January 7, 2017 – Page 4 – Officialsportsbetting.com

Darling leads Blackhawks to 2-1 win against Hurricanes (Sports Betting News)Darling leads Blackhawks to 2-1 win against Hurricanes (Sports Betting News)

January 7, 2017| 5:31

Scott Darling made a season-high 39 saves, Jonathan Toews and Artemi Panarin scored and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 on Friday for their second straight win. Darling, who backs up Corey Crawford, faced Carolina for the second time in a week in the Blackhawks’ second home game in two nights after beating Buffalo 4-3 in overtime on Thursday. Cam Ward made 22 saves in his 15th straight start for Carolina, which won 4-2 at St. Louis on Thursday.

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Knicks rally from 18 down, beat Bucks 116-111 to snap skid (Sports Betting News)Knicks rally from 18 down, beat Bucks 116-111 to snap skid (Sports Betting News)

January 7, 2017| 5:26

Carmelo Anthony had 26 points and 10 assists, including a clutch 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter, and the New York Knicks stormed back from 18 down Friday night to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 116-111 and stop their six-game losing streak. Kristaps Porzingis, who returned after a three-game absence due to a sore left Achilles tendon, added 24 points for the Knicks, who trailed by 13 heading into the fourth. With less than a minute remaining, Anthony drained a 3 to put New York in front 112-111.

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Hawks GM Wilcox apologizes after fan insulted by joke (Sports Betting News)Hawks GM Wilcox apologizes after fan insulted by joke (Sports Betting News)

January 7, 2017| 5:19

Atlanta Hawks general manager Wes Wilcox has apologized for making a joke a fan believed was racially insensitive. Wilcox, who is white, made a reference to his mixed-race marriage and family while speaking to season-ticket holders in December. Wilcox issued a statement, obtained Friday by Sports Betting News, after the fan, Clarenton Crawford, was upset by the joke.

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Irving, Love return as James, Cavs beat Nets 116-108 (Sports Betting News)Irving, Love return as James, Cavs beat Nets 116-108 (Sports Betting News)

January 7, 2017| 5:16

Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were rusty and Kyle Korver is still not a Cavalier, so LeBron James needed to play a heavy role Friday. James scored 36 points, carrying Cleveland while Irving and Love had slow starts in their return to the lineup in a 116-108 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. Irving added 32 points and Love had 17 points and 13 rebounds, but both shot poorly early as the Nets kept it competitive for 1 1/2 quarters.

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The Upshot: Thomas catches fireThe Upshot: Thomas catches fire

January 7, 2017| 5:06

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Notes and observations from Friday’s second round of the SBS Tournament of Champions, where Justin Thomas and Ryan Moore carded 67’s to earn a share of the lead. For more from Kapalua check out the Daily Wrap-up. SERIOUS JT Justin Thomas was succinct when answering how he turned around his Kapalua fortunes after a poor showing at last year’s SBS Tournament of Champions. “I just prepared, actually, this year,” he said with a laugh. Thomas finished the 2016 tournament in a tie for 21st some 19 shots behind friend and winner Jordan Spieth, but through 36 holes this year he sits tied for the lead at 12-under as he looks to claim a third PGA TOUR win. “I obviously practiced and prepared last year, but I just didn’t as much as I should have,” he continued. “I didn’t take it like a normal event. I mean, this is a great, great opportunity to win a golf tournament. This is your best chance, you would say. Obviously, the winners, they are all great players, but I’ll take my chances over 32 versus 144 every single week.” Having also missed the cut in the 2016 Sony Open and 2016 Career Builder Challenge, Thomas was mindful of being ready in 2017. “I feel like I’m to the point where I should be contending most of the weeks I play.” He still had fun in his off-season but made sure he got back to work well in advance of his trek to Maui, refusing to treat the trip as any sort of vacation. “These last couple weeks, I really tried to kind of hone it in and get ready for the start of this year,” he said. “The main thing I focused in the off-season was my driving. I think if I can drive it a lot straighter or even just a little straighter, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be in contention, or be at least around the hunt going into the weekend, or come Sunday. “I feel like I’m to the point where I should be contending most of the weeks I play, and at least giving myself a chance to have a good finish, if not around the hunt.” CALL OF THE DAY Free play-by-play coverage of the third round streams from 3-8 p.m. ET Saturday on PGATOUR.COM SPIETH NEEDS HISTORIC WEEKEND Defending champion Jordan Spieth will remain the reigning trophy holder at least until Sunday afternoon, but the eight-time PGA TOUR winner feels his chances are minimal after 36 holes. The 2015 FedExCup champion backed up his opening round 72 with a 4-under 69 to sit 5-under for the tournament, now sitting seven shots back of leaders Justin Thomas and Ryan Moore. Spieth was annoyed by a double bogey on the par-3 8th and a triple bogey on the par-4 17th where he found the hazard both off the tee and on approach. The Texan tried to be upbeat with his nine birdies – including a run of five in a row – but couldn’t hide his disappointment. “It’s a bummer not to really have a chance to win after two rounds,” Spieth said as he finished up. “It was a colorful one. You’re going to have rounds like this. I guess looking at the big picture, I certainly understand that this is going to happen. “But at the same time, you know, these are rounds of what-could-have-been. That didn’t need to happen. If I get that bounce on 8 and I just hit an average tee shot on 17, I shoot 9-under or better.” Spieth should however take heart in the knowledge two players have come back from seven shots at the halfway mark to win the tournament since it moved to the Plantation course in 1999. Sergio Garcia (2002) and Stuart Appleby (2005) were both able to climb the mountain. “I just feel like it’s going to be too big of an uphill battle,” he said. “But I can get myself, probably 12- to 14-under par the next two days and finish in the top 5, so that becomes the next goal.” BEWARE THE SICK GOLFER Patrick Reed’s arrival in Maui was delayed by illness, but he’s feeling much better after forging his way near the top of the leaderboard at the halfway mark. Reed caught a bug off his kids and was laid up last weekend, forcing his arrival on the Hawaiian island to be pushed back. Despite limited practice time and the fact he is still battling the remnants of the illness, Reed was able to put together a very tidy 8-under 65 on Friday to move to 11-under and a tie for 3rd just a shot back. “I learned a lot from yesterday. With not feeling well yesterday, I tried to hit some full shots and unfortunately with being under the weather, you just don’t have complete control over your body,” Reed said. “So what I made sure I did today is I made sure I didn’t swing harder than 90 percent on anything, and because of that, I had a lot more control and had a feel of where the club was and had a lot more quality looks at putts on the greens. “Any time you have shorter putts, you’re going to make some more putts.” The Ryder Cup star hit all 18 greens in regulation for the first time in his career on TOUR and missed just one fairway, the first, when his ball trickled just a few inches long into the short rough. He’s now -64 on the Plantation course since 2014, 10 strokes better than the next best player in Jimmy Walker. “It’s one of these places that I seem like I can come out and I can just start being creative and hitting different kind of golf shots,” Reed said. “Because of that, it allows me to free up and not feel like I have to guide anything. I can just go ahead and make a golf swing. I wish more golf courses were like this.”

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the upshot round 2the upshot round 2

January 7, 2017| 5:06

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Notes and observations from Friday’s second round of the SBS Tournament of Champions, where Justin Thomas and Ryan Moore carded 67’s to earn a share of the lead. For more from Kapalua check out the Daily Wrap-up. SERIOUS JT Justin Thomas was succinct when answering how he turned around his Kapalua fortunes after a poor showing at last year’s SBS Tournament of Champions. “I just prepared, actually, this year,” he said with a laugh. Thomas finished the 2016 tournament in a tie for 21st some 19 shots behind friend and winner Jordan Spieth, but through 36 holes this year he sits tied for the lead at 12-under as he looks to claim a third PGA TOUR win. “I obviously practiced and prepared last year, but I just didn’t as much as I should have,” he continued. “I didn’t take it like a normal event. I mean, this is a great, great opportunity to win a golf tournament. This is your best chance, you would say. Obviously, the winners, they are all great players, but I’ll take my chances over 32 versus 144 every single week.” Having also missed the cut in the 2016 Sony Open and 2016 Career Builder Challenge, Thomas was mindful of being ready in 2017. “I feel like I’m to the point where I should be contending most of the weeks I play.” He still had fun in his off-season but made sure he got back to work well in advance of his trek to Maui, refusing to treat the trip as any sort of vacation. “These last couple weeks, I really tried to kind of hone it in and get ready for the start of this year,” he said. “The main thing I focused in the off-season was my driving. I think if I can drive it a lot straighter or even just a little straighter, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be in contention, or be at least around the hunt going into the weekend, or come Sunday. “I feel like I’m to the point where I should be contending most of the weeks I play, and at least giving myself a chance to have a good finish, if not around the hunt.” CALL OF THE DAY Free play-by-play coverage of the third round streams from 3-8 p.m. ET Saturday on PGATOUR.COM SPIETH NEEDS HISTORIC WEEKEND Defending champion Jordan Spieth will remain the reigning trophy holder at least until Sunday afternoon, but the eight-time PGA TOUR winner feels his chances are minimal after 36 holes. The 2015 FedExCup champion backed up his opening round 72 with a 4-under 69 to sit 5-under for the tournament, now sitting seven shots back of leaders Justin Thomas and Ryan Moore. Spieth was annoyed by a double bogey on the par-3 8th and a triple bogey on the par-4 17th where he found the hazard both off the tee and on approach. The Texan tried to be upbeat with his nine birdies – including a run of five in a row – but couldn’t hide his disappointment. “It’s a bummer not to really have a chance to win after two rounds,” Spieth said as he finished up. “It was a colorful one. You’re going to have rounds like this. I guess looking at the big picture, I certainly understand that this is going to happen. “But at the same time, you know, these are rounds of what-could-have-been. That didn’t need to happen. If I get that bounce on 8 and I just hit an average tee shot on 17, I shoot 9-under or better.” Spieth should however take heart in the knowledge two players have come back from seven shots at the halfway mark to win the tournament since it moved to the Plantation course in 1999. Sergio Garcia (2002) and Stuart Appleby (2005) were both able to climb the mountain. “I just feel like it’s going to be too big of an uphill battle,” he said. “But I can get myself, probably 12- to 14-under par the next two days and finish in the top 5, so that becomes the next goal.” BEWARE THE SICK GOLFER Patrick Reed’s arrival in Maui was delayed by illness, but he’s feeling much better after forging his way near the top of the leaderboard at the halfway mark. Reed caught a bug off his kids and was laid up last weekend, forcing his arrival on the Hawaiian island to be pushed back. Despite limited practice time and the fact he is still battling the remnants of the illness, Reed was able to put together a very tidy 8-under 65 on Friday to move to 11-under and a tie for 3rd just a shot back. “I learned a lot from yesterday. With not feeling well yesterday, I tried to hit some full shots and unfortunately with being under the weather, you just don’t have complete control over your body,” Reed said. “So what I made sure I did today is I made sure I didn’t swing harder than 90 percent on anything, and because of that, I had a lot more control and had a feel of where the club was and had a lot more quality looks at putts on the greens. “Any time you have shorter putts, you’re going to make some more putts.” The Ryder Cup star hit all 18 greens in regulation for the first time in his career on TOUR and missed just one fairway, the first, when his ball trickled just a few inches long into the short rough. He’s now -64 on the Plantation course since 2014, 10 strokes better than the next best player in Jimmy Walker. “It’s one of these places that I seem like I can come out and I can just start being creative and hitting different kind of golf shots,” Reed said. “Because of that, it allows me to free up and not feel like I have to guide anything. I can just go ahead and make a golf swing. I wish more golf courses were like this.”

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Wall has 18 assists and 18 points, Wizards beat Timberwolves (Sports Betting News)Wall has 18 assists and 18 points, Wizards beat Timberwolves (Sports Betting News)

January 7, 2017| 4:53

On a night when Andrew Wiggins was nearly unstoppable, John Wall made sure the Washington Wizards did enough to get their ninth straight home victory. Wall had a season-high 18 assists and scored 18 points to help the Wizards beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 112-105 on Friday night. Wiggins had 41 points on 16-of-30 shooting, but it wasn’t enough on a night the Wizards shot 58.2 percent (46 of 79).

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Moore, Thomas set pace at Kapalua after inspired pairing (Sports Betting News)Moore, Thomas set pace at Kapalua after inspired pairing (Sports Betting News)

January 7, 2017| 4:52

(Officialsportsbetting.com) – Ryan Moore and Justin Thomas inspired one another in a low-scoring pairing as they moved one stroke clear of a tightly bunched leaderboard in the second round of the SBS Tournament of Champions in Hawaii on Friday. The two Americans fired matching six-under-par 67s at the Kapalua Resort on the island of Maui to post 12-under totals of 134 in the PGA Tour’s opening event of the year. Overnight leader Jimmy Walker carded a 70 to sit one shot back, level with fellow American Patrick Reed, who fired a best-of-the-day 65 that was built on a consummate driving display.

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Roller-coaster round leaves Spieth seven backRoller-coaster round leaves Spieth seven back

January 7, 2017| 4:52

KAPALUA, Hawaii — Jordan Spieth made nine birdies Friday with the kind of round that should have put him in contention at the SBS Tournament of Champions. Except for two holes, he might have been. Instead, Spieth left Kapalua thinking more about a high finish than a title defense. He made a double bogey on the par-3 eighth when his ball caught a wicked lie in the bunker and his next shot buried in deep rough. What really irritated him was a bad drive on the 17th, compounded by not getting the right yardage and laying up into a hazard, leading to triple bogey. “I’ll struggle for the next couple hours getting over 17 kind of throwing me out of the tournament,” Spieth said after his 69. “Just feel like it’s going to be too big of an uphill battle. But I can get myself probably 12- to 14-under par the next two days and finish in the top five. So that becomes the next goal.” He spoke outside the scoring trailer, still running hot enough to rule himself out so quickly. Spieth was at 5-under 141. By the end of the round, he was seven shots behind Justin Thomas and Ryan Moore with 36 holes remaining. Still, his outlook illustrated the irritation. Spieth thought his 7-iron on No. 8 had a chance to be close until it took a hop into bunker on the downslope. He blasted out across the green, and the ball had so much spin that it buried in the rough. He couldn’t control the spin on that one as it raced across the green into the rough. Spieth had to make a 5-footer for double bogey. His caddie, Michael Greller, set a short goal of making five birdies the rest of the way. “We got five on the next five,” Spieth said after rolling in four birdies from inside 10 feet and one from about 35 feet across the 11th green. He missed a couple of other chances on the 14th and 15th, but still was only one shot behind until the 17th. Trying to hammer a tee shot, he hit a toe-hook into the hazard. “Hitting a ball where I did on 17 with about a 95-yard fairway is as bad a shot as I’ll hit this year,” he said. And then he compounded the mistake. Spieth said he and Greller rushed the next one and didn’t get the right yardage, and it didn’t help that he caught a flier with a 7-iron out of the rough. It bounded into the gorge dividing the fairway and green for another penalty shot. Spieth rebounded with a fifth shot to about 4 feet, and then he missed the putt. “What we should have done was take the time for us to sit back, look at the options, make sure that this next shot’s in play and have Michael maybe walk off the 185-, 190-some-odd yards we had to the end and say, `Hey, this needs to pitch at 160.’ I just took a 7-iron, caught a flier and ripped it, thinking I had way more than I did,” he said. “It was kind of a rookie move.” For the second round of the year, there were plenty of positives, starting with those nine birdies set up by an impeccable wedge game. Even so, it was difficult to ignore a double bogey and triple bogey that wrecked a round that otherwise matched the brilliant weather. “Just because we were in contention,” Spieth said, “and now pretty surely out of it.”

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Spieth cards nine birdies, has two bad holes at KapaluaSpieth cards nine birdies, has two bad holes at Kapalua

January 7, 2017| 4:52

KAPALUA, Hawaii — Jordan Spieth made nine birdies Friday with the kind of round that should have put him in contention at the SBS Tournament of Champions. Except for two holes, he might have been. Instead, Spieth left Kapalua thinking more about a high finish than a title defense. He made a double bogey on the par-3 eighth when his ball caught a wicked lie in the bunker and his next shot buried in deep rough. What really irritated him was a bad drive on the 17th, compounded by not getting the right yardage and laying up into a hazard, leading to triple bogey. “I’ll struggle for the next couple hours getting over 17 kind of throwing me out of the tournament,” Spieth said after his 69. “Just feel like it’s going to be too big of an uphill battle. But I can get myself probably 12- to 14-under par the next two days and finish in the top five. So that becomes the next goal.” He spoke outside the scoring trailer, still running hot enough to rule himself out so quickly. Spieth was at 5-under 141. By the end of the round, he was seven shots behind Justin Thomas and Ryan Moore with 36 holes remaining. Still, his outlook illustrated the irritation. Spieth thought his 7-iron on No. 8 had a chance to be close until it took a hop into bunker on the downslope. He blasted out across the green, and the ball had so much spin that it buried in the rough. He couldn’t control the spin on that one as it raced across the green into the rough. Spieth had to make a 5-footer for double bogey. His caddie, Michael Greller, set a short goal of making five birdies the rest of the way. “We got five on the next five,” Spieth said after rolling in four birdies from inside 10 feet and one from about 35 feet across the 11th green. He missed a couple of other chances on the 14th and 15th, but still was only one shot behind until the 17th. Trying to hammer a tee shot, he hit a toe-hook into the hazard. “Hitting a ball where I did on 17 with about a 95-yard fairway is as bad a shot as I’ll hit this year,” he said. And then he compounded the mistake. Spieth said he and Greller rushed the next one and didn’t get the right yardage, and it didn’t help that he caught a flier with a 7-iron out of the rough. It bounded into the gorge dividing the fairway and green for another penalty shot. Spieth rebounded with a fifth shot to about 4 feet, and then he missed the putt. “What we should have done was take the time for us to sit back, look at the options, make sure that this next shot’s in play and have Michael maybe walk off the 185-, 190-some-odd yards we had to the end and say, `Hey, this needs to pitch at 160.’ I just took a 7-iron, caught a flier and ripped it, thinking I had way more than I did,” he said. “It was kind of a rookie move.” For the second round of the year, there were plenty of positives, starting with those nine birdies set up by an impeccable wedge game. Even so, it was difficult to ignore a double bogey and triple bogey that wrecked a round that otherwise matched the brilliant weather. “Just because we were in contention,” Spieth said, “and now pretty surely out of it.”

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