This Week in Basketball and Hockey

NBA Games of the Week

Monday, December 4: Milwaukee at Boston (7:30 PM EST, NBATV)
Friday, December 8: Boston at San Antonio (9:30 PM EST, ESPN)

NBA Power Rankings (Last Week’s Rankings in Parentheses)

1. Golden State Warriors (1)
2. Boston Celtics (2)
3. Houston Rockets (3)
4. Cleveland Cavaliers (4)
5. San Antonio Spurs (5)
6. Toronto Raptors (6)
7. Philadelphia 76ers (7)
8. Washington Wizards (10)
9. Minnesota Timbwerwolves (7)
10. Milwaukee Bucks (NR)


NHL Games of the Week

Saturday, December 9: Toronto at Pittsburgh (7:00 PM EST, NHLN)

Matty D’s NHL Power Rankings

1. Tampa Bay Lightning:  Nikita Kucherov is an animal to the tune of 38 points and 19 goals, is this real life?

2. Winnipeg Jets:  The Jets are scoring a lot of goals as of late, they have scored a touchdown in two of their last three and a field goal and safety in the other.

3. Los Angeles Kings:  The Kings are winners of five straight contests and are still the leagues stingiest team while holding down the top spot in goals against average and penalty kill percentage.

4. St Louis Blues:  The Blues got healthier but forgot how to score. This is the first rough patch of the year for the Note, lets see how they respond.

5. Nashville Predators:  The Preds have been enjoying the friendly confines of Bridgestone Arena while going 10-2 at home. Their road play will be tested shortly with the Canadian road trip looming on the horizon.

6. Columbus Blue Jackets:  How is a team this good and balanced manage to throw up a paltry 9.3% PP? With that said, pretty impressive to be in their spot more than a quarter way through the season with such a heavy emphasis on special teams play league wide.

7. Toronto Maple Leafs:  The Leafs are a definition of a streaky team. They are capable of winning three straight and then swiftly giving away a couple they should win.

8. Pittsburgh Penguins:  Here come the defending champs. I didn’t think it would take this long but they are starting to find their winning ways. Four straight W’s for the Pens.

9. New Jersey Devils:  A challenging slate awaits the Devils starting with a back to back, home and home with Columbus.

10. Vegas Golden Knights:  Vegas is hanging around and not going away. We know they can score but will the next guy up mentality in net hold up?


College Basketball Games of the Week

Tuesday, December 5: #4 Villanova vs. #12 Gonzaga (7:00 PM EST, ESPN)
Tuesday, December 5: #15 Virginia at #18 West Virginia (7:00 PM EST, ESPNU)
Friday, December 8: #22 Nevada vs. #20 TCU (11:59 PM EST, ESPNU)
Saturday, December 9: #5 Florida vs. #17 Cincinnati (6:00 PM EST, ESPN2)
Sunday, December 10: #16 Arizona State at #2 Kansas (2:00 PM EST, ESPN)

 

Written by Mark

A gentleman and a scholar.