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**Udog** · 12-11-2016, 07:59 AM

Armadillo: Sunday's six-pack

Six most popular Week 14 picks in Westgate Super Contest

6) Green Bay Packers +2.5 (408)

5) Minnesota Vikings -3 (420)

4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers -2.5 (440)

3) Washington Redskins -1 (481)

2) Pittsburgh Steelers -1.5 (558)

1) Baltimore Ravens +7 (577)

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Armadillo: Sunday's List of 13: Running Diary of a sports Saturday…….

11:45am— I am not a morning person; like to stay up late and then sleep late, so dragging my butt out of bed at 11:25 for some Rice Krispies and the start of the Temple-DePaul game seems like an even worse idea now that Temple leads 13-1 5:30 into the game.

This is part of a HoopHall doubleheader in the Miami Heat’s arena and there might’ve been 100 people in the arena when the game started. Players probably had their pregame meal at 7:30am. Coaches will do most anything to get their teams on national TV.

12:05— Mercifully, games are starting that have people in the stands.

Arizona is playing with seven scholarship players at Missouri, due to injury/eligiblity issues. Missouri hasn’t been any good since Frank Haith bolted for Tulsa. Supposedly Missouri has a kid who is a real good scorer who becomes eligible for their next game, so that should help the Tigers.

UMass-Providence from the Dunkin’ Donuts Center; every time I watch a Providence home game, I get hungry for a jelly donut and a hot chocolate.

Dunkin’ Donuts have drive-thru windows (I’ve never used one); seems to me if you’re sucking down donuts, least you can do is get out of the car to buy them.

Villanova-Notre Dame is the best noon game, from the arena in New Jersey where the NHL’s Devils play. The great Bill Raftery is on this game; met him in Syracuse close to 30 years ago. Good guy, as friendly in person as he seems on TV.

Notre Dame leads early 15-6; Mike Brey is an underrated coach.

12:50— Arizona was up 17 at Missouri, but Tigers cut lead to 41-36 at the half. Sean Miller looks like a guy in a bar at 3am who just lost his job— tie undone, frazzled. He’s never been in the Final Four at a school where Final Fours are expected and his team is dangerously thin this season.

Good one in Newark; Notre Dame is better than expected- they lead Villanova 41-36 at the half of a high-level game. Could easily be an NCAA tournament game.

I was in the Westgate Superbook in Las Vegas when Villanova won the national title last April; great fun. Opening Day of baseball, last college hoop game of the year- first Monday in April has become one of the better days of the sports year.

1:25— CBS’ Carter Blackburn is one of the best play-by-play guys on TV; he is working with Raftery today on the Villanova game. Few years ago, he was working a Conference USA game with Pete Gillen when Rice’s mascot Sammie the Owl was ejected for bitching (hooting?) at a referee. Blackburn should be doing NFL games on the network; someday he’ll call a Final Four.

Easy way for college basketball to increase scoring in its games: allow continuation baskets after fouls, the way they do in the NBA. Would be simple enough to do, makes the game more fun.

1:45— Final: Temple 74, DePaul 65— Blue Demons fought back, but they’re not very good.

ESPNU had a live Pop Warner football game from Florida on TV this morning. Seriously? They televise 12-year old kids playing football? Thought that was only at the Little League World Series in August. No wonder I like to sleep late.

Sean Miller can relax: his Arizona team went on a 21-0 run, leads Mizzou by 22 with 2:00 left.

Remember the time when Pitt’s Jerome Lane dunked in a game and shattered the backboard while Raftery screamed “Send it in Jerome!!!” on live TV? Miller assisted on that dunk.

2:05— Villanova 74, Notre Dame 66— If you won this game laying 6.5 points with the Wildcats, you had the wrong side in this game, but you covered. Thats an interesting debate; people will say “I won, how could they be the wrong side?” but sometimes the covering team lucked out. Notre Dame controlled this game for 36:00 but faded down the stretch- couldn’t hit that one shot to cover the number.

Odd bowl matchup: North Texas (+16.5) went to West Point Oct 22 and upset Army 35-18; UNT was +6 in turnovers in game where Cadets outgained North Texas 396-320- this is the only rematch of this bowl season. Favorites won/covered the Heart of Dallas Bowl the last five years, with all five games decided by 13+ points. Favorites rarely dominate bowl games.

Mediocre set of 2:00 TV games; I’m focusing on Rhode Island-Houston, Wisconsin-Marquette.

2:45— URI is up 42-37; Rams have lot of injuries, seems like every year.

Former major league pitcher Anthony Varvaro (relieved in 166 games in a 6-year MLB career) made over $2M in his baseball career, but now he has a new job— he will be a police officer with the Port Authority Police of NY/NJ- he pitched for the Red Sox’ AAA team this past summer. Interesting career change.

3:02— Halftime: Marquette 40, Wisconsin 35- Best game going on right now, Katin Reinhardt plays for Marquette, his third college (UNLV, USC) in five years. College coaches are like NBA GMs now, poaching other teams for unhappy kids who might catch lightning in a bottle with a new team for one season. This is why teams have very little depth; unhappy subs are constantly transferring. The grass is always greener somewhere else.

But what do these kids do when they become adults and join the real world? Reinhardt isn’t an NBA player, so he’ll play in Europe for a while then have to find a real job. He’ll have a boss and a wife and kids and he won’t be able to pull up stakes and move every time he is unhappy.

3:50— Houston 82, Rhode Island 77— Danny Hurley’s team is banged-up and having trouble on the road. This game had the feel of an NIT first-round game in March.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin went on a 26-8 run and is up 15 at Marquette. Just because you sit next to Mike Krzyzewski and played for him doesn’t mean you can coach like him.

In one 3-game stretch in November, Maryland’s football team was outscored 149-13; how in the name of Ralph Friedgen are the Terps in a bowl game, much less favored to win it? They play Boston College in a bowl at 2:30 on a Monday afternoon; fitting time slot, at least.

4:16— Wisconsin 93, Marquette 84— Damn. High scoring. Badgers are a veteran team; I’m curious how Greg Gard will fare once these kids are gone and he has to recruit new guys. I’m not judging, just saying this is being done with players Bo Ryan recruited.

Is it fun to be rich? Everyone has problems, rich people’s problems seem better than mine.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. owner Sheldon Adelson lost more than $3 billion in less than an hour this week, after word came from Macau that the government there was reducing the amount of money people can withdraw from one of Macau’s largest banks by 50%.

Because of this rule change, stock in Macau’s casinos dipped so much that Adelson’s stake was worth $3.2B less than it had been an hour earlier. The guy is still worth $29B, so not like he has to panhandle for food, but minus-$3.2B is still a rough couple of hours.

This all has to do with Chinese people wanting to gamble in Macau and how they withdraw money to do so. They just opened a new Asian-themed casino in Las Vegas, that also caters to Chinese clientele.

5:35— Duke was killing UNLV 20-3, it is 20-7 now. Rebels are basically an expansion team; when they hired Marvin Menzies, think he had four players on the roster, so this is a total rebuild- they’re in way over their head today, getting 24.5 points down the street from their own campus.

Dick Vitale is doing this game; it is tough for me to listen to him anymore. He is talking about 1990 and the Tarkanian years— that era is long gone and ain’t ever coming back. Menzies will build this roster up and UNLV will be a solid mid-major, but no more Final Fours.

Wichita State 53, Oklahoma 50— 9:10 left. Good ballgame with March implications.
Butler 44, Cincinnati 39— 15:00 left. Big East-AAC games are always interesting. Still makes me laugh that there are Big EAST teams in Cincinnati, Indy, Milwaukee and Omaha.

6:05— Duke 42-26 at the half and UNLV’s kids are playing their butts off. One thing Vitale was talking about that has some merit; making it six fouls for a college player to foul out. Think the game would be better that way.

Wichita State beats Oklahoma 76-73; Doug Gottlieb had this one right. ESPN messed up when they let Gottlieb bolt for CBS. He is a better analyst than Jay Bilas and more personable.

This game pushed the spread when the Wichita kid made a foul shot he was trying to miss with 0:00.5 left and Shockers up by 2.

Army 21, Navy 17— Cadets win this rivalry game for first time in 15 years.

8:00— Duke 94, UNLV 45— If I’m Marvin Menzies, next time he makes recruiting calls, the term “…..immediate playing time is available” would be used. A lot. It is an effective phrase.

8:30— It bugs me that the Heisman Trophy has an actual hour-long TV program to give out an award when it takes 90 seconds to announce the winner. Guess people are stupid enough to buy commercial time, so they have the program and it makes money. Why?

9:00— Halftime: Michigan 50, UCLA 50— Outstanding game.

Lamar Jackson won the Heisman Trophy. Good for him.

I’m off to go have dinner and watch some more games. Have a nice day.

**Udog** · 12-11-2016, 08:33 AM

NBA
Long Sheet

Sunday, December 11

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PHILADELPHIA (5 - 18) at DETROIT (13 - 12) - 12/11/2016, 6:05 PM
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.

Head-to-Head Series History
DETROIT is 5-3 against the spread versus PHILADELPHIA over the last 3 seasons
DETROIT is 5-3 straight up against PHILADELPHIA over the last 3 seasons
5 of 8 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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BOSTON (13 - 10) at OKLAHOMA CITY (14 - 9) - 12/11/2016, 7:05 PM
Top Trends for this game.
BOSTON is 19-9 ATS (+9.1 Units) in road games first half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
OKLAHOMA CITY is 35-49 ATS (-18.9 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 99+ points/game over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
OKLAHOMA CITY is 2-2 against the spread versus BOSTON over the last 3 seasons
OKLAHOMA CITY is 3-1 straight up against BOSTON over the last 3 seasons
3 of 4 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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GOLDEN STATE (20 - 4) at MINNESOTA (6 - 17) - 12/11/2016, 7:05 PM
Top Trends for this game.
GOLDEN STATE is 73-102 ATS (-39.2 Units) after 3 or more consecutive unders since 1996.
GOLDEN STATE is 70-56 ATS (+8.4 Units) in all games over the last 2 seasons.
GOLDEN STATE is 117-89 ATS (+19.1 Units) as a favorite over the last 3 seasons.
GOLDEN STATE is 51-32 ATS (+15.8 Units) first half of the season over the last 3 seasons.
GOLDEN STATE is 58-40 ATS (+14.0 Units) versus good offensive teams - scoring 99+ points/game over the last 2 seasons.
MINNESOTA is 6-17 ATS (-12.7 Units) in all games this season.
MINNESOTA is 7-20 ATS (-15.0 Units) as a home underdog of 9.5 to 12 points since 1996.
MINNESOTA is 17-34 ATS (-20.4 Units) in home games over the last 2 seasons.
MINNESOTA is 5-15 ATS (-11.5 Units) in December games over the last 2 seasons.
MINNESOTA is 6-17 ATS (-12.7 Units) first half of the season this season.
MINNESOTA is 6-16 ATS (-11.6 Units) in home games after a non-conference game over the last 2 seasons.
MINNESOTA is 11-28 ATS (-19.8 Units) in home games revenging a loss vs opponent over the last 2 seasons.
MINNESOTA is 12-23 ATS (-13.3 Units) in home games after allowing 105 points or more over the last 2 seasons.
MINNESOTA is 11-26 ATS (-17.6 Units) in home games after a loss by 10 points or more over the last 3 seasons.
MINNESOTA is 20-36 ATS (-19.6 Units) in home games versus poor defensive teams - allowing 99+ points/game over the last 3 seasons.
MINNESOTA is 4-13 ATS (-10.3 Units) versus good offensive teams - scoring 99+ points/game this season.

Head-to-Head Series History
MINNESOTA is 5-3 against the spread versus GOLDEN STATE over the last 3 seasons
GOLDEN STATE is 7-1 straight up against MINNESOTA over the last 3 seasons
6 of 8 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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NEW ORLEANS (7 - 17) at PHOENIX (7 - 16) - 12/11/2016, 8:35 PM
Top Trends for this game.
NEW ORLEANS is 45-59 ATS (-19.9 Units) in all games over the last 2 seasons.
NEW ORLEANS is 21-34 ATS (-16.4 Units) first half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
NEW ORLEANS is 17-29 ATS (-14.9 Units) after scoring 105 points or more over the last 2 seasons.
NEW ORLEANS is 106-139 ATS (-46.9 Units) in road games versus good offensive teams - scoring 99+ points/game since 1996.
PHOENIX is 18-7 ATS (+10.3 Units) in home games after allowing 105 points or more over the last 2 seasons.
PHOENIX is 15-26 ATS (-13.6 Units) after scoring 105 points or more over the last 2 seasons.
PHOENIX is 16-29 ATS (-15.9 Units) when playing against a team with a losing record over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
NEW ORLEANS is 5-3 against the spread versus PHOENIX over the last 3 seasons
PHOENIX is 4-4 straight up against NEW ORLEANS over the last 3 seasons
5 of 8 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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NEW YORK (13 - 10) at LA LAKERS (10 - 15) - 12/11/2016, 9:35 PM
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.

Head-to-Head Series History
NEW YORK is 3-1 against the spread versus LA LAKERS over the last 3 seasons
NEW YORK is 4-0 straight up against LA LAKERS over the last 3 seasons
3 of 4 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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NBA
Armadillo's Write-Up

Sunday, December 11

Detroit won/covered its last four games with Philly; three of last four series games went over. 76ers lost last three visits to Detroit, by 18-13-20 points. Sixers lost eight of last nine games but covered three of last four; they’re 3-5 as road underdogs. Four of last five Philly games stayed under the total. Pistons won seven of its last ten games; they’re 8-3 at home, 7-2 as a home favorite. Under is 3-1 in their last four games.

Thunder won eight of last ten games with Boston; three of last four series games went over. Celtics lost four of last five visits to Oklahoma (2-3 vs spread). Boston is 7-4 in its last 11 games, 6-1 vs spread in its last seven road games. Over is 3-1 in its last four road games. Oklahoma City won six of its last seven games; they’re 9-5 at home, 8-4 as a home favorite. Last three Thunder games stayed under total.

Golden State won eight of last nine games with Minnesota but Timberwolves covered six of last seven series games; Warriors won last four visits here, by 5-3-13-16 points (2-2 vs spread). Golden State is 1-2 vs spread in game following a loss; they won four of last five games, are 7-5 as road favorites. Last three Warrior games stayed under total. Minnesota lost six of last seven games, is 0-6 as a home underdog. Over is 6-2 in their last eight games.

Suns won their last three games with New Orleans by 1-21-16 points; four of last five series games went over. Pelicans lost three of last four visits to Phoenix. New Orleans lost five in row and seven of last eight games; they’re 3-6-1 as road underdogs. Under is 8-3 in their road games. Suns lost four of their last five home games; they’re 0-3 as home favorites. Five of last six Phoenix games went over the total.

Knicks won their last four games with the Lakers, winning last two visits here by 7-3 points. Three of last four series games stayed under total. New York won five of its last six games, covered 11 of last 14; they’re 4-6 SU on road, with three straight wins. Under is 5-4-1 in their road games. Lakers lost their last five games (0-5 vs spread) overall, five of last seven at home. Last three Laker games went over the total.

NBA

Sunday, December 11

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Trend Report
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6:00 PM
PHILADELPHIA vs. DETROIT
Philadelphia is 1-23 SU in its last 24 games on the road
Philadelphia is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games when playing Detroit
Detroit is 8-3 SU in its last 11 games at home
Detroit is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games

7:00 PM
GOLDEN STATE vs. MINNESOTA
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Golden State's last 5 games on the road
Golden State is 2-5 ATS in its last 7 games when playing Minnesota
Minnesota is 0-5 SU in its last 5 games at home
Minnesota is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games at home

7:00 PM
BOSTON vs. OKLAHOMA CITY
Boston is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games
The total has gone UNDER in 12 of Boston's last 17 games
Oklahoma City is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games at home
Oklahoma City is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Boston

8:30 PM
NEW ORLEANS vs. PHOENIX
The total has gone OVER in 4 of New Orleans's last 5 games when playing Phoenix
New Orleans is 1-4-1 ATS in its last 6 games on the road
Phoenix is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against New Orleans
Phoenix is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games

9:30 PM
NEW YORK vs. LA LAKERS
New York is 8-15 SU in its last 23 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of New York's last 6 games on the road
LA Lakers are 2-5 SU in their last 7 games at home
LA Lakers are 1-5 SU in their last 6 games when playing New York

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**Udog** · 12-11-2016, 09:10 AM

NBA
Dunkel

Sunday, December 11

New York @ LA Lakers

Game 709-710
December 11, 2016 @ 9:30 pm

Dunkel Rating:
New York
112.521
LA Lakers
119.312
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
LA Lakers
by 7
212
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
LA Lakers
No Line
N/A
Dunkel Pick:
LA Lakers
N/A

New Orleans @ Phoenix

Game 707-708
December 11, 2016 @ 8:30 pm

Dunkel Rating:
New Orleans
111.282
Phoenix
113.746
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Phoenix
by 2 1/2
216
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Phoenix
by 4 1/2
210
Dunkel Pick:
New Orleans
(+4 1/2); Over

Golden State @ Minnesota

Game 705-706
December 11, 2016 @ 7:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Golden State
123.907
Minnesota
121.487
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Golden State
by 2 1/2
214
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Golden State
by 10
224
Dunkel Pick:
Minnesota
(+10); Under

Boston @ Oklahoma City

Game 703-704
December 11, 2016 @ 7:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Boston
123.656
Oklahoma City
123.394
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Boston
Even
217
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Oklahoma City
by 4
209
Dunkel Pick:
Boston
(+4); Over

Philadelphia @ Detroit

Game 701-702
December 11, 2016 @ 6:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Philadelphia
112.041
Detroit
129.539
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Detroit
by 17 1/2
189
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Detroit
No Line
N/A
Dunkel Pick:
Detroit
N/A

Announcement

Sunday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 12/11

Sunday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 12/11

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