Carmelo Anthony Shakes Off Illness to Hit Buzzer-Beater against Bulls

Filed under: Bulls, Nuggets

DENVER -- When Carmelo Anthony walked out of the Pepsi Center late Friday night, it was surprising one of Denver's ball boys wasn't called upon to help him with all the medicine he was carrying.

The Nuggets star forward began to feel sick last Monday in Golden State, a game in which he sure didn't look to be hurting en route to scoring a season-high 39 points. But when Anthony showed up for shootaround Friday morning, his teammates knew something wasn't right.

"You could tell he was feeling bad because nobody was talking to him, interacting,'' said Denver guard Ty Lawson. "He had his hood on. The look on his face said he was real tired.''

Nevertheless, later in the day, with the Nuggets trailing 97-96 to Chicago at the Pepsi Center, there was no doubts who Lawson was looking for to hit the winning shot. With 4 seconds remaining, Lawson inbounded to Anthony, who drilled a 23-footer at the buzzer for a 98-97 win.

Anthony then wearily made his way to the locker room. The shot certainly made him feel better, but not by a lot.

"Terrible. One,'' said Anthony, when asked after the game how he felt on a scale of one to 10.

 

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Source: http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/11/27/carmelo-anthony-shakes-off-illness-to-hit-buzzer-beater-against/

Alexandre Pato Andrea Pirlo Andres Iniesta Andriy Shevchenko Andy Murray

Antonio Margarito Eyes March Return From Loss to Manny Pacquiao

Filed under: WBA, WBC, WBO, Boxing Rumors, HBO, FanHouse Exclusive, Top Rank Promotions

Antonio Margarito, who underwent 75 minutes of surgery on Nov. 16 to repair a fractured right orbital bone, could return to the ring as early as March, and be up for a potential June clash opposite WBA junior middleweight (154 pounds) king Miguel Cotto, according to his manager, Sergio Diaz, and his promoter, Top Rank Promotions CEO, Bob Arum.

Margarito (38-7, 27 knockouts) suffered the damage during his HBO pay per view televised, Nov. 13, unanimous decision loss to Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs), whose 13th straight victory with eight knockouts during that run added the WBC's vacant junior middleweight crown to his WBO welterweight (147 pounds) belt for Pacquiao's eighth championship in as many different weight classes.

After the fight, Margarito was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, where the massive cut and swelling beneath his right eye socket was examined, said Diaz.

"Tony mentioned that he would like to fight in March. He has been anxious to train again, but he is aware that he needs to rest," Diaz said of Margarito, whose ring nickname is, "The Tornado."

"The doctor has given him clearance to run, but no gym work for another two weeks, and no contact for another month and a half," said Diaz. "Believe me when I say this, and that is that Antonio is counting each day that passes desperately waiting to get back into the gym."

 

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Source: http://boxing.fanhouse.com/2010/11/25/antonio-margarito-eyes-march-return-after-loss-to-manny-pacquiao/

Nery Castillo Nick Watney Nicolas Almagro Nikolay Davydenko Novak Djokovic

Gilbert Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki II Not Happening at Dynamite!! 2010

Filed under: DREAM, Strikeforce, FanHouse Exclusive, News, Japan

The long-rumored rematch between Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez and DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki will not be taking place at Fighting and Entertainment Group's Dec. 31 Dynamite!! 2010 show in Japan.

MMA Fighting confirmed the news with FEG USA's Mike Kogan and Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker.

Melendez defeated Aoki via unanimous decision in April at Strikeforce: Nashville. Strikeforce was expected to return the favor by sending their 155-pound champion to Japan to fight Aoki on the annual New Year's Eve show.

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2010/11/24/gilbert-melendez-vs-shinya-aoki-ii-not-happening-at-dynamite/

Andres Iniesta Andriy Shevchenko Andy Murray Andy Roddick Anthony Kim

Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle Combine For Oilers Game-Winning Goal

Filed under: Avalanche, Oilers, Western, NHL Videos

Despite a slow start, hopes are still high in Edmonton. The young Oilers have taken their lumps this season, falling victim to more than their fair share of blowouts to this point in the season.

Within those blowout losses, though, we've seen a few real signs of hope for this Edmonton team. Coach Tom Renney is optimistic about his talented young players, and two of them gave the first-year Oiler coach a bit of a reward for his optimism Thursday night.

With the game against Colorado tied 2-2 late in the third, rookies Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall combined for a pretty goal that gave the Oilers a 3-2 home win over their division rivals.

 

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Source: http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2010/11/26/taylor-hall-jordan-eberle-combine-for-oilers-game-winning-goal/

Matt Kuchar Maxi Rodríguez Michael Ballack Michael Essien Michael Owen

Bolton 2 Blackpool 2: Mark Davies Secures Dramatic Wanderers Comeback

Filed under: Blackpool, Bolton, Premier League, Football, Match Reports

Mark Davies snatched a dramatic late equaliser for Bolton to deny Blackpool what looked like being a memorable victory.

Goals from Ian Evatt and Luke Varney had put them in control and looked like taking them into the top half of the table.

Known for their expansive style, both goals came from corners. Martin Petrov pulled one back for the hosts with 15 minutes left and the hosts' pressure finally told when Davies touched in in the 88th minute.

Bolton have had a fine start to the season and dominated the opening quarter of the match with Matt Taylor going close on a couple of occasions.

But all that changed when Evatt got in front of Gary Cahill to glance in a header from Elliot Grandin's corner. Gary Taylor-Fletcher should have added a second after he was picked out by Adam after a wonderful break.


Kevin Davies had a header saved by Richard Kingson after the interval but Blackpool doubled their advantage shortly before the hour. This time it was Varney that got on the end of Grandin's corner to beat Chung-Yong Lee on the line.

Owen Coyle could not have been more positive with his substitutions, playing the final quarter of the match with four strikers, but Blackpool continued to look the more dangerous side, with DJ Campbell failing to take two good chances to make it three.

Petrov drilled in from just outside the area with 15 minutes remaining to set up a tense finish, with Davies going close and Stephen Crainey hacking off the line from Petrov.

But Mark Davies finally made the breakthrough with just over a minute left, touching in from close range after he was picked out by Ivan Klasnic.

 

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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2010/11/27/bolton-2-blackpool-2-mark-davies-secures-dramatic-comeback-for/

Sam Querrey Samir Nasri Samuel Eto’o Sergio Agüero Sergio Ramos

Erik Spoelstra: Heat Need 'Passion' to Improve Offense

Filed under: Heat

MIAMI -- Scoring plenty of easy buckets should be a given for a team that boasts Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh but the Heat nevertheless are struggling to run an efficient offensive gameplan. On the sidelines, coach Erik Spoelstra continues to encourage his players to pick up the pace and energy while sustaining it throughout the game, yet their plodding halfcourt offense more often than not ends with low-percentage jump shot attempts far from the rim.

The Heat may have ended up eventually beating the lowly Philadelphia 76ers 99-90 Friday night playing this way, but bigger challenges await. For a team that has played together for just one month, many are already questioning why the team hasn't been consistent on both ends of the court with their effort. After all, getting plenty of easy baskets can also occur in transition when the defense creates turnovers and doesn't yield offensive rebounds.

"The one thing with our identity that we talked about is let's win this game defensively," said Spoelstra after their three-game losing streak was snapped Friday night. "Let's make some possession-saving plays, get out on the open court, have some fun and passion of playing that style of basketball. That's what we want to do but we want to make an impact (on defense) especially when it counts."

 

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Source: http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/11/27/erik-spoelstra-heat-need-passion-to-improve-offense/

David Silva David Suazo David Villa Deco Dejan Stankovic

Javier Vazquez, Marlins Reportedly Agree to 1-Year Deal

Filed under: Marlins, Yankees, MLB Free Agency

Javier Vazquez is headed back to the National League.

The Marlins have agreed to a one-year deal with the right-hander, pending a physical, MLB.com reported Sunday. The pitcher will be hoping for a fresh start at age 34 after enduring a dreadful 2010 season with the Yankees that saw him post his worst numbers since he was a rookie in 1998.

The deal with be worth $6 million to $7 million according to FoxSports.com -- quite a pay cut from the $11.5 million Vazquez pulled in from New York this year. It was a bad investment for the Yankees, who saw the pitcher go 10-10 with a 5.32 ERA in 31 appearances, including 26 starts, as he plummeted from the heights he had reached in Atlanta (15-10, 2.87 ERA) the previous season.

Perhaps the starkest indicator of how far Vazquez fell from 2009 to 2010 was his strikeout-to-walk ratio. In 2009 it was a career-best 5.41 (238 strikeouts to 44 walks), while in 2010 it was a career-worst 1.86 (121 strikeouts to 65 walks).

 

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Source: http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/11/28/javier-vazquez-marlins-reportedly-agree-to-1-year-deal/

Ernie Els Fabio Cannavaro Fabio Quagliarella Feliciano Lopez Fernando Torres