GoodFella | NBA Total Friday, 1/16/2015 7:35 PM
PERSONAL PLAY
BULLS/CELTICS – OVER 202.5
I have this total at 205 and I’ve played a small(er) personal play on the OVER 202.5. The Bulls will be w/out their best interior defender in Noah & the fact is the Bulls have not been as near as strong defensively this season, as they have the last couple seasons. The Celtics are 2nd in pace & Chicago actually ranks 8th in the NBA in offensive efficiency this season. Both the Bulls and Celtics rank in the middle of the pack in defensive efficiency. Both clubs are in the top 10 in ppg this season as well. Good value for me on the OVER 202.5 and enough for me to make a small(er) personal play on.
PERSONAL PLAY
BULLS/CELTICS – OVER 202.5
I have this total at 205 and I’ve played a small(er) personal play on the OVER 202.5. The Bulls will be w/out their best interior defender in Noah & the fact is the Bulls have not been as near as strong defensively this season, as they have the last couple seasons. The Celtics are 2nd in pace & Chicago actually ranks 8th in the NBA in offensive efficiency this season. Both the Bulls and Celtics rank in the middle of the pack in defensive efficiency. Both clubs are in the top 10 in ppg this season as well. Good value for me on the OVER 202.5 and enough for me to make a small(er) personal play on.
Sportswagers
N.Y. Rangers @ COLUMBUS
COLUMBUS +119 over N.Y. Rangers
OT included. This is strictly a situational play against the Rangers here, as they are in an extremely difficult spot. New York played last night in Boston in a highly physical and intense game. Prior to that, the Rangers had played three games on the West Coast against Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose before returning home for just one game against the Islanders. The Rangers have not been home for successive games since Dec. 23 & 27, making this their ninth straight game of travel. It’s also the Rangers sixth game in nine nights with the first set being three games in four nights and this set also being three games in four nights, not to mention the tail end of back-to-backs. Furthermore, the Rangers play in Pittsburgh on Sunday in a 12:30 PM EST start that will be broadcast nationally on NBC before the start of the two NFL playoff games. One has to figure that the Rangers will be completely zapped and running strictly on fumes here.
The Jackets have dropped three straight and have shown very little over that span, registering just 20 shots on net or fewer in all three games. How can that be? Columbus is a team that prides itself on hard work and being a tough out every night. Against the Canadiens on Tuesday, the Jackets had a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes left in the game and could not hold onto it. They were badly outplayed the entire game and it eventually caught up to them. None of this can be sitting well with anyone on that bench. This will be just the Jackets second game in the last six days and they’ve been at their absolute best on one day rest with a 7-3-1 record. There is no question as to which team has a huge scheduling edge and which team figures to have way more energy. If the Jackets show up to play they have a much better chance of winning than a Rangers club that is ripe to get beat.
Our Pick
COLUMBUS +119 (Risking 2 units - To Win: 2.38)
Washington @ NASHVILLE
Washington +134 over NASHVILLE
OT included. When Barry Trotz arrived in Nashville in 1997, the football-loving folks here did not know a blue line from a yard line. Trotz was a rookie head coach back in ’97. Trotz worked double-duty as an amateur scout prior to the expansion team’s first NHL season. The Predators used to show “Hockey 101” segments on the center ice video screen during games to explain what an offside was. General Manager David Poile is one of the best hockey men in the business. For 15 years, he ran the Washington Capitals as a consistent playoff team. Outside of Brian Bellows and Esa Tikkanen, Poile was responsible for every member of the only Washington team to ever play for the Stanley Cup in 1998. When Poile was hired as the GM of the Predators, he brought Trotz with him and those two are responsible for putting hockey on the map in Nashville. In a non-traditional hockey market that many experts said, “Would never work”, Poile has kept the Preds competitive with some of the shrewdest moves over the past 15 years that even the best of GM’s have to admire. Hockey in Nashville is thriving and it’s all because of Trotz and Poile. Now anyone, even a cowboy boots-wearing, country music-listening, good ol’ boy, can learn to love and appreciate hockey in Nashville and they do. Poile and Trotz had been working together for nine years prior to coming to Nashville and they’ll now face-off against one another for the first time in 24 years. There is no animosity between the two and there is no animosity between Trotz and the players or fans in Nashville. There is nothing but love for everyone involved but this is still a hockey game and it means everything to Trotz.
Trotz has changed the hockey culture in Washington. He has changed an offensive minded team with offensive minded stars into one of the better defensive teams in the NHL. Alex Ovechkin had a +/- rating of -35 last season and this year he is +10. That’s a 45 goal difference to the good. The Capitals have allowed two goals against in their past three games. Washington’s defense is not the most talented group in the league but Trotz has the forwards working extra hard on their defensive game and the Capitals are thriving because of it. The players on the Caps know they owe their success to hard work and to Barry Trotz. They know how important this game is to him. These players on Washington are going to work their asses off to get their new coach a victory in the city his coaching career was born in. That doesn’t mean the Caps will win because the Preds are a tough out but we can be assured of a spirited effort from this group and when you throw in the goaltending advantage that the Caps have, it makes them very worthy of a wager.
Pekka Rinne is out for three to five weeks and he’s the only goalie on Nashville that has a win this season. In fact, Rinne has 29 victories and that’s precisely how many wins the Predators have this season. Carter Hutton is 0-5 with a save percentage of .903 in six appearances. Hutton is an adequate backup but he’s not Pekka Rinne. He’s not going to win games on his own like Rinne did but he’s not being asked to. Hutton is being asked to “hold the fort” for the next little while. The bottom line is that the Preds are not the same team without Rinne. They couldn’t even make the playoffs without him in net last season. In our continuous plight to play teams with a goaltending advantage, we’re not going to stop here. Braden Holtby has been playing on a different level than most over the past six weeks and with the extra motivation that Washington figures to have here, it seals the deal.
Our Pick
Washington +134 (Risking 2 units - To Win: 2.68)
N.Y. Rangers @ COLUMBUS
COLUMBUS +119 over N.Y. Rangers
OT included. This is strictly a situational play against the Rangers here, as they are in an extremely difficult spot. New York played last night in Boston in a highly physical and intense game. Prior to that, the Rangers had played three games on the West Coast against Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose before returning home for just one game against the Islanders. The Rangers have not been home for successive games since Dec. 23 & 27, making this their ninth straight game of travel. It’s also the Rangers sixth game in nine nights with the first set being three games in four nights and this set also being three games in four nights, not to mention the tail end of back-to-backs. Furthermore, the Rangers play in Pittsburgh on Sunday in a 12:30 PM EST start that will be broadcast nationally on NBC before the start of the two NFL playoff games. One has to figure that the Rangers will be completely zapped and running strictly on fumes here.
The Jackets have dropped three straight and have shown very little over that span, registering just 20 shots on net or fewer in all three games. How can that be? Columbus is a team that prides itself on hard work and being a tough out every night. Against the Canadiens on Tuesday, the Jackets had a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes left in the game and could not hold onto it. They were badly outplayed the entire game and it eventually caught up to them. None of this can be sitting well with anyone on that bench. This will be just the Jackets second game in the last six days and they’ve been at their absolute best on one day rest with a 7-3-1 record. There is no question as to which team has a huge scheduling edge and which team figures to have way more energy. If the Jackets show up to play they have a much better chance of winning than a Rangers club that is ripe to get beat.
Our Pick
COLUMBUS +119 (Risking 2 units - To Win: 2.38)
Washington @ NASHVILLE
Washington +134 over NASHVILLE
OT included. When Barry Trotz arrived in Nashville in 1997, the football-loving folks here did not know a blue line from a yard line. Trotz was a rookie head coach back in ’97. Trotz worked double-duty as an amateur scout prior to the expansion team’s first NHL season. The Predators used to show “Hockey 101” segments on the center ice video screen during games to explain what an offside was. General Manager David Poile is one of the best hockey men in the business. For 15 years, he ran the Washington Capitals as a consistent playoff team. Outside of Brian Bellows and Esa Tikkanen, Poile was responsible for every member of the only Washington team to ever play for the Stanley Cup in 1998. When Poile was hired as the GM of the Predators, he brought Trotz with him and those two are responsible for putting hockey on the map in Nashville. In a non-traditional hockey market that many experts said, “Would never work”, Poile has kept the Preds competitive with some of the shrewdest moves over the past 15 years that even the best of GM’s have to admire. Hockey in Nashville is thriving and it’s all because of Trotz and Poile. Now anyone, even a cowboy boots-wearing, country music-listening, good ol’ boy, can learn to love and appreciate hockey in Nashville and they do. Poile and Trotz had been working together for nine years prior to coming to Nashville and they’ll now face-off against one another for the first time in 24 years. There is no animosity between the two and there is no animosity between Trotz and the players or fans in Nashville. There is nothing but love for everyone involved but this is still a hockey game and it means everything to Trotz.
Trotz has changed the hockey culture in Washington. He has changed an offensive minded team with offensive minded stars into one of the better defensive teams in the NHL. Alex Ovechkin had a +/- rating of -35 last season and this year he is +10. That’s a 45 goal difference to the good. The Capitals have allowed two goals against in their past three games. Washington’s defense is not the most talented group in the league but Trotz has the forwards working extra hard on their defensive game and the Capitals are thriving because of it. The players on the Caps know they owe their success to hard work and to Barry Trotz. They know how important this game is to him. These players on Washington are going to work their asses off to get their new coach a victory in the city his coaching career was born in. That doesn’t mean the Caps will win because the Preds are a tough out but we can be assured of a spirited effort from this group and when you throw in the goaltending advantage that the Caps have, it makes them very worthy of a wager.
Pekka Rinne is out for three to five weeks and he’s the only goalie on Nashville that has a win this season. In fact, Rinne has 29 victories and that’s precisely how many wins the Predators have this season. Carter Hutton is 0-5 with a save percentage of .903 in six appearances. Hutton is an adequate backup but he’s not Pekka Rinne. He’s not going to win games on his own like Rinne did but he’s not being asked to. Hutton is being asked to “hold the fort” for the next little while. The bottom line is that the Preds are not the same team without Rinne. They couldn’t even make the playoffs without him in net last season. In our continuous plight to play teams with a goaltending advantage, we’re not going to stop here. Braden Holtby has been playing on a different level than most over the past six weeks and with the extra motivation that Washington figures to have here, it seals the deal.
Our Pick
Washington +134 (Risking 2 units - To Win: 2.68)
