UEFA Europa League: Spurs Beat Dnipro, Will Face SL Benfica

It was an exciting match on Thursday that featured some interesting back stories and development as the Tottenham Hotspur was able to get 3-1 comeback win over Dnipro. With the win, the Spurs qualify for round of 16 wherein they will face SL Benfica.

Here's the game recap from UEFA's official website.

UEFA Game Recap

Spurs were stunned by Roman Zozulya's header after half-time, but any hopes ex-Tottenham boss Juande Ramos harboured of a successful return to his former stomping ground were dashed by Christian Eriksen's set piece and a five-minute Emmanuel Adebayor double salvo that followed Zozulya's red card.

With his team losing 1-0 in Ukraine last week, Tim Sherwood took the proactive approach to reversing Spurs' fortunes in this last-32 tie, starting both Roberto Soldado and Adebayor. The latter made an early impact, nodding down a high ball for Eriksen, whose deflected volley dropped just over. Eriksen was Tottenham's main protagonist, but the Denmark schemer's hesitancy in promising areas extinguished several opportunities, and a curling free-kick was smothered by Dnipro goalkeeper Denys Boyko.

Despite the bodies the Premier League side had devoted to attack, an interval lead eluded them. The home fans' frustration was then compounded moments after the restart when Dnipro captain Ruslan Rotan's set piece was met by Zozulya's flashing header that left Hugo Lloris with little chance.

That stung the hosts into life. Mousa Dembélé's bouncing volley clipped the crossbar before Eriksen squeezed another exquisite free-kick inside the base of the left upright to equalise. At the other end, Yevhen Konoplyanka cracked a low shot off the left post, though the momentum shifted again soon after as goalscorer Zozulya was sent off for violent conduct on 63 minutes.

From then on, the match became the Adebayor show. The forward stabbed in Eriksen's swinging cross to level the aggregate score on 65 minutes, and then put Spurs in the driving seat when he brought down Zeki Fryers' long diagonal and finished with aplomb. Lloris was called upon to repel Yevhen Seleznyov's thumping drive and Konoplyanka's set piece as Dnipro strove to spoil the party late on – but Sherwood's charges survived the onslaught to advance.

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Hawks Slide All The Way Down to Eighth Spot in the East

Just two months ago, the Atlanta Hawks seemed to have a firm grasp on the 3rd seed in the eastern conference. However, after suffering the team suffered through a litany of injuries that resulted to ever-changing lineups and rotations, the Hawks suffered strings of losses. Players on the team had struggled as their roles got changed from one game to another as the coaching staff tried to patch up the holes that is left by the absence of injured players.

 After going 2-8 in their last 10 games, the Hawks are now below .500 with 26 wins and 29 losses. The team is currently holding the 8th and the last playoff spot in the east.

Although they have comfortable lead over the 9th-place Detroit Pistons, they will have to turn things around in a major way if they wish to reach the playoffs. This is going to be hard considering the fact that the team is not out of the woods yet in terms of injury situation. It also didn't help that the front office didn't make any improvements before the trade deadline ended.

If the team is going to turn things around, it will have to rely on individual improvements from players.

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Despite Carmelo Wanting to Stay, Knicks Future Still in a Bind

With the horrible season the team is having, talks of trades regarding the New York Knicks didn't exempt anybody on the team. Even Carmelo Anthony, the franchise's prized star, was involved in trade rumors. Anthony is planning to opt out of his contract by the end of the season and this meant that the team could lose him for zero return. As such, talks of trades were only logical.

However, Anthony recently expressed his desire to stay with the team. In a story by Marc Berman of the New York Post, the 30-year old forward said:

"I don’t want to be traded. I came to New York, I said before I wanted to retire here. I said it, meant it. That’s how I feel. I still feel strongly about that. That’s why at the end of the season, everything has to be laid out — something that we can grow with and build on."

Despite his desire to stay, the future of the team is still in question. Anthony wants to compete but with the current salary situation of the team, making an improvement is going to be a very tough challenge as the Knicks are already locked to pay $91 million for next season. Unless the Knicks front office can conjure a miracle, the team is going to be stuck in a bad shape for at least one more season.

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No Westbrook No Problem for OKC Thunder

As of the writing, the Oklahoma City Thunder have a record of 43 wins and 12 losses. This record puts the team on top of the league. While having the best record is already impressive, what makes it even more amazing is that the team is winning games despite missing their best player in dynamic guard Russell Westbrook.

The driving force behind this success is forward Kevin Durant who has been playing absurdly well. The 25-year old is doing it all as he averages 31.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists so far this season. He is also making shots at high percentage as reflected by his 51% field goal percentage.

In the absence of Westbrook, backup guard Reggie Jackson has proven his capability to handle point guard duties. He is a solid  defender and also has the speed and finishing ability near the rim which makes him a tough cover for opposing guards. In a way, Jackson is what many thought Westbrook should be.

Since he entered the NBA to play alongside Durant, many criticized Westbrook for being too aggressive on offense. He looks for his own shot far too often which resulted for poor forced shots. While there are plenty of advantage to Westbrook's aggressiveness, Jackson has shown how the powerful and scary the team can be when it is able to take advantage of Durant's various abilities.

Watching the Thunder right now reminds me of the 2010-11 Dallas Mavericks. The team that went on to win the championship relied on Dirk Nowitzki for offense. Dirk was impossible to guard on 1-on-1 back then and when he was doubled-team, he was able to make the right decisions. It is very much the dame for Durant right now who puts up points and facilitates well. The only difference is that Durant today is way much better than Dirk in 2011.

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Barca Retakes Top Spot in La Liga with Win Over Sevilla

After the 4-1 win over Sevilla last weekend, Barcelona re-takes the first place in La Liga from Athletico Madrid who suffered a shocking loss against Almeria.

Sevilla started strong with Alberto Moreno scoring the first goal in the 15th minute of the match. Sevilla had a chance to take a 2-0 in the 20th minute but the header from Carlos Bacca hit the post, saving Barca from getting into a deep hole.

Barca was largely passive in the early going. Sevilla already had 5 attempts in the first 20 minutes of the match while Barca had zero tries. It was only until Sevilla scored that Barca became more aggressive.

However, Barca wasn't able to score until the 34th minute, in which a header by Alexis Sanchez from a long free kick by Lionel Messi tied the game. With two minutes remaining before halftime, Barca was able to score their second goal courtesy of Messi. From there on, it was pretty much a soft sailing for the visiting Barcelona team.

Messi scored another goal in the 56th minute to extend the lead 3-1 and a Cesc Fabregas goal in the 87th minute resulted to a final score of 4-1.

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Outdated Post: Grizzlies Slips Into a Playoff Spot, Mavericks Slips off

This is a bit late and thus outdated but for my personal record-keeping purposes, I've decided to just post this right here. It's about the time last week when the Grizzlies where able to temporarily slip into a playoff spot. Obviously, it's not true now but whatever.

Grizzlies Slips Into a Playoff Spot, Mavericks Slips off

After a strong run to start the year that saw them win 13 of their 16 games, the Memphis Grizzlies have slipped into the 8th playoff spot in the very competitive western conference. The team started season poorly due to a new and more fast-paced system the coaching staff was trying to put in place. A couple of weeks later, the team fell back on their old and lumbering system which allowed them to win a string of games. However, they lost their defensive anchor in center Marc Gasol as he injured his knee on November 22. The team struggled throughout the next month of December and the first two weeks of January.

However, after Gasol returned on January 14, the Grizzlies have improved their play. Their defense is back to its old stingy self and their offense is also much improved.

With the rise of the Grizzlies, it also meant that one other team had to fall. That team is the Dallas Mavericks who aren't exactly having that good of a run in January. Although Dirk Nowitzki is putting up some pretty good numbers, the team's unreliable defense has been its downfall. The team has only won 9 of their 17 games for the month which is far from being good and resulted to them slipping off the top 8 teams in the west.

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Indiana Pacers Interested in Bynum

Skilled 7-footers are rare and very valuable in the NBA. That is why it isn't surprising that the Indiana Pacers are reportedly interested in making recently waived center Andrew Bynum a part of the team. It was reported a day ago that Bynum and his agent are in Indianapolis and are very much likely in discussion with the Pacers.

Although Bynum has lost some mobility due to injuries, his elite skills can still allow him to contribute to a team despite playing limited minutes. The question now is if he can play as a backup behind Roy Hibbert who's one of the best centers in the league right now. If he can, then he will be a very big boost to the Pacers second unit as there's really no second-unit centers that can compare to his combination of size and skills.

Another point of interest with the Pacers signing Bynum is the fact that it will allow to stop other teams from getting their hands on the center. The team's advantage has always been their size and that is why it makes sense for them to deny opposing teams from getting players who could decrease their advantage.

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