Category Archives: Sports

Cavs fans look for playoff hopes from new pickup

    J.R. Smith’s current right thumb injury has caused much uncertainty and taken one of the starting five out of this season’s lineup for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

    According to si.com, on January 5, 2017 the Atlanta Hawks were finalizing a deal to send shooting guard Kyle Korver to the Cavaliers. This would be a quality pickup for the Cavaliers with Korver stepping into the missing spot of Smith for the time being.

    According to cleveland.com, the Cavaliers have not been greatly effected by Smith’s absence with a record of 7-2 without him. Smith is only shooting 36.2 percent from behind the arc disappointing many fans who were expecting him to be shooting better than eight other Cavalier players this season.

    “Korver is a great pickup because he is a sniper from 3 point range and he’s a 51 percent shooter from the corners. This will distribute the scoring across the floor and give the Cavaliers options in game planning,” junior Jacob Feldman said.

    Korver, who has been one of the leading three point scorers for the Hawks hopefully will fit into the Cavaliers lineup smoothly because of the amount of three point shots a game the team takes. According to stats.nba.com the Cavaliers average 33 threepoint attempts in a game. They are also averaging close to 85 shot attempts total, making close to 39 percent of their shots three pointers.

    Korver is also ranked the twenty fourth best three point shooter on ESPN’s top three point shooting players of the season. He is shooting 40.9 percent from behind the arc which is over 4 percent better than Smith.

    Korver also will be vital to the Cavaliers during the playoffs as he has been in the NBA for 14 seasons and has made the playoffs 10 times. Korver will bring experience and a possible spark that the Cavaliers might need in order to win back to back championships.

    “He will be a key role player off the bench, providing explosive scoring when our starters are resting,” Feldman said. “This will give Cleveland the ability to score more consistently, allowing rest for key players even in big games. It is a solid move for Cleveland, looking to defend their NBA champion throne this season.”

    The Cavaliers pickup of Korver may have some uncertainty about his effect on the team, but fans like Feldman hope he will become a valuable asset for the rest of the season, during playoffs and ultimately during another NBA Championship.     

Indians lose a close World Series

The 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series were between the National League champions Chicago Cubs and the American League champions, Cleveland Indians.   

The games were played between Oct. 26 to Nov. 2.

It has been 68 years since the last time the Indians have won the World Series. Last time they were in the MLB championship was in 1997, when they were defeated by the Miami Marlins in game seven.

The Cubs have not been in the world series since 1945, losing to the Detroit Tigers in game seven 9-3.  

The Indians took control of game one when there catcher Roberto Perez, who had not hit good in the postseason hit two homeruns. Jake Arrieta, starting pitcher for Chicago, threw close to a no-hitter. His performance led to Chicago winning game two and tying the series up 1-1.

Game three was an exciting and close matchup. Clevelands pitcher Andrew Miller, who won the MVP of the ALCS, held Chicago scoreless in the 6th inning. The game was tied up until the top of the 7th inning when left fielder, Coco Crisp’s pinch-hit brought in a run to give the Indians a 1-0 lead. Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen came in and finished the Cubs off with a final score of 1-0. Cleveland was now up 2-1, taking the unexpected win at Chicago.

In game four the Cubs took an early 1-0 lead, when first baseman Anthony Rizzo batted in a run. Then the Indians pounced and scored 2 runs. Corey Kluber held the Chicago Cubs until the bottom of the sixth. Kipnis hit a homerun to right field bringing in Crisp and Rajai Davis, making the score to 7-1. Indians were in the lead with a 3-1 record in the series.

Game five was an important game for the Cubs. If they did not pull out a win, the World Series would end, however the Indians took a loss in game five. Cleveland held Chicago 1-0 until the bottom of the 4th when they scored 3 runs, making the score 3-1. The game ended with a closing score of 3-2 Cubs, progressing the series into game six.

Addison Russell, starting shortstop for the Cubs, started game six by contributing to two out of the three runs scored in the first inning. Later in the game Russell hit a grand slam to center, making the game 7-0 by the top of the third inning.

The Indians had their work cut out for them trying to come back from being down seven to nothing. With the help of Arrieta striking out nine Cleveland players, the Cubs took game six sending the series to the deciding game seven.

Dexter Fowler, center fielder for the Cubs started off game seven with a leadoff home run making it 1-0. Crisp then ran into home plate, tieing up the game 1-1 at the bottom of the 3rd.

Kris Bryant, third basemen for the Cubs tagged up and scored. Right after Bryant scored, Willson Contreras who was 1 and 18 during the series for batting, slammed one to the wall bringing in Ben Zobrist and making the score 3-1 Cubs.

The first pitch into the fifth inning, Javier Baez hits a homer to right center making the score 4-1, forcing the Indians to take out starting pitcher Corey Kluber and put in Andrew Miller.

In the bottom of the fifth a wild pitch was thrown to Chicago’s catcher, David Ross and with the time it took him to recover the ball Carlos Santana and Kipnis brought in two runs for the Indians making the score 5-3 Cubs. Ross recovered in the next inning by hitting a homerun to center field. By the 8th inning, the Indians Cubs were tied 6-6. In the 10th inning, Chicago scored two runs, which was enough to hold off Cleveland who only brought in one run.

The Chicago Cubs won their first World Series since 1908 in the 10th inning of game seven with a final score of 8-7.