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Successful NBA teams in the Eastern Conference play great defense and a physical brand of basketball come Playoff time. Hello Indiana Pacers! What Indiana has lacked until the last 2 games was roadability. But on Friday, they closed out Atlanta, 81-73, with a victory that snapped the Hawks 13 game series site win streak. On Sunday, they opened at NY, another series in which the road team had prevailed in each game of the regular season. Again Indiana played a physical style with great defense winning by a count of 102-95. In that Game #1 writeup, I mentioned that NY’s success would be linked to their ability to knock down a 3 pointer. For the game, NY shot 43% making just 7/19 threes. A microcosm of NY’s failure in this series will be the fact that Carmelo is shooting just 38% in the Playoffs and 26% from behind the arc. Indiana’s physical play also translated into the fact that the Pacers held a +14 rebound margin. Can the Knicks win this game or the series? They can, but only if the triples begin to drop and that is not likely against this Indiana defense that held the Knicks to 37% from the floor in 4 regular season meetings and led the Eastern Conference in defense at 90 PPG. Physicality and defense again prevail in the East making Indiana worthy, not only of a play in this game, but also in the series.
Memphis at OKC (-2-) 9:30 PM ET TNT
3% Memphis +2-
3% Memphis Series +140
Without Westbrook, it is clear that OKC is a shell of their former offensive selves. After averaging nearly 107 PPG in the regular season, the Thunder averaged just 102.5 in the L5 games without Westbrook in winning the previous series. And that was against a Houston team clearly not known for stopping anybody. Again in Game #1 of this series, they were held to 93 points by the #1 defense in the NBA, a Memphis team that allows 89 PPG. Despite the Game #1 victory, OKC shot just 41% from the field and 5-15 from behind the arc. It was the big shot mentality of Durant that resulted in the narrow victory. Durant’s presence combined with a 37-8 home court record is a reason why it is never easy to fade the Thunder at this price point on this court. But the Grizz are structured to succeed in the Playoffs with great half-court offense led by interior play of Randolph and Gasol and, of course, that top rated defense. The situational plays are all over the Grizz as one might expect. These include Class A road teams to -2/loss and any Round #2 Game #2 road team in this price range who is not off a double digit win, an over 68% play. Huge mental edge to the visitors in this with the only concern being Durant at crunch time on his strong home court!
MLB
Seattle (Harang) at Pittsburgh (McDonald) (-130) 7:05 PM ET
3% Seattle (Harang) (+120)
My first 2 MLB losses last night were brutal results. In the afternoon, KC failed to hold a 1-0 lead in the 9th losing in extra innings. The first score of the night saw Tampa Bay lead Toronto 7-0 before allowing the Blue Jays 2 runs in the top of the 9th to lose the game 8-7 dropping the Rays series record to 27-7 and giving Toronto consecutive wins for only the 2nd time in 10 tries. With that said, we approach Tuesday, May 7th with caution in an effort to fend off any bad fortune that might result in a losing streak. Despite the losing day, MLB still remains 81-53 on the run. A pair of NBA winners are joined by both NBA sides to bring you back to the winners circle with a 4-0 evening.
In this contest, I am eager to fade McDonald who sports an ERA of 5.76, 1.65 WHIP and disturbing 25/20 KBB. McDonald is off an outing in which he allowed 7 runs on 8 hits with 5 walks in 5 IP in a 12-8 loss to Milwaukee. Seattle enters on positive runs of 6-2 and 3-1. Harang pitched 3 horrendous games to begin the season. But the crafty veteran went back to the basics in making some minor mechanical changes to his delivery prior to his last outing. It resulted in an 8-3 victory vs. Baltimore in which Harang allowed just 2 runs on 4 hits in 6 IP. While with NL teams, Harang toiled with great success from this mound posting a 5-0 record with 3.16 ERA from this mound in his last 5 starts. Mariners with a bullpen index of 174 are one of the few teams whose relief corp is on par with the Pirates index of 163. Make Seattle your dog of day.
St. Louis (Lynn) (-130) at Chicago Cubs (Wood) 8:05 PM ET
4% St. Louis (Lynn) (-130)
Wood has pitched outstanding ball for the Cubs with only a 2-2 record to show for it. Yet he has a 2.50 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and .176 BAA. But he has had little success from this mound with a record of 0-7 and 4.58 ERA in his last 12 home starts. In addition, Wood was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA vs. St. Louis last year. The Cubs come off a rare win, a situation which finds them 2-9 including 0-4 home/win. Enter St Louis who is on a 6 game winning streak scoring 30 runs in their last 4 victories. Lynn has won his last 10 starts. This year, Lynn is 5-0 with a 2.75 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 39/15 KBB. Last season, Lynn was 4-0 with a 2.96 ERA vs. the Cubs.
Texas (Grimm) (-105) at Milwaukee (Peralta) 8:10 PM ET
4% Texas (Grimm) (-105)
Milwaukee has one of the strongest home fields in baseball with an extended record of 115-66. This season, however, they are 9-10 at home including 0-8 home/loss. The Brewers have lost 5 games by a count of 35-17. For the season, Peralta has a 6.00 ERA, a 1.67 WHIP and troubling 18/14 KBB. Peralta is off an outing in which he allowed 6 runs in 11 hits in 4 1/3 IP of a 6-5 loss to St. Louis. Those numbers are hardly what we look for to end a negative streak. The Rangers come off an embarrassing loss to the Cubs last night and we will be quick to take advantage. Again this season, Texas is an MLB best 9-2/loss outscoring the opposition 61-26. Grimm has been fantastic since being forced into the rotation. In that period of time, Grimm has a record of 2-1 with a 2.28 ERA and 24/8 KBB. Rangers bounce back extending Milwaukee’s home field misery.
10* Play Pittsburgh -140 over Seattle (MLB TOP PLAY)
7:00 PM EST
Seattle is 27-50 coming off a loss by four runs or more
Seattle is 23-37 when the total posted is between 8 and 8.5 runs
10* Play New York Mets -160 over Chicago White Sox (MLB TOP PLAY)
7:00 PM EST
Chicago is 1-6 in road games when the total posted is 7.5 runs or less
Chicago is 1-5 vs. NL East Division Opponents
10* Play Oakland +100 over Cleveland (MLB TOP PLAY)
7:00 PM EST
Oakland is 97-60 when the total posted is between 7 and 8.5 runs
Oakland is 76-53 vs. right-handed starting pitchers
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100* Take LA Angels -180 over Houston (MLB TOP PLAY)
Houston has lost 89 of the last 128 games coming off a loss and they
have also lost 54 of the last 75 games when the total posted is
between 8.5 and 10 runs. Houston has lost 80 of the last 102 games
when playing as an underdog of +150 or higher and they have also lost
75 of the last 103 games coming off an OVER the total.
100* Take Boston -190 over Minnesota (MLB TOP PLAY)
Minnesota has lost 72 of the last 123 games when the total posted is
between 9 and 9.5 runs and they have also lost 38 of the last 60 games
when playing in the month of May. Minnesota has lost 54 of the last
77 games vs. AL East Division Opponents and they have lost 52 of the
last 87 games coming off a loss by two runs or less.
100* Take New York Mets -160 over Chicago White Sox (MLB TOP PLAY)
Chicago has lost 6 of the last 7 road games when the total posted is
7.5 runs or less and they have also lost 5 of the last 6 games vs. NL
East Division Opponents. Chicago has lost 12 of the last 18 games
when playing as an underdog of +100 or higher and they have lost 7 of
the last 8 games coming off a game with a combined score of four runs
or less.
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