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**Udog** · 05-18-2015, 06:40 AM

Armadillo: Monday's six-pack

-- Doc Rivers is first NBA coach to lose two playoff series that he led 3-1.

-- Golden State was 4-0 vs Houston this year; in NBA history, teams that were 4-0 against foe in regular season are 55-6 in series if clubs meet again in playoffs.

-- 14 NBA teams won playoff series after being down 2-0; six of those 14 came in the Finals. Nine teams wn series after being down 3-1; none came in the Finals.

-- Rockets are first team since '06 Suns to win a series they trailed 3-1.

-- Troy Tulowitzki (quad) missed his last two games, making him harder to trade.

-- It is going to be a very long summer for the Clippers.

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Armadillo: Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports weekend........

13) Dick Vitale's gala in Florida this weekend raised $2.38M to fight pediatric cancer; he has done so much good work to raise $$$ to fight cancer, he gives a lot of himself and deserves a ton of credit.

12) Giancarlo Stanton hit a homer way over the CF fence in Miami Saturday; the CF fence is 418 feet away- the ball had to go 500 feet. Funny thing is that a guy sitting way out in the CF bleachers caught the ball bare-handed and it did not seem to hurt the guy. Was just funny to see.

11) All of Stanton's power couldn't save Mike Redmond's job; they're naming a new manager at 11am this morning. If Stanton ever leaves the Marlins, he will be surprised that not every team is as dysfunctional as the Marlins.

The next manager is going to get lucky; Jose Fernandez is on his way back and when he gets there with Henderson Alvarez also healthy now, Miami is going to have a hell of a lot better team than Redmond managed.

10) In his last eleven games, Bryce Harper is 22 for his last 39; he has nine HRs, 22 RBI during that time.

9) Oakland A's have an awful bullpen; its kind of like back in 1980, when Billy Martin led the A's to an 83-79 record after they had been 54-108 in '79. Martin only cared about getting re-hired in the Bronx, so he strip-mined the A's and refused to use the awful bullpen-- using up their starters as much as he could. The team progressed, Martin went back to the Bronx and then the pitching in Oakland went in the toilet, because the five starters all got burned out.

From 1982-86, the A's were an average of 13 games under .500; he set the franchise back five years-- this year, the A's will suck but they won't ruin the arms of the pitchers at least.

8) Don't believe me? Here are the stats for the 1980 A's starting pitchers:
-- Rick Langford, 33 starts, 28 complete games
-- Mike Norris, 33 starts, 24 complete games
-- Matt Keough, 32 starts, 20 complete games
-- Steve McCatty, 31 starts, 11 complete games
-- Brian Kingman, 30 starts, 10 complete games

7) Odd trivia: Matt Keough's ex-wife Jeana was one of original characters on Real Housewives of Orange County-- she was also one of the models in one of the first real popular music videos on MTV, ZZ Top's Sharp Dressed Man.

6) 150 plate appearances this year; Yoenis Cespedes has walked five times.

5) People are starting to talk up Adrian Beltre as a future Hall of Famer and rightfully so, but you put his numbers next to Aramis Ramirez' numbers and they're surprisingly similar. Beltre is a much better fielder, but still.....

4) In his acting career, Jim Caviezel has played Jesus, golfer Bobby Jones and the high school football coach who won 151 games in a row. But one of his first roles was as an extra, a college basketball player in Blue Chips, one of my favorite movies. He should write a book someday.

3) Speculation around the Marlins had Wally Backman as a possible manager in Miami, but late Sunday night that was said to be kaput. Eduardo Perez is young, but used to be the Marlins' hitting coach. Miami is still playing former manager Ozzie Guillen-- maybe he is the man.

2) Kevin Durant went to prep school at Montrose Christian, one of those out-of-the-way prep schools that have great hoop teams and not much else. Now word comes out that the school is in financial trouble and may fold- they're out of the bigtime basketball business. Feel bad for the Montrose kids who are going to be seniors next year; now they have to find new schools for this fall.

1) Shelby Miller came within an out of a no-hitter; 26 minutes later, Redmond got fired. Rory McIlroy won by seven shots in Charlotte, Montreal wants a major league baseball team again (Rays??). Just another quiet Sunday.

**Udog** · 05-18-2015, 06:47 AM

NBA

Monday, May 18

Rockets-Warriors line, total hits the board

BetOnline.com has opened the Golden State Warriors as 10-point home favorites in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals versus the Houston Rockets Tuesday.

The shop opened the postseason matchup with a total of 218.5.

Warriors' Speights will not play in Game 1

The Golden State Warriors will not have the services of power forward Marreesse Speights against the Houston Rockets for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

Speights is dealing with a right calf strain and did not participate in the final three games of the Dubs' conference semifinal series versus Memphis.

Kyrie Irving, Cleveland - Prob Wed

Irving left the last game with a knee injury but is expected to be ready for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Hawks.

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Monday's NBA and NCAAB Trends and Indexes - 5/18

Monday's NBA and NCAAB Trends and Indexes - 5/18

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