Announcement

**Udog** · 05-11-2017, 07:25 AM

Armadillo: Thursday's six-pack

— Celtics 123, Wizards 101—Home team is now 5-0 in this series.

— Penguins 2, Capitals 0—Pittsburgh-Ottawa is the Eastern Conference final.

— There will be 40 bowl games this fall; national title game is in Atlanta’s new stadium. Looks like the first bowls are slated for December 16.

— Dodgers’ OF Andrew Toles tore his ACL Tuesday, is out for the year.

— adidas sold its golf business for $425M; in 2016, their revenue was 30% of what it was five years ago.

— Rams, Browns aren’t favored right now in any of their games this coming season. New England is favored in all of its games.

**********

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

13) Serious question; what does this guy James Comey do now? I mean, he gets fired as FBI Director, does he collect unemployment? Write a book? Drink himself silly? Consult with his lawyer to make sure he isn’t in trouble? Hang out at home and watch NBA playoff games? Coach his kid’s Little League team?

I’m guessing he could write a very interesting book; doubt he has done anything horrible enough that would make coaching Little League a suitable punishment.

Seriously, I was a Little League coach for four years. Never again.

12) To get a lot of RBI, it helps to have a lot of men on base when you bat. Here are the guys who’ve come to bat with the most men on base this season:

Daniel Murphy 115, Rizzo/Cano 113, Maikel Franco 109.

11) Here are the players who’ve driven in the highest %age of runners who were on base when they hit (minimum 100 PA): Charlie Blackmon 25.3%, Nomar Mazara 25.0%, Chris Owings 24.6%.

10) A fairly tall guy went to the A’s game in Oakland Wednesday afternoon dressed as an elf; no idea why, but he got himself a decent amount of TV time and he seemed to be enjoying himself on a sunny day in the Bay Area.

9) A’s 2, Angels 1—Andrew Triggs has five wins and a 2.21 ERA, 9th-best in the AL. Muy bueno!!! .

Yonder Alonso is batting .444 with runners in scoring position; rest of the A’s are hitting .175 with RISP.

8) Tampa Bay Rays are 17-19, but if games ended after the 5th inning, they’d be 23-8-5. Rays are 4-11 in games when winning run scores after the 6th inning- they’re 2-6 in one-run games.

7) Our fantasy league has 25-man rosters; you add a 26th guy if someone goes on the DL, then after the season, you cut a guy to get back to 25.

Last winter, it was an easy choice for me to get back to 25. Colorado signed Ian Desmond, had David Dahl and Manny Parra to play LF or 1B, so I sent Mark Reynolds packing, since it was unsure if he was even going to be on the 25-man roster. No bueno.

Dahl is hurt, Desmond was also hurt but is back now, while Reynolds is batting .333 and appears headed to the freakin’ All-Star Game. Wow. I can’t even call myself an idiot for this one; nobody saw it coming.

6) Cubs’ OF Kyle Schwarber played college baseball at Indiana; only two other colleges offered him a baseball scholarship: Miami OH and Cincinnati. Scouting really is an inexact science.

5) San Antonio Spurs drafted Manu Ginobili when James Harden was 10 years old.

4) Still wish they’d let kids jump right from high school to the NBA; if they don’t get drafted, then they can go to college, but for at least two years. Seems like a better idea.

3) Adam Wilk, who was an emergency starting pitcher for the Mets Sunday when Matt Harvey was suspended, was claimed off waivers by the Minnesota Twins, so he is still in the major leagues and is having a very good week.

2) Our thoughts/prayers to Chris Berman, who lost his wife in a car accident this week. From reading Twitter, it is obvious that Berman is very well-liked by co-workers, past and present. Cathy Berman was a school teacher; she is survived by her husband and two children. RIP, ma’am.

1) Over the last three years at PLAYERS Championship, Freddie Jacobson has the best score on par 5’s: -24. Chappell, McIlroy and Garcia are all next at -23.

**Udog** · 05-11-2017, 07:39 AM

Thursday’s NBA Playoffs Conference Semifinals betting preview: Spurs at Rockets

Kawhi Leonard departed Game 5 due to an ankle injury but quickly answered "Yeah, I'm going to be able to play" when quizzed during Wednesday's media availability.

San Antonio Spurs at Houston Rockets (-7, 214)

Spurs lead series 3-2

All-Star small forward Kawhi Leonard vows to be the in the starting lineup on Thursday when the San Antonio Spurs attempt to close out their playoff series with the host Houston Rockets. Leonard departed Tuesday's Game 5 due to a left ankle injury but quickly answered "Yeah, I'm going to be able to play" when quizzed during Wednesday's off-day media availability.

The second-seeded Spurs took a 3-2 series lead by pulling out a 110-107 overtime win in Houston with Leonard (22 points, 15 rebounds) seated on the bench and know finishing off the Western Conference semifinal series will be an arduous task. "It's going to be tough. They're a great offensive team," Leonard told reporters. "They're a bunch of competitive guys. They play great at home. It's going to be tough. It's going to be about taking care of the ball, playing confident and trying to minimize our mistakes." Rockets guard James Harden had 33 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in Game 5 but had his last-second 3-point attempt was blocked by San Antonio guard Manu Ginobili. "We couldn't get in a rhythm at the end of the game or in the overtime," Harden told reporters. "We had an opportunity to win this game and take a lead back home and we let it slip away. But we will be ready on Thursday."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN

LINE HISTORY: The Rockets opened as 6.5-point home favorites for Game 6 and that number was bumped up slightly to -7 on Wednesday. The total opened at 215 and came down to 214 with Leonard's status uncertain.

INJURY REPORT:

Spurs - SF K. Leonard (Questionable, ankle), PG T. Parker (Out For Season, quadricep).

Rockets - C Nene (Out For Season, groin).

ABOUT THE ROCKETS (68-25 SU, 47-44-2 ATS, 52-39-2 O/U): Harden is averaging 27.4 points and 10.2 assists for third-seeded Houston but was just 4-of-15 from 3-point range in Game 5 and is shooting just 32.1 percent from behind the arc in the series. "I'm all right. Just missed shots," Harden told reporters while asserting fatigue isn't an issue. "Missed shots and just didn't make enough plays to win. Obviously, other players stepped up and made big shots, and that was the game." With veteran center Nene (groin) done for the postseason, the Rockets only used seven players with 3-point bomber Ryan Anderson seeing action in the interior to help compensate for the loss.

ABOUT THE SPURS (61-31 SU, 48-44 ATS, 47-44-1 O/U): Ginobili had his best game of the series with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists in addition to the game-saving rejection of Harden. "I don't feel like I had a huge game," Ginobili told reporters. "I felt better than the previous ones, for sure, but I guess the standards are a little lower." Patty Mills figures to draw the start at point guard for the second straight game after scoring 20 points and knocking down five 3-pointers during Game 5.

TRENDS:

* Spurs are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 Conference Semifinals games.
* Rockets are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games vs. a team with a winning road record.
* Over is 8-1 in Spurs last 9 overall.
* Over is 10-2 in Rockets last 12 Conference Semifinals games.
* Road team is 8-2 ATS in the last 10 meetings.

**Udog** · 05-11-2017, 07:44 AM

NBA
Dunkel

Thursday, May 11

San Antonio @ Houston

Game 523-524
May 11, 2017 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
San Antonio
117.243
Houston
126.759
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Houston
by 9 1/2
219
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Houston
by 7
213
Dunkel Pick:
Houston
(-7); Over

NBA
Long Sheet

Thursday, May 11

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SAN ANTONIO (68 - 25) at HOUSTON (61 - 31) - 5/11/2017, 8:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
SAN ANTONIO is 1002-876 ATS (+38.4 Units) in all games since 1996.
SAN ANTONIO is 22-12 ATS (+8.8 Units) versus good offensive teams - scoring 106+ points/game this season.
HOUSTON is 38-51 ATS (-18.1 Units) in home games over the last 2 seasons.
HOUSTON is 11-23 ATS (-14.3 Units) in home games revenging a loss vs opponent over the last 2 seasons.
HOUSTON is 7-16 ATS (-10.6 Units) in home games when playing against a team with a winning record this season.

Head-to-Head Series History
SAN ANTONIO is 9-8 against the spread versus HOUSTON over the last 3 seasons
SAN ANTONIO is 12-5 straight up against HOUSTON over the last 3 seasons
9 of 16 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NBA
Armadillo's Write-Up

Thursday, May 11

Health of Kawhi Leonard is big variable here; if he isn’t healthy, bad news for Spurs. San Antonio won four of its last five games in this arena- four of those five games stayed under total. Four of last five games in this series went over total. Spurs are 2-3 on road in playoffs; eight of their last nine games went over. Houston is 4-1 at home in playoffs (2-3 vs spread). Houston went 41-93 (44.1%) on arc in its two series wins, 36-111 (32.4%) in its losses; they used only seven guys in Game 5 loss- four starters 40:00+, with only three of them scoring more than 11 points.

Second round playoff series:
Boston-Washington
Bos 123-111, -4.5, O216
Bos 129-119 O, -5, O218.5
Wash 116-89, -5.5, U218
Wash 121-102, -5, O214.5
Bos 123-101, -4, O218

Cleveland-Toronto
Clev 116-105, -7, O211
Clev 125-103, -7, O214.5
Clev 115-94, -3, U215
Clev 109-102, -7, O210.5
Cavaliers win series, 4-0

San Antonio-Houston
Hst 126-99, +6, O215.5
SA 121-96, -5.5, O215
SA 103-92, +5.5, U215
Hst 125-104, -5, O213.5
SA 110-107 OT, -5.5, O216

Golden State-Utah
GState 106-94, -13, U206.5
GState 115-104, -13.5, O206
GState 102-91, -7, U209
GState 121-95, -9, O207
Warriors win series 4-0

Favorites 12-5-1 (32-27-2)
Over 12-6 (34-27)

NBA

Thursday, May 11

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8:00 PM
SAN ANTONIO vs. HOUSTON
San Antonio is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Houston
San Antonio is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Houston
Houston is 2-7 ATS in its last 9 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Houston's last 9 games at home

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**StarDust Bum** · 05-11-2017, 12:01 PM

NBA
Dunkel

Thursday, May 11

San Antonio @ Houston

Game 523-524
May 11, 2017 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
San Antonio
117.243
Houston
126.759
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Houston
by 9 1/2
219
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Houston
by 7
213
Dunkel Pick:
Houston
(-7); Over

NBA
Long Sheet

Thursday, May 11

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SAN ANTONIO (68 - 25) at HOUSTON (61 - 31) - 5/11/2017, 8:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
SAN ANTONIO is 1002-876 ATS (+38.4 Units) in all games since 1996.
SAN ANTONIO is 22-12 ATS (+8.8 Units) versus good offensive teams - scoring 106+ points/game this season.
HOUSTON is 38-51 ATS (-18.1 Units) in home games over the last 2 seasons.
HOUSTON is 11-23 ATS (-14.3 Units) in home games revenging a loss vs opponent over the last 2 seasons.
HOUSTON is 7-16 ATS (-10.6 Units) in home games when playing against a team with a winning record this season.

Head-to-Head Series History
SAN ANTONIO is 9-8 against the spread versus HOUSTON over the last 3 seasons
SAN ANTONIO is 12-5 straight up against HOUSTON over the last 3 seasons
9 of 16 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NBA
Armadillo's Write-Up

Thursday, May 11

Health of Kawhi Leonard is big variable here; if he isn’t healthy, bad news for Spurs. San Antonio won four of its last five games in this arena- four of those five games stayed under total. Four of last five games in this series went over total. Spurs are 2-3 on road in playoffs; eight of their last nine games went over. Houston is 4-1 at home in playoffs (2-3 vs spread). Houston went 41-93 (44.1%) on arc in its two series wins, 36-111 (32.4%) in its losses; they used only seven guys in Game 5 loss- four starters 40:00+, with only three of them scoring more than 11 points.

Second round playoff series:
Boston-Washington
Bos 123-111, -4.5, O216
Bos 129-119 O, -5, O218.5
Wash 116-89, -5.5, U218
Wash 121-102, -5, O214.5
Bos 123-101, -4, O218

Cleveland-Toronto
Clev 116-105, -7, O211
Clev 125-103, -7, O214.5
Clev 115-94, -3, U215
Clev 109-102, -7, O210.5
Cavaliers win series, 4-0

San Antonio-Houston
Hst 126-99, +6, O215.5
SA 121-96, -5.5, O215
SA 103-92, +5.5, U215
Hst 125-104, -5, O213.5
SA 110-107 OT, -5.5, O216

Golden State-Utah
GState 106-94, -13, U206.5
GState 115-104, -13.5, O206
GState 102-91, -7, U209
GState 121-95, -9, O207
Warriors win series 4-0

Favorites 12-5-1 (32-27-2)
Over 12-6 (34-27)

NBA

Thursday, May 11

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8:00 PM
SAN ANTONIO vs. HOUSTON
San Antonio is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Houston
San Antonio is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Houston
Houston is 2-7 ATS in its last 9 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Houston's last 9 games at home

Announcement

Thursday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 5/11

Thursday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 5/11

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment