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**Udog** · 05-12-2016, 07:23 AM

Armadillo: Thursday's six-pack

-- Max Scherzer beat his old team (Detroit) 3-2 last night; he struck out 20 Tigers, tying Clemens/Johnson/Kerry Wood as guys with 20 Ks in one game.

-- Detroit manager Brad Ausmus was in uniform as a player for the Clemens/Wood 20-strikeout games.

-- Detroit hitters swung at 69 pitches, missed 33 times. Over the last 15 years, that is 2nd-highest misses in one game- Clayton Kershaw got 35 LY. Jeremy Bonderman also induced 33 misses in a 2004 game.

-- Bryce Harper was suspended for a game earlier in the day, but appealed; too bad he didn't sit this game out; only seven Detroit outs came on batted balls.

-- Raptors 99, Heat 91-- Toronto takes a 3-2 series lead.

-- Since 1929, A's are 4th team to allow 11+ runs in four straight games, joining the '51 Pirates, '86 Brewers and '07 Astros. Awesome.

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Armadillo: Thursday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud......

13) Hard to believe not one person voted for Lebron James for MVP; Warriors won playoff games without Steph Curry. How many playoff games would Cleveland win if Lebron was hurt for a while?

12) Early NBA salary cap numbers for next year: Lakers ($62,298,562) have most room available, Clippers ($10,820,891) have the least.

11) Magic Johnson won NBA MVP in both 1989, 1990; thats the last time a player from a Big 14 college won the NBA MVP.

10) Arizona pitcher Daniel Hudson is only pitcher in big league history to have Tommy John surgery in consecutive years and make it back to the majors.

9) Los Angeles Angels are in trouble; they tried to patch some holes Wednesday by trading for P Jhoulys Chacin and SS Brandon Ryan.

8) Braves 5, Phillies 1-- Atlanta is now 2-16 at home.

7) Royals 7, Bronx 3-- Ventura went six innings for the win, just second time in KC's last 11 road games the Royals' starting pitcher went 6+ innings.

Lorenzo Cain hit three HRs Tuesday; he got drilled on the knee in his first AB here.

6) Injury-prone Stephen Matz (forearm) will miss his next start; he's only made 12 big league starts, for 70.1 innings.

5) You know how each ballpark has a person who brings out the headphones for umpires when there is an instant replay challenge? The guy who does it in Arlington at Ranger games is former big league pitcher Pete Falcone, who went 70-90, 4.07 in his 10-year career (1975-84), mostly with the Cardinals/Mets.

4) Astros 5, Indians 3 (16)-- Marwin Gonzalez sent fans home happy with a homer in 16th inning; three extra inning day games yesterday. Home side won all three.

3) Minnesota Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino is 16-38 in league games in his three years with the Gophers; he also overspent his $150K private plane allowance by double, spending $325K on private planes, which are used for recruiting.

You'd think Pitino's job would be in danger, but he has a $7.1M buyout that will keep him employed for at least another year- that deal was negotiated by an AD who later got fired by the school for other reasons. Not the best situation in Minnesota. .

2) World Series of Beer Pong is going to be at my second home, the Westgate Casino in Las Vegas, July 6-10. Had no idea there was professional beer pong.

1) Max Scherzer threw 119 pitches in his 20-strikeout win last night; he didn't walk anyone, and it wasn't a difficult decision for Dusty Baker to leave him in, especially in a 3-2 game. Both Detroit runs scored on home runs. It will be interesting to track him the next few weeks, but doubtful this game will have any ill effect on him.

**Udog** · 05-12-2016, 07:28 AM

NBA

Thursday, May 12

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NBA playoffs betting preview and odds: Spurs at Thunder
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The Thunder opened as 3-point home pups with a chance to end the series and have already been bet to +1.5.

San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder (+1.5, 195.5)

Thunder lead series 3-2

The Oklahoma City Thunder are one victory away from reaching the Western Conference finals and have two opportunities to get the job done. The Thunder, who lead the series 3-2, aim to end the festivities in Thursday's Game 6, while the San Antonio Spurs visit town in dire need of a victory to force a Game 7.

San Antonio has held double-digit leads in the each of the past two games before wilting under Oklahoma City's late-game siege. "I hope we respond a little angry, with a chip on our shoulder," Spurs guard Danny Green told reporters after Tuesday's 95-91 loss. "If you want to be a championship team, you have to win on the road. Simple as that." The Thunder surprisingly have won two games in San Antonio in the series - the Spurs lost just once at home during the regular season - and small forward Kevin Durant said another defensive effort like the showing in Game 5 is crucial. "Late in the fourth we did a good job of putting a hand up on shots, making them shoot mid-range and we didn't let them get in the paint a lot." Durant told reporters. "That’s what we have to do if we want to win the next one. We have to play defense like that throughout the whole game."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT

LINE HISTORY: The Thunder opened as 3-point home pups, but bettors like the way OKC has been trending and the line has already moved to +1.5. The total has been bet up one point from 194.5 to 195.5. Check out the complete line history here.

ABOUT THE SPURS (73-18, 49-42 ATS, 38-51-2 O/U): NBA MVP runner-up Kawhi Leonard (26 points, five steals in Game 5) and power forward LaMarcus Aldridge (20 points, nine rebounds) have carried San Antonio during the series with occasional help from shooting guard Danny Green (six 3-pointers in Game 5) and point guard Tony Parker (good outings in Game 3 and 4). But the reserves have been below par and combined for just 11 points on 5-of-18 shooting in Game 5 and getting better efforts from players such as shooting guard Manu Ginobili and center Boris Diaw are a must if San Antonio is to win the next two games. "We haven't had great bench production," Popovich said after Game 5. "We need a couple more people to help us offensively. That would be great."

ABOUT THE THUNDER (62-30, 43-48-1 ATS, 44-48 O/U): Point guard Russell Westbrook had 35 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in Game 5 and was so superb that everybody overlooked his eight turnovers. "He plays with such force and such passion," Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan told reporters. "I think he's doing a really good job of realizing when he gets so intense, so competitive, so emotional, he's doing a good job of kind of bringing himself back together and understanding there's four other guys out there depending on him." Durant scored 23 points on a series-worst 8-of-21 shooting effort in a dropoff from his spectacular 41-point effort in Game 4.

TRENDS:

* Thunder are 12-4 ATS in their last 16 games versus a team with a winning SU record.
* Spurs are 3-12 ATS in the last 15 meetings in Oklahoma City.
* Under is 4-0 in Spurs last four games following a SU loss.
* Under is 9-3 in the last 12 meetings in Oklahoma City.

CONSENSUS: The public is split almost down the middle for this huge Game 6, with 51 percent of wagers on the underdog Thunder. As for the total, 61 percent of wagers are on the Over.

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**Udog** · 05-12-2016, 07:33 AM

NBA
Long Sheet

Thursday, May 12

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SAN ANTONIO (73 - 18) at OKLAHOMA CITY (62 - 30) - 5/12/2016, 8:35 PM
Top Trends for this game.
SAN ANTONIO is 17-26 ATS (-11.6 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 99+ points/game - 2nd half of the season this season.
SAN ANTONIO is 954-832 ATS (+38.8 Units) in all games since 1996.
SAN ANTONIO is 48-36 ATS (+8.4 Units) as a favorite this season.
SAN ANTONIO is 31-17 ATS (+12.3 Units) off a upset loss as a favorite over the last 3 seasons.
SAN ANTONIO is 72-57 ATS (+9.3 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 99+ points/game over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
OKLAHOMA CITY is 14-8 against the spread versus SAN ANTONIO over the last 3 seasons
OKLAHOMA CITY is 12-10 straight up against SAN ANTONIO over the last 3 seasons
13 of 22 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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NBA
Short Sheet

Thursday, May 12

San Antonio at Oklahoma City, 8:35 ET
San Antonio: 33-19 ATS after 1 or more consecutive unders
Oklahoma City: 15-25 ATS after a game where they covered the spread

NBA
Armadillo's Write-Up

Thursday, May 12

Oklahoma City-San Antonio (OC 3-2)
Thunder won last two series games despite trailing after three quarters; they outscored Spurs by 15-7 points in last two 4th quarters. Spurs are 1-3 in last four visits here; Popovich is 2-10 in his career in elimination games on road. Thunder won Game 5 despite turning ball over 20 times (-13). OC improved to 16-43 on arc in last two games, after going 21-72 on arc in frst three games. Seven of last ten series games stayed under. Thunder split their last four home games; Spurs won four of last five on the road.

Playoff tally: Favorites vs spread: 26-18, Over: 13-31
Second round: Favorites: 11-8, over: 10-9

NBA

Thursday, May 12

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Trend Report
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8:30 PM
SAN ANTONIO vs. OKLAHOMA CITY
San Antonio is 2-7 ATS in its last 9 games when playing Oklahoma City
San Antonio is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Oklahoma City's last 6 games at home
Oklahoma City is 12-3 SU in its last 15 games when playing at home against San Antonio

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**Udog** · 05-12-2016, 08:35 AM

NBA
Dunkel

Thursday, May 12

San Antonio @ Oklahoma City

Game 543-544
May 12, 2016 @ 8:30 pm

Dunkel Rating:
San Antonio
131.405
Oklahoma City
125.566
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
San Antonio
by 6
204
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
San Antonio
by 1 1/2
195 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
San Antonio
(-1 1/2); Over

Announcement

Thursday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 5/12

Thursday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 5/12

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