Announcement

**Udog** · 05-25-2016, 08:23 AM

Armadillo: Wednesday's six-pack

-- NFL awarded Super Bowls to Atlanta-Miami-LA; two of those three cities are getting new stadiums, which is not a coincidence.

-- Nationals 7, Mets 4-- Matt Harvey wouldn't asnwer questions after game. Uh-oh.

-- Bengals' TE Tyler Eifert hurt his ankle in the Pro Bowl, had it operated on this week, may miss Cincinnati's season opener. What took so long?

-- BYU's football team has a tough September: Arizona, @ Utah, then UCLA, West Virginia at home. They also visit Michigan State, Boise State, Cincinnati later on.

-- 28 college football teams changed head coaches this year, 22% of all I-A teams.

-- Oklahoma City 118, Golden State 94-- Thunder go up 3-1; defending champs are in real trouble- they gave up 70+ points in first half of this game.

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Armadillo: Wednesday's List of 13: Mid-week musings.......

13) Under Armour, UCLA signed a 15-year, $280M apparel/shoe deal this week, which will make entitled athletes in football/basketball complain that they're not going to get a piece of that pie. They are getting a free college education, so there's that.

12) In a probably-related development, Pac-12 football teams will play fewer 10:30 kickoff games, in part so Under Armour brand can get more eastern exposure on TV.

11) Monday night in Miami, Logan Morrison took a marginal pitch for a strike and before the TV people could mute their field mikes, Morrison unleashed a string of obscenities against plate umpire Lance Barksdale. Good stuff.

10) Former NBA vet Kerry Kittles signed on as an assistant coach at Princeton.

9) ACC-Big 14 basketball challenge is a mere six months away; Michigan State-Duke is the premere matchup. UNC-Indiana, Ohio State-Virginia, Purdue-Louisville are some of the other featured games.

8) Devin Watson, who scored 20.3 ppg as a soph at San Francisco LY, transferred to San Diego State, where he will sit out this year, then play two more years. More good news for Steve Fisher; Malik Pope dropped out of the NBA Draft, will go back to school for another year. Decisions like that will mean a lot next winter.

7) Delaware Blue Hens finally hired a basketball coach, Notre Dame assistant coach Martin Inglesby, who has ties to the Philadelphia area. Plus Mike Brey used to be the Delaware coach, so that helps. Delaware has very few players; hiring a coach on May 24 is not the ideal way to run an athletic program.

6) Looking thru all-time college records today, noticed that Rams' QB Case Keenum holds I-A records for most career passing yards (19,217) and pssing TDs (217). it didn't prevent the Rams from spending a king's ransom on acquiring Jared Goff to take Keenum's job, but those records are still impressive.

5) Are there any phone booths left in this country? Was watching a movie the other night and someone ran to a phone booth to make a call, which automatically makes it a fairly old movie, I guess.

4) Was doing NFL research today; Carolina beat the Buccaneers twice LY, 37-23 and 38-10. Panthers scored nine TDs in the two games: two by the defense, with five of the seven TDs scored by the offense coming on drives of less than 50 yards.

3) NHL's Florida Panthers had 103 points this year, most they've ever had in their 23-year history, but they just fired their scouting dorector who had been with the team for 14 years, thru seven head coaches and five GMs. There is a battle there between the analytics people and the old school people, and analytics people are winning.

2) Long time ago, November 1993, I'm an assistant high school basketball coach, in my first year at this school, whose program was a mess. Our head coach is a great guy but he was in over his head at this job. After the second game of the year (we had won the first game), there were some attitude problems in the group.

Coach said something after that game that I've never forgotten: "So we lose a game and the rats start jumping off the ship", one of the all-time best quotes I've heard.

That is where the Warriors are now; their bandwagon is emptying quickly; nitwit media people have declared this series over, even though nine NBA teams have rallied from 3-1 deficits to win their series. Steve Kerr will probably rally his troops with an "us against the world" speech, since no one thinks Golden State can rally now.

We'll see.

1) White Sox TV voice Jason Benetti has an inspirational story; he was born with cerebral palsy, but never let that stop him. He went to college at Syracuse, then got his law degree from Wake Forest. He later joined ESPN and now has a job broadcasting ball in the major leagues, and he is very good at it. Good for him.

**Udog** · 05-25-2016, 08:26 AM

NBA

Wednesday, May 25

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Wednesday's NBA Conference Finals betting preview and odds: Raptors at Cavaliers
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The Raptors lost the first two games in Cleveland by an average of 25 points but they ignored the opinions of people saying they would be swept to post two impressive victories.

Toronto Raptors at Cleveland Cavaliers (-10.5, 199)

Series tied 2-2

The Cleveland Cavaliers are suddenly locked in a fierce battle in the Eastern Conference finals after once being in position to roll over the Toronto Raptors. Two victories by Toronto changed the complexion of the now-tied series, and it is a best-of-three competition when the series returns to Cleveland for Wednesday's Game 5.

The Raptors lost the first two games in Cleveland by an average of 25 points but they ignored the opinions of people saying they would be swept to post two impressive victories. "We've been playing with our backs against the wall," Toronto shooting guard DeMar DeRozan said at a press conference after scoring 32 points in Monday's 105-99 victory. "We never cared what anybody else thought. It was a challenge for us every single day. We've been counted out and we like that challenge." Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue didn't play ineffective power forward Kevin Love in the fourth quarter for the second consecutive contest but pinpointed his team's mistakes as the biggest factor in the Game 4 loss. "We came up short," Lue said in his postgame press conference. "We had a few defensive breakdowns that you can't have down the stretch of a game, especially in the playoffs, and they executed every time we made a mistake."

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN

LINE HISTORY: The Cavaliers opened as 10-point home favorites against the Raptors for Game 5. The line was bumped up a half point early Tuesday morning to -10.5, which is where it sits at the time of publication of this preview. The total opened at 198 and was bumped up to 199 at the same time as the spread was moved. Check out the complete line history here.

ABOUT THE RAPTORS (66-34, 52-48 ATS, 49-50-1 O/U): Getting a combined 67 points on 28-of-43 shooting from point guard Kyle Lowry (35) and DeRozan was huge for Toronto as the two All-Stars have both experienced some struggles in the postseason. "One thing about us, we can take the bad with the good any day," DeRozan said. "It's life, man. You can't get too down when things are not going your way, but you understand the work that you put in all summer, all throughout the season, for moments like this. You've got to be ready." The Raptors expect center Jonas Valanciunas (ankle) to be ready for the first time in the series to team up with defensive dynamo Bismack Biyombo, who has averaged 20 rebounds and 3.5 blocked shots over the past two games.

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (67-27, 44-47-3 ATS, 47-47 O/U): Love, who tweaked his knee in the second half, averaged just 6.5 points on 5-of-23 shooting in the two games in Toronto and has no explanation for his poor play. "I had a lot of great shots, I just didn't knock them down," Love told reporters. "It's as simple as that. I had a lot of confidence in shooting the ball, a lot of really wide open 3's, especially to start that first quarter. A number of them went in and out so I just need to continue to stay aggressive." Point guard Kyrie Irving bounced back with 26 points and suffering through a 3-of-19 shooting performance in Game 3 when he scored a series-low 13 points.

TRENDS:

* Raptors are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 road games.
* Cavaliers are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 home games.
* Under is 6-1 in Raptors last 7 after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game.
* Over is 8-2 in Cavaliers last 10 Wednesday games.
* Home team is 7-0 ATS in the last 7 meetings.

CONSENSUS: Somewhat shockingly, at the time of publication of this preview, the Raptors are picking up 59 percent of the Consensus action. It seems as though #WeTheNorth is getting noticed a bit further south. As usual in the NBA Playoffs, Over is grabbing the majority of the total wagers at 61 percent.

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**Udog** · 05-25-2016, 08:31 AM

NBA
Dunkel

Wednesday, May 25

Toronto @ Cleveland

Game 717-718
May 25, 2016 @ 8:30 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Toronto
120.704
Cleveland
134.377
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Cleveland
by 13 1/2
205
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Cleveland
by 10 1/2
198 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Cleveland
(-10 1/2); Over

NBA
Long Sheet

Wednesday, May 25

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TORONTO (66 - 34) at CLEVELAND (67 - 27) - 5/25/2016, 8:35 PM
Top Trends for this game.
TORONTO is 31-44 ATS (-17.4 Units) after scoring 105 points or more over the last 2 seasons.
TORONTO is 8-18 ATS (-11.8 Units) in road games when playing against a team with a winning record - 2nd half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
TORONTO is 51-65 ATS (-20.5 Units) versus good offensive teams - scoring 99+ points/game over the last 2 seasons.
CLEVELAND is 38-46 ATS (-12.6 Units) as a favorite this season.

Head-to-Head Series History
CLEVELAND is 7-7 against the spread versus TORONTO over the last 3 seasons
CLEVELAND is 7-7 straight up against TORONTO over the last 3 seasons
7 of 14 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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NBA
Short Sheet

Wednesday, May 25

Toronto at Cleveland, 8:35 ET
Toronto: 7-19 ATS in road games after playing a game as an underdog
Cleveland: 14-3 ATS after allowing 55 or more in the first half in 2 straight games

NBA
Armadillo's Write-Up

Wednesday, May 25

Toronto-Cleveland (2-2)
Home team has dominated series, winning all four games by average of 18 points. Over is 6-3-1 in last ten series games. Raptors lost last four games in Cleveland (0-3 vs spread in last three)- hosts won last seven series games. Four of last six Toronto games went over the total. Lowry/DeRozan went a combined 28-43 in Game 4, scoring 67 points; can they produce close to that in Cleveland? Cavaliers won/covered last four home games; this is a best-of-3 series now.

Playoff tally: Favorites vs spread: 26-18, Over: 13-31
Second round: Favorites: 13-8, over: 12-9
Conference final: Favorites: 3-5, over: 3-4-1

NBA

Wednesday, May 25

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Trend Report
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8:30 PM
TORONTO vs. CLEVELAND
Toronto is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Cleveland
Toronto is 5-10 ATS in its last 15 games
Cleveland is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
Cleveland is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games

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**Udog** · 05-25-2016, 08:34 AM

WNBA
Dunkel

Wednesday, May 25

Minnesota @ Phoenix

Game 601-602
May 25, 2016 @ 10:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Minnesota
116.519
Phoenix
118.502
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Phoenix
by 2
162
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Minnesota
by 4
167
Dunkel Pick:
Phoenix
(+4); Under

WNBA
Long Sheet

Wednesday, May 25

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MINNESOTA (29 - 15) at PHOENIX (22 - 16) - 5/25/2016, 10:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
PHOENIX is 54-34 ATS (+16.6 Units) on Wednesday since 1997.
PHOENIX is 13-26 ATS (-15.6 Units) in all games over the last 2 seasons.
PHOENIX is 12-30 ATS (-21.0 Units) in May games since 1997.
PHOENIX is 2-9 ATS (-7.9 Units) when playing with 3 or more days rest over the last 2 seasons.
PHOENIX is 7-18 ATS (-12.8 Units) after a division game over the last 2 seasons.
PHOENIX is 3-11 ATS (-9.1 Units) revenging a loss versus opponent over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
MINNESOTA is 8-7 against the spread versus PHOENIX over the last 3 seasons
PHOENIX is 8-7 straight up against MINNESOTA over the last 3 seasons
11 of 15 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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WNBA

Wednesday, May 25

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Trend Report
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10:00 PM
MINNESOTA vs. PHOENIX
Minnesota is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games on the road
Minnesota is 4-10 ATS in its last 14 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Phoenix's last 5 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Phoenix's last 6 games when playing at home against Minnesota

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Announcement

Wednesday's NBA and WNBA Trends and Indexes - 5/25

Wednesday's NBA and WNBA Trends and Indexes - 5/25

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