Rockets +4.5

The perception seems to be that Orlando is on the verge of becoming a contender in the East and the Rockets are worthless without T-Mac. Actually, the Magic haven't beaten a team with a winning record in over a month and are only 7-7 at home this season. Meanwhile, the Rockets are a not as big a pushover as you might think without their star. They have gone 3-4 during his recent stint on the bench with those four losses coming at Denver, Detroit, and Boston and at home to Golden State. They did lose to the Magic at home two weeks ago when an ineffective T-Mac left

Using the same SV method as Accuscore does with Baseball and the NBA now. I'm going to post tonight's NHL games using that and my books ML and using the sims off of the Versus website. Of course you books ML might be different so adjust accordingly. The LW% and Sim% are based on the Home teams spread.

Game                                             LW%  

I've been impressed by the number of fantasy footballers that are getting into postseason FF this year - who knew so many people were eager to keep going? Already there are over 60 of us in the FF Librarian's Challenge via NFL.com. I thought that by the time the regular season ended and Week 18 rolled around you all might have eased off the fantasy train a bit. Not so. I say cheers to that and remind you all that if you DO want to get involved in playoff FF, that you need to

1) Detroit: 63 pts. 19 points ahead of the 2nd place team in it's own division.

2)Ottawa: 54 pts. Need to address Ray Emery and goaltending situation.

3) Dallas: 50 pts. 4th in the league in total scoring.

4) San Jose: 50 pts. After a slow start they have really pick it up.

5) Vancouver: 50 pts. Will go as far as Luongo will take them.

6) New Jersey: 47 pts. Will be a my sleeper team come playoff time.

7) Minnesota: 48 pts. Have won 7 of the last 10.

8) Montreal: 47 pts. Best Power Play in the league at 24.2%

9) Calgary: 49 pts. Mike Keenan

Since Accuscore is going to be going live with the NHL sometime this month I figured I could give a rundown of things are could help with betting in the second half of the season.

1) Detroit is by far the best team in the league right now. Seems like they do this every year and collapse in the playoffs.

 2) Ottawa I think is still the team to bet in the Eastern Conf. If they don't address the goalie situation soon that might change.

3) Teams hit hard with major injuries include Colorado, Washington and Dallas.

4) Biggest disappointments include Tampa Bay, Washington

Other than the early season NFL expert picks panel I was in earlier in the year over at the NFLMinute, I don’t usually do picks. But, this week I am excited about the NFL playoffs so I figured I would give you my picks as well as a few other links where you can find even more.

Seattle vs Washington
Even though Portis is hot and Collin has been solid I think there’s another factor to consider. In order to stop the Seahawks, the Redskins will need to be able to pressure Matt Hasselbeck. I’m not so sure they

in a hurry GL to everyone on your picks

 

I'm still processing West Virginia's demolition of Oklahoma.  I know most people think this season was one of the best in history because of all the astounding upsets, but my personal opinion is ... this season sucked.  I hate College Football.

 

Last season AccuScore's point spread prediction accuracy was 59% (386-268).  That's pretty impressive.  While college football totals have been good all season (56% for the year), I am pissed about this season's point spread performance.  This season was humming along just fine until

I will have more on these games in a later article.  For now, here are some quick thoughts on the wild card games.

WASHINGTON @ SEATTLE (-3.5):  WASHINGTON 5-3

I think the key to this game will be how Seattle does with the run on both sides of the ball.  If they can stop Clinton Portis they will have an easier time with the Redskins offense.  However, they need a solid effort from their running game, which has been off and on all season.  I think this game will be close.  I like Washington to cover, and wouldn't be surprised if they won this game.

<

Norv Turner and the Chargers need a win on Sunday against the playoff hungry Titans in order to move into the second round. Historically, the Chargers aren't exactly dominant in the playoffs and Charger management is expecting Norv Turner to change that - or else.

 Or elese what? Well if the Chargers don't make it past Wild Card Weekend, Norv will barely make it through next year and probably be fired if history continues to repeat itself.

 Either way, I think we need to give Norv Turner and the Chargers for hangin' in there and making things work. Let'