better year for the Astros and that 2013 could be better for them than 2012; then again, maybe not in light of the Astros final regular season record.            

Note that among National League teams, World Series winner, the San Francisco Giants, finished the 2012 season, 94-68, behind the NL Central’s Cincinnati Reds, 97-65, and behind the Yankees win/loss record. And, the Nationals and the Giants entered the 2012 post-season beneath competitors, as NL wild card teams, as had the AL’s Angels and the below .500/73-89 AL East’s Toronto Blue Jays.

So, the differences in 2012’s number of wins over losses per team between the regular season and the post season, including the year’s WS outcome, and that the Blue Jays got to the post-season when behind more than 10 other MLB franchises in end-of-regular season wins over losses, such surely reflects the unpredictability, or should we call it "the built-in/non-retrievable unfairness," of baseball regarding wins over losses determining which teams deserve to be in the playoffs and which will get to and win the WS.

The above-cited also reflects why the making of pre-season predictions could never be that “sure thing.”

            Colorado Rockies.   Few MLB teams have the wide disparity between what a team’s batting order might be able to accomplish in 2013, and that which the same team’s pitching staff could accomplish, than the Colorado Rockies, if we use 2012 stats as measuring sticks.

Make no mistake, the Rockies can hit, but can they pitch?

Last season, the Rockies batting order included four hitters with batting averages above .300, more than within most MLB clubs that finished the 2012 season much higher in the rankings (Dexter Fowler, CF-.300; Carlos Gonzalez, LF-.303; Chris Nelson, 3B-.301; Jordan Pacheco, 3B-.309; and, Eric Young, OF-.316).

And, five Rockies hitters finished the 2012 MLB season with batting averages .270 and higher, D.J. LeMahieu, 2B-.297.

But the Rockies starting pitchers were no match in their basic accomplishments, none having obtained more 2012 wins than losses, LH Jeff Francis closest with a 6-7 record, however, a 5.8 ERA.

The best Rockies starter ERA belonged to 3-5 RH Jhoulys Chacin---4.4.

Were it not for three of the team’s seven relievers winning a total of 19 games over their combined six losses, the Rockies may have finished 2012 as poorly as the Houston Astros had.

Yet the value of the Rockies superb hitters starts to fade when examined are the number of RBI’s produced by the team’s high batting averages, the highest belonging to Carlos Gonzalez, 85, dropping next to the 72 accrued by .290 hitter, Tyler Colvin 1B, followed by .270 hitter/catcher Wilin Rosario’s 71. Afterward, the RBI figures drop to 54 and less per Rockies hitter with a batting average above .240.

The above being so, new Rockies manager, Walt Weiss, not only has to create starting pitcher + reliever upticks; he has to inject into his batting order “the hits that convert to runs, or why have deep and solid hits except as entertainment for the fans?" Here’s where a rehabilitated pair of heavy hitters, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, and first baseman, Todd Helton, can make the difference (neither played a full season, 2012), along with top hitters Gonzalez, Colvin and Rosario.

END/ml                                                           

MLB:  Winners Out of the Gate // NBA: Status-Quo, + Breakdowns & Breakaways.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  . 

.  .  .   SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner.

MLB    Usually out of the 30 teams that make up the majors, around a third show up early as a less imperfect group during the league’s long season, forming an April and early May list that the more conservative among pundits say includes teams headed for playoff billets, this year's likely choices being the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, L.A. Dodgers, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, the Washington Nationals.

Implied above, then, is an April/early May MLB status quo, based on last year’s final standings, not a lot of early season surprises. Afterward? Nobody knows. Late May, June and July are when MLB fans can expect the unexpected, for example, maybe the Boston Red Sox’s latest post-Tony Francona manager, John Farrell, and new line-up and additional starters, will then be reinventing the Sox’s capacity for ascendancy.

And, it’s possible that with the addition of hustle from a new leadoff hitter and an additional hot starting pitcher, the Cincinnati Reds will create a winning record that won’t sour as the season begins its descent.

And, maybe by June the new Colorado Rockies manager, Walt Weiss, will have caused the Rockies to rise up and maintain, joining the elite from a rearranged line-up so that the Rockies limited power for the home run converts to runs from successive singles and extra-base hits. Perhaps Weiss is the manager who will stir up the miracle that Colorado’s front office says it still believes in, “last year's marginal Rockies rotation stepping up and achieving early inning dominance for takeover and control by improved relievers (the talent is there, but it needs to be exploited for the endurance factor and for the right starter/bull pen match-ups).”

Also, the L.A. Angels high dollar investment in Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton could kick in by late May, if not earlier. If so, watch out for falling sparks as flaming baseballs sail toward the moon and the Angels hold a lead into September.

Then, there’s the Oakland Athletics, its line-up and rotation of players having fewer tools than most for professional baseball, yet each Oakland A player being exceptional re. his one particular skill, the A’s being a team that pushes ahead via the least expected one-man show due to this set-up.

Big questions will haunt, e.g., “Can the Rangers prevail as a leading team without Josh Hamilton and Michael Young?” And, “Will Yankee players be wearing T-shirts in June that read, ‘Old guy wisdom beats youth any day of the week’?”

Plus, “Will the Giants maintain a leading spot from philosophy, “If it aint broke, don’t fix it?”

*          *          *

NBA    ---    All of the NBA’s division second place franchises are between one and seven games back, within the Eastern Conference the 30-20 Chicago Bulls being one game behind the Central Division’s 31-20 Indiana Pacers, the Atlantic Division’s 29-21 Brooklyn Nets but three back of the 32-17 New York Knicks, while the Southeast Division’s 27-22 Atlanta Hawks are seven back of the 34-14 Miami Heat.

Within the Western Conference, the second place 30-21 Golden State Warriors are behind the 36-17 Los Angeles Clippers (Pacific Division), the 32-18 Memphis Grizzlies are back of first place 39-12 San Antonio Spurs (Southwest Division), and the 33-19 Denver Nuggets are back of the 39-12 Oklahoma City Thunder (Northwest Division).

Of note is that most of the NBA’s current second place teams have been either second or third within their respective divisions since the 2012/13 NBA season began, no surprise given their similar standings during the previous season. Among exceptions are the Warriors and the Nets, the former finishing next to last in its division last season, with the Nets, at the time belonging to New Jersey, dead last in their division and fourth last within the full league.

As of now, surprising 2012/13 fallbacks are that of third place 24-28 L.A. Lakers (West, Pacific Division), 11 games behind first place/neighbor team, the Clippers, and the 27-23 Boston Celtics being five behind the Knicks. In light of the consistency for wins demonstrated by the Clippers, by the Warriors, by the Knicks and the Nets, and the inconsistency shown by the Lakers and Celtics, the latter two could stay ranked where they are now, kept from serious further drops by poor performances shown in their respective divisions by fourth and fifth ranked teams, e.g., by the Sacramento Kings and the Phoenix Suns (West, Pacific Division) and the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors (East, Atlantic Division), each with fewer thn 23 wins and a record below .500, each being 10 or more games behind.

An upshot here is that the current six division leading teams, and those just behind them, will probably be the end-of-season competitors for playoff rounds, with a chance to finish as the 2012/13 championship team. Right now, the Heat leads the East, with the Knicks only two games behind, and the Spurs and the Thunder tied as leaders of the West, the Clippers at their heels from three games back.

For fans eager to place faith in a runner-up team closing in on a current leader, a look at the Denver Nuggets makes sense. After a poor start, losing three of its first season games, following a three game pre-season losing streak, the Nuggets advanced to where they recently finished a nine game winning streak, and haven’t lost more than three in a row since November 30, 2012. It took three overtimes for the Celtics to clip the Nuggets nine game winning streak on Sunday, 118-114.

The Nuggets won’t be facing a division leading franchise until March 1 (the Thunder), its four challenges until then versus teams holding records under .500. As for the Nuggets last encounter vs. the Thunder, the Denver franchise won, 121-118.   

END/ml        

NBA:   East vs. West; Nuggets, Bulls  //  NFL Violence; Issues & Answers    

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  . 

.  .  .   SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner.

NBA    ---       IT could be the East dominating the West during the current NBA All Star game, February 17, but there will be another story even if the East keeps the West under 100 points and strolls away with 10 or more points ahead. That story is this: the West is a far better aggregate of NFL franchises, the better conference within the world’s best basketball league.

Anyway, that’s the case as of yesterday’s rankings, and as demonstrated by other recently tallied numbers.

For example, this NBA season’s top three teams within the league are the West’s Southwest Division’s San Antonio Spurs (39 wins, 11 losses), next the Northwest Division’s Oklahoma City Thunder, 37-12, followed by the Pacific Division’s Los Angeles Clippers, 35-16.

The East’s leading team, its Southeast Division’s Miami Heat (32-14), they are holding at fourth place within the NBA, and the East’s Atlantic Division’s New York Knicks (31-16), they are sixth, behind fifth place team within the NBA, the West’s Northwest Division’s Denver Nuggets (32-18).

Too, the East includes seven teams of more losses than wins, that is, seven teams below .500, while the West has but four below .500. And, as the East has only four teams above .600, the West can boast of six above .600, and the West is the only conference with a team high above .700 (the Spurs, .780).

Also, the West includes the two franchises with the most games won “at home,” being the Spurs, with 22 home wins as of February 7, and the Nuggets, 22, the latter having beaten the East’s Central Division’s Chicago Bulls last night, 128-96 (ugh!).

Add that the West has the top three teams with the most games won “on the road”---the Spurs, with 17, the Thunder and the Clippers, tied at 15. The East’s Bulls show up as the league’s third place road victory club, with 14 wins. Ironically, the East’s Central Division’s leading team, the Indiana Pacers (31 wins), they have the second-most road losses league-wide, 16, behind the East’s Southeast Division’s Orlando Magic’s 18 road losses.

If there’s a category within which the East has been leaping ahead, it’s that of having this year’s “three worst teams,” the Southeast Division’s Charlotte Bobcats, 11-37/.229, the same division’s Washington Wizards, 13-35/.271, and the Central Division’s Cleveland Cavaliers, 15-34/.306.

An overarching top NBA performance tally remains the total number of games won by the three division leading teams belonging to each conference. As of February 7, the West’s three leading franchises were leaving the East’s top three behind, 111 total Western Conference wins over the East’s 94.

The All Star Game, well, it’s about “Stars,” it won’t be changing the win/loss records reflecting how a different galaxy will soon form, “the NBA post-season, the ultimate East/West sky-regalia of the best of the best teams competing, the battles that always dwarf that which came before."

Nuggets, Bulls  ---   Solo athletes, e.g., tennis players, long distance runners, skiers, they can address being “in the Zone” more often than any team can, since the experience happens a lot less for the latter, all of a team’s players being so on the same page minute-after-minute that recognition by each fuels the dynamic, keeps it going. Some have called this process, “fusion,” others have said of it, “it’s every player being in harmony with every other player,” and so on. These definitions, that “being in the zone,” it seemed captured and held by the currently 32-18 Denver Nuggets last night as they clobbered the now 29-20 Chicago Bulls, also a division second place team, final: 128-96. This was Denver’s eighth straight win, its best winning streak of the year, topping a six game W streak and two four-game W’s.

The vs. Bulls win was also the Nuggets highest numerical finish of the year, besting the team’s 126-114 December win against the L.A. Lakers. Since January 1, the Nuggets have lost only three of 18 games played.

And, during four of the eight games won in a row by the Nuggets, opponents were held under 100 points.

Also, each of five of the Nuggets eight straight wins finished with the team accruing more than 110 points.

Noteworthy is that the Nuggets beat the NBA’s top two teams during the current season (Spurs, the Thunder).

Also noteworthy was the quality of last night’s win, in that the Nuggets were all over the map of game-winning categories, including lay-ups, field goals from in the paint, three-pointers, free throws, steals (12), rebounds, blocks and assists, with speed and hustle from tip-off until endgame. Moreover, the third Q’s Nuggets performance was phenomenal, more than 35 points scored, though 16 were given away, suggesting that the much-improved Denver defense may have given up more if the Bulls high scorer/guard Derrick Rose were afieled (out from injury). As for style, there were Nuggets “dunks galore,” especially from starter/forward, Kenneth Faried, and hot off the grill, Wilson Chandler---24 points within less than 20 minutes on the floor.

*          *          *

NFL   ---    Major League Baseball is still in the throes of a PED storm, and it’s likely that the winds implying change within the NFL this year will be from the league’s violence = lifetime injury problem. Though baseball’s PED matter has never been of proportions infecting every signed ballplayer, it has spread in ways impacting nearly every MLB franchise negatively, corrupting not only estimates of player performance but all aspects of a team’s fairness-in-competition. Nor has the NFL’s violence = injury conundrum been felt within more than 1.5, maybe two percent, of the existing NFL player population, although over the span of total player-lifetimes from within that percentage, it becomes a large number, thus hundreds of former players unable to maintain healthy lives.

So, the NFL is faced with two questions, (1) How to compensate players already afflicted from concussions and from other injuries, and (2) How to reduce significantly, if unable to completely eliminate, all threats to a football player? The first will surely be about money and its distribution, about how willing team owners will be when it comes to “shelling out,” and the second will require joint-venturing involving not only players, coaches, general managers and owners creating new rules, but also technologists from within and outside the game, who can design better protective equipment.

Of course, the degree of success obtained by the NFL for player compensation re. injury-impacts and for development of better protective equipment, such will be determined by team-owner decisions about whether to take the moral high ground, or whether to climb up only half way, or whitewash the issue, so that maintained will be the violence that many owners believe is what makes the NFL popular and that keeps fans filling stadiums.

What is clear is “the inescapability.” Caring more for players, and making football safer, are matters that the NFL knows it cannot run from. And, the decision to go full out in favor of players and safety could well have to do with just how determined the players themselves are about changes being made for betterment of their health, their post-career well-being and their longevity (the players union can be a formidable negotiating body, proven during the NFL's 2010/11 lockout).

END/ml     

SUPER BOWL  XLVII: Post-game Report & Analysis // NBA: Phase Two

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  . 

.  .  .   SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner.

SUPER BOWL XLVII    ---     AS cited here yesterday, the Baltimore Ravens 34-31 win vs. the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl XLVII seemed like the menu for a grand buffet after the meal’s been devoured. We listed the following highlights---

• Ravens QB Joe Flacco as game MVP with three TD’s, number one TD early in the first period, the Ravens maintaining a lead until endgame, Flacco’s third TD being his 12^th for the 2012/13 post-season, tying a 1989 record set by SF QB, Joe Montana.
• SF QB Colin Kaepernick implying that he’s the NFL’s best upcoming “all around” QB (the Super Bowl was only his 10^th start) from expert passing plus his Mercury-on-wheels rushing.
• The Ravens Jacoby Jones 108 yard kick return for a TD (tied his earlier 108 yard KR record).
• SF coming back from a 28-6 spread in the second half, one of the more remarkable comebacks in Super Bowl history.
• Those final moments in the game when the 49er’s offense may have wrapped it all up in their favor.
• Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis ending his career with a Super Bowl ring.

            If it’s a win that advises which is the better team, then so be it! the Ravens commanded, deserved the Super Bowl trophy.

AND, this page added that when the fourth period closed, with Super Bowl XLVII suddenly history, the 49ers were a lot more than a gallant effort; they had actually surpassed the Ravens in nearly all key performance categories, for instance, the 49ers achieved more first downs than the Ravens had: 23 over 21; and, they gained more total net yards than the Ravens had: 468 versus 367, within which were more net 49er yards from rushing, 182-93, and more 49er passing yards gained, 286 vs. 274.

As to yards gained per play, the 49ers stayed ahead, 9.2 vs. the Ravens 7.8.

Too, the 49ers accomplished its leading feats within less possession time than the Ravens used up to achieve theirs, 27 minutes vs. the Ravens 32 minutes.

However, the Ravens “end zone attack sufficiency” punished the 49ers, resulting in more TD’s, simply “more points on the board.” SF landed in the end zone enough times to go past the Ravens, but reaching the base of a summit and then not summiting causes all that came before to have less meaning, first item in the record book “WINNER over Loser.”

Lessons learned.   Much can be extrapolated for avoidance of error in future games from just about every NFL contest. Super Bowl XLVII certainly provided for 2013/14 team preparations, for instance, the plays executed by the Ravens and the 49ers underscored that game fundamentals will continue to exist at the forefront of football’s combative applications, that is, head coaches cannot underestimate the value of QB/receiver synchronicity for the rush or for mid-field and deep passes; nor can they escape from speed being more important than cautious skill during a pass rush, or that pass protection has to be even faster but always at the effect of a QB’s maneuverings, even if speed sacrifices finesse of movement. Surely a QB having to stay inside a box created by protectors is severely limited, no matter how mobile that box may be (both Flacco and Kaepernick managed to avoid that trap often throughout Super Bowl XLVII).

And certainly a contribution to the Ravens and the 49ers gaining 2012/13 playoff berths and getting to New Orleans were week-after-week demonstrations of “defense dominance” from what could be phrased as, “Offense within the defense,” i.e., aggressive maneuverings forcing the opposing attackers into situations within which options for pushing forward diminish rapidly. This was obvious from the Ravens throughout Sunday’s game, and picked up and demonstrated by the 49ers starting in the game’s second half, thus the meager spread among points as the game reached its finish.

So, most of the breakthroughs that each team accrued on Sunday reflected classic football, another example being necessity of cornerback focus and speed having to be sharp and swift enough to find and eclipse a wide receiver or tight end, the precision for tapping away or intercepting the football being the necessary objective.

Too, (a no-brainer:) any offense that learns to exploit wide passing angles or blitz-rushing down the middle for between 5.0 and 7.2 yards per play will rack up lots of first downs and land deep within the opposition’s end zone.

Yet a 108 yard kick return for a TD can turn the whole enterprise around, so can a deep pass for a TD in the last seconds of a final quarter, breaking a tie, advising that the first enemy of defeat is “minute-by-minute ‘Vigilance,’” which during Super Bowl XLVII the Ravens had more of than its opponent had.

*          *          *

NBA:     The NBA season has already intensified, not only from the fact that the NFL post-season closed as the Super Bowl ended on Sunday, but the NBA all-star break is about to occur, after which a team’s attitude and skills usually switch to finding and fixing that big team desire, a playoff billet when the NBA season closes in April.

Of the 82-game season, more than half have been played, and unless drastic changes occur the following teams will be playoff candidates by late March---

Western Conference:

Northwest Division: 36-12 Oklahoma City, the 30-18 Denver Nuggets //  Southwest Division: the 38-11 San Antonio Spurs, the 30-16 Memphis Grizzlies //  Pacific Division: 34-16 Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors.

Eastern Conference:

Atlantic Division: 31-15 New York Knicks, 28-19 Brooklyn Nets //  Southeast Division: 31-14 Miami Heat, 26-20 Atlanta Hawks //  Central Division: 29-19 Indiana Pacers //  29-19 Chicago Bulls.

Lending to the above being so as April nears is that at the present moment only one third-place team within any division of either conference is less than four games behind a respective second place teams (the 27-22 Utah Jazz, three behind second place, Denver Nuggets).

Teams that finished last season as division leaders but are in third place within their divisions today are the 22-26 L.A. Lakers and the 24-23 Boston Celtics. Is there a team that finished poorly last season and is today almost top of the hill? Yes, the Brooklyn Nets, having finished the 2012/13 season in last place within its division, at 22-44 (then “the New Jersey Nets”).

END/ml    

           

SUPER BOWL XLVII: Post-game Report

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  . 

.  .  .   SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner.

SUPER BOWL XLVII    ---     More re. the Baltimore Ravens raid vs. the San Francisco 49ers on Tuesday, February 5---Until then, Baltimore’s 34-31 Super Bowl XLVII win over San Francisco seems like the menu for a buffet after the meal’s been devoured. Take your pick among highlights---

• Ravens QB Joe Flacco as game MVP with three TD’s vs. the SF 49ers, number one TD early in the first period, the Ravens maintaining a lead until endgame.
• Flacco’s last TD being his 12^th for the 2012/13 post-season, tying a 1989 record set by SF QB, Joe Montana.
• SF QB Colin Kaepernick implying that he’s the NFL’s best upcoming “all around” QB (the Super Bowl was only his 10^th start) from expert passing plus his Mercury-on-wheels rushing.
• The Ravens Jacoby Jones 108 yard kick return for a TD.
• SF coming back from a 28-6 spread in the second half, one of the more remarkable comebacks in Super Bowl history.
• Those final moments in the game when the 49er’s offense may have wrapped it all up in their favor.
• Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis ending his career with a Super Bowl ring.

            IF it’s a win that advises which is the better team, then so be it! the Ravens commanded, deserved the Super Bowl trophy.

BUT---when the fourth period closed, Super Bowl XLVII suddenly history, the 49ers were a lot more than a gallant effort. The 49ers had surpassed the Ravens in nearly all key performance categories, for instance, the 49ers achieved more first downs than the Ravens had: 23 over 21; and, they gained more total net yards than the Ravens had: 468 versus 367, within which were more net 49er yards from rushing, 182-93, and more 49er passing yards gained, 286 vs. 274.

As to yards gained per play, the 49ers stayed ahead, 9.2 vs. the Ravens 7.8.

Too, the 49ers accomplished its leading feats within less possession time than the Ravens used up to achieve theirs, 27 minutes vs. the Ravens 32 minutes.

However, the Ravens “end zone attack sufficiency” punished the 49ers, resulting in more TD’s, simply “more points on the board.” Make no mistake, the 49ers obtained first-and-goal access enough times to go past the Ravens with a TD, but reaching the base of a summit and then "not summiting," such causes all that came before to have less meaning, first item in the record book being, “WINNER over Loser.”

More on this tomorrow, Tuesday, February 5, at SPORTS NOTEBOOK---sports-notebook.blogspot.com. Check out Mile High Sports, coverage at: milehighsports.com. Or: Mile High Sports radio---AM1510, or FM93.7.

ml            

SUPER BOWL XLVII: Pre-Game Analysis /// NBA: Mid-Season Report; Denver Nuggets, Rising.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  . 

.  .  .   SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner.

SUPER BOWL XLVII    ---     Maybe it won’t be the battle of the century, but it could be a thrilling game anway, which happens when nearly equally matched teams with just enough mojo to enact surprises face off at a Super Bowl.

So, could there be an upset at Super Bowl XLVII, with the winning franchise ahead by more than, say, three touchdowns and three field goals? Yes.

Might there be only a few points on either side from first period until the last, neither ever ahead by more than three? Yes.

Could Sunday’s game end in a tie and shift into overtime, next a repeat of the usually thought impossible, something akin to that deep pass by Ravens QB Joe Flacco that undid the Denver Broncos during the year’s playoffs? Yes.

Will brother against brother have a serious impact on which team will outperform the other? Head coaches, John Harbaugh (Baltimore Ravens), and Jim Harbaugh (San Francisco 49ers), are professionals, with team loyalty and career business at stake. Their relationship won’t be more than a mild determinant---the answer here is, No!

Fact: No-one really knows what the outcome of Super Bowl XLVII will be. However, we can deliver some informed guesses. Here are some observations to push that along. First, let’s talk about strengths of the Ravens and the 49ers.

            Both teams are led by quarterbacks capable of mixing it up, going from running game to passing game, with Ravens QB, Joe Flacco, perhaps being the better at launching the long ball, and 49er QB, Colin Kaepernick, being more the master of fake and run tactics, both experts at handing off to running backs “when they have the pass protection needed.”

While Ravens QB Flacco seems to be the better and faster at identifying options for a deep or short pass, for the handoff, for rushing by himself, 49er QB Kaepernick seems faster than Flacco at execution of the option that he chooses to go with.

And, when it comes to passing, of 51 passing attempts during this year’s playoffs, Flacco completed 39. Kaepernick, of 52 attempts, closed with 33, suggesting that the 49er QB’s surprise rushes for deep yardage have overshadowed his passing competency.

With regard to rushing in the playoffs, Flacco and his receivers accumulated 446 yards and 72 first downs, while Kaepernick and his receivers accrued 472 rushing yards and 50 first downs. As to total number of points gained during the playoffs, the Ravens put up 90, the 49ers, 73.

An upshot is that if we take from the numbers, and if the two QB’s and their wide receivers and running backs stay synchronized, Sunday’s match will be close and low in scored points, providing, of course, that the defense squads of either franchise stay as impenetrable as they were throughout January, which means that breakthroughs for either side can evolve from pass rush excellence, from a secondary constantly eclipsing opposing wide receivers, from linebackers grinding enemy running backs into the grass; and take note that in the Ravens playoff battle against the Broncos, a Broncos kick return specialist ran through the Ravens defense for two touchdowns.

If Ravens famous linebacker, Ray Lewis, can outfox the 49er QB protection and the 49er's RB’s, the Baltimoreans will have an edge, but Lewis is readable and will need to rely on measures of surprise to dominate. That said, QB Kaepernick is quick of eye and tricky of motion, as are his RB’s and WR’s, a serious challenge for Lewis and the Ravens secondary.

Summing up, and whether it will be the Ravens over the 49ers, or the opposite, the majority of picks for Sunday by NFL experts have been conservative, leaning slightly in favor of the Baltimore franchise, e.g., a Ravens win by three, at best, seven.
This page’s take is that the outcome of Super Bowl XLVII is currently anyone’s guess. Yes, it could be close and low in points, neither the Ravens nor the 49er’s up by more than three, or the winning team may be far ahead at the finish, like that Ravens 44-13 win over the Cincinnati Bengals during the regular season, and the 49er’s 45-3 takedown of the Buffalo Bills during regulation.

Then again, it could be something centered along the spectrum, either team finishing at around 21-14, or 14-7 during OT .  .  .   Super Bowl XLVII, February 3, 6:30 PM, ET, “Sit back and enjoy!”

*          *          *

NBA:     FROM a fast glance at where NBA teams are in the rankings today, it’s easy to think all could be 2011/12-cloned. In April of 2012, when the previous season ended and playoffs were about to kick in, the Thunder, Spurs, Lakers, Celtics, the Heat and the Bulls, they led their respective conference’s divisions. Now, except for the Lakers being in third place of the Western Conference’s Pacific Division, replaced by the Clippers, and the Celtics at third within the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division, with the Knicks being at first, well, it’s dejavu .  .  . ! 

Even division second place holdings, and the franchises now within last place slots, mimic where NBA teams finished last season, e.g., the Denver Nuggets being second behind the Thunder, the Grizzlies just back of the Spurs, the Hawks rear of the Heat, the Pacers at the heels of the Bulls. The Warriors and the Nets having reached second place positions, such marks the only key difference from 2011/12’s end-of-season upper level rankings.

Also, last year the Timberwolves, the Hornets, the Kings, Bobcats and the Cavaliers finished at, or nearly at, the bottom of their divisions, and that is where they are now.

But a more than cursory look at today’s NBA standings reveals that numerous shifts could occur up ahead, and soon. For example, the Nuggets are closing in on the Thunder rapidly, five games behind when a few weeks ago they were nine back. Same re. the Grizzlies, having gone to six games behind the Spurs, from nine.

Also, the Nets, which finished at the very bottom of their division last year, they are now but two games behind first place Knicks, and the Pacers are only one game behind division leading Bulls instead of the eight back that they completed with, 2011/12.

Nuggets.  This presently 29-18 NBA franchise is hot---12 victories in January, one being a 121-118 win against the 34-11 Thunder, a 102-101 knockover of the Pacers, and two days ago a 118-110 takedown of the Rockets, during which Nuggets forward, Danilo Gallinari, scored three 3-pointers, two of them back-to-back.

Noteworthy is that the Nuggets, led by high above-the-margin head coach, George Karl, hasn’t been a team relying on one or two “superstars,” instead they have been a spread of players who are stars of a different kind, “teamwork operators,” looking for and exploiting opportunities for the rebound, the break, the shot and the assist, instead of three or four actors being in supporting roles so that a single star could shine.

Six Nuggets players can claim double-digit ppg averages, three being close with nine ppg averages, a sign of selflessness on the court and of point guard savvy exhibited by Ty Lawson, Andre Iguodala, and Andre Miller.

Thus far in the current season, the Nuggets are ahead of all opponents in number of successful field goals (excluding 3-pointers), free throws, offense rebounds, assists, team ppg averages, and total number of points since the start of the season.

Of the Nuggets January wins, only two were below 100 points. During a January win vs. the now 34-13 first place Western Conference Pacific Division L.A. Clippers, the Nuggets held them to 78 points.

Within the Western Conference today, the Nuggets are in fourth place, surely a post-season candidate.

Strangely, two of the Nuggets three January losses were to franchises at the bottom of their respective divisions, the Timberwolves and the Wizards. Defying repetition of such losses, February could see an increase in the number of Nuggets 2012/13 winning streaks, each streak interrupted by one or two losses, indicated by the Nuggets not having to meet a division leading team until March, except for a game vs. the now 28-17 Bulls (1st place, Eastern Conference’s Central Division), on February 7.

Since the current season began, the Nuggets have put on the board a six game winning streak, a five game winning streak, three four-game winning streaks, and two three-game winning streaks.

END/ml