Weekend Sports Preview
By David Harrison
Sports fans and bettors have no reason to leave the couch this weekend with wall-to-wall sports including NFL, NBA, college basketball and NHL.
The NFL weekend schedule gets going on Saturday in Week 15 with Cincinnati visiting San Francisco (+8.5). When the NFL kicks off on Sunday the early games include Seattle at Carolina (+7), Buffalo at Cleveland (-5.5), Tennessee at Kansas City (+4), Baltimore at Miami (+3.5), the Jets at New England (-23.5), Arizona at New Orleans (-3.5), Jacksonville at Pittsburgh (-3.5), Green Bay at St. Louis (+9.5) and Atlanta at Tampa Bay (-13.5). The later games on the Sunday schedule include Indianapolis at Oakland (+10.5), Philadelphia at Dallas (-10), Detroit at San Diego (-10) and Washington at the Giants (-4.5).
The NBA weekend begins with a busy Friday that includes 12 games highlighted by New Orleans at Dallas, Cleveland at New Jersey, the Lakers at Golden State and Toronto at Indiana. The rest of the Friday night NBA contests include Sacramento at Philadelphia, Milwaukee at Boston, the Clippers at Memphis, Seattle at Minnesota, Atlanta at Detroit, Orlando at Charlotte, New York at Chicago and Utah at Portland.
Another busy night in the NBA follows on Saturday with 11 games. The top Saturday matchups appear to be Phoenix at New Orleans, Dallas at Houston, Denver at San Antonio and Indiana at Miami. Also on tap for Saturday on the hardcourt is Charlotte at Atlanta, Memphis at Orlando, Sacramento at Washington, Philadelphia at Cleveland, New Jersey at New York, Minnesota at Milwaukee and Seattle at Utah.
The NBA slows down on Sunday with just four games, including Golden State at Detroit, Boston at Toronto, Portland at Denver and the Clippers at the Lakers.
In college hoops this weekend eight of the Top 10 ranked teams will see action. On Saturday the Top 10 matchups include Sacramento State at No. 10 Marquette, Ohio at No. 3 Kansas, IPFW at No. 9 Michigan State, Texas State at No. 4 Texas, Middle Tennessee State at No. 2 Memphis, Radford at No. 5 Georgetown and Idaho State at No. 8 UCLA. The only Top 10 team playing on Sunday is No. 1 North Carolina at Rutgers.
On the ice this weekend the NHL has four games on Friday night with Calgary at Carolina, Buffalo at Washington, Toronto at Atlanta and Minnesota at Anaheim.
On Saturday night almost every team in the league takes to the ice with 13 games on the schedule. The early Saturday night games include Phoenix at New Jersey, Dallas ay San Jose, Carolina at Philadelphia, Atlanta at Ottawa, Pittsburgh at the Islanders, Columbus at Boston, Toronto at Montreal, Florida at Detroit, Chicago at Buffalo and Washington at Tampa Bay. On the late-night schedule Nashville takes on Colorado, Vancouver faces Edmonton and Minnesota travels to Los Angeles.
The NHL closes out the weekend with five games on Sunday, including Philadelphia at New Jersey, Phoenix at the Rangers, Calgary at St. Louis, Florida at Chicago and San Jose at Anaheim.
