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**Udog** · 05-12-2017, 08:22 AM

Armadillo: Friday's six-pack

Some interesting pointspreads for NFL games this season:

— Week 8: Broncos @ Chiefs (-3)

— Week 9: Rams @ Giants (-8.5)

— Week 10: Seahawks (-1.5) @ Cardinals

— Week 11: Patriots (-1.5) vs Raiders (@ Mexico City)

— Week 12: Packers @ Steelers (-3)

— Week 13: Eagles @ Seahawks (-7)

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Armadillo: Friday's List of 13: Random stuff with the weekend here…….

13) We talked the other day about Sabres-Rangers playing at Citi Field on New Years’ Day; Buffalo will be the “home” team for that game, meaning they give up a home game in Buffalo for this game to be played in NYC. It is the Rangers’ third outdoor game in NYC- they were the “visitor” in all three.

Why? Because if the Rangers play a home game outside of Madison Square Garden, it costs them a tax exemption that could be worth as much as $40M—that’s million, with an M. Oy.

12) More bad news for the New York Mets; closer Jeurys Familia has an arterial clot in his shoulder and might need surgery.

11) This is one I’ve never heard before; Yale has a really good guard named Makai Mason, who helped the Bulldogs make the NCAA’s in 2016, where they upset Baylor in a first-round game. Mason broke his foot last year and missed the whole season.

Mason is going to graduate from Yale at this time next year; he is going to play for the Bulldogs this coming winter, then he is going to be a graduate transfer at (ironically) Baylor in 2018-19.

I’ve never heard of a player announcing where he will transfer to a full year before he actually transfers. Ivy League players can’t take a redshirt season like most D-I players can, but still it is odd that he got the suspense out of the way and now everyone knows he will be in Waco in the fall of 2018.

10) If you’re looking for a good TV series to follow, I’d recommend Billions on Showtime; it is about a rich hedge-fund trader and a US Prosecutor who despise each other- the prosecutor’s wife works for the hedge fund guy, which complicates the whole story tremendously. It is really well done with lot of twists and turns. I’m a little disappointed that Season 3 won’t be on until 2018.

They’ve had 24 episodes over two seasons; you can stream them on Showtimeanytime.com

9) Pittsburgh Penguins have played ten playoff series against Washington and won nine of them.

8) Washington’s Alex Ovechkin is a great player, but he’s played 12 years in the NHL and has never been past the second round of the playoffs.

7) The guy who went to the A’s game in Oakland Wednesday dressed as an elf did that because he was the last place finisher in his office’s March Madness pool and that was his penalty for finishing last.

6) A senior media relations guy for the Milwaukee Brewers had a cool job Thursday; he was the ball boy down the leftfield line at Miller Park. He took a decent amount of grief on Brewers’ TV but seemed to be enjoying himself.

5) Arizona Cardinals signed Blaine Gabbert as a backup QB, unwittingly igniting a controversy, since Colin Kaepernick is still unemployed. Supposedly, three teams have inquired about Kaepernick, but ain’t no one signed him and off-season workouts have already begun.

Fact of the matter is this: Whomever convinced Kaepernick to take his political stand last fall screwed him over and greatly hindered his NFL career, costing him millions. Hope it was worth it.

4) Rookies pitchers started the Colorado Rockies’ last four games; kid from North Colonie (I live in South Colonie) pitched for Colorado last night. He is winning 10-1 as I type this, so good for him.

3) Steve Stone was just saying on the White Sox game that the ideal difference in speed between a fastball and change-up is 11 miles an hour. Interesting thing to monitor while watching a game.

2) Teams ask players weird stuff at these draft combines; an NBA team asked Kansas’ Frank Mason III this week “……how he would prefer to die?” What does that have to do with basketball?

Apparently, Kawhi Leonard was so nervous at his Combine interview with the Phoenix Suns that he sweated thru his suit. Because of that, the Suns took him off their draft board. Brilliant!!!!

1) Spurs 114, Rockets 75—Leonard didn’t play in this game, so of course the Spurs won by 39. Bookmakers in Las Vegas had to enjoy this outcome. This, from David Payne Purdum on Twitter: “(A bettor in Nevada) placed 3 six-figure money-line bets on Rockets to beat Spurs tonight, totaling $386,000, to win $120,000.”

Yikes.

**Udog** · 05-12-2017, 08:45 AM

Friday’s NBA Playoffs Conference Semifinals betting preview: Celtics at Wizards

Home court has dominated this series going 5-0 SU/ATS and in the last 16 matchups overall the home team is 13-3.

Boston Celtics at Washington Wizards (-5, 216)

Celtics lead series 3-2

The Boston Celtics are on the verge of advancing to the Eastern Conference finals but still have yet to prove they can win on the road in the semifinals. The Celtics will go for their first road win of the series and the clinching victory when they visit the Washington Wizards for Game 6 on Friday.

Boston used Washington's defensive focus on All-Star Isaiah Thomas to its advantage in the 123-101 win on Wednesday as the 5-9 guard showed off his abilities as a screen-setter and passer to keep the Wizards off balance. "As a basketball player, you've got to read what the defense is giving you, and they're really having two or three guys on me at all times," Thomas told reporters. "So what I'm trying to do is give other guys space, create space for others and also be a good screen-setter." Washington used a 22-0 run in Game 3 and a 26-0 spurt in Game 4 to create separation in a pair of home wins but failed to get the defensive stops that led to those runs in Game 5. "All we can do is focus on Game 6 at home," Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal told reporters. "Both teams been playing well at home. We've got to come out desperate, so to speak."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN

LINE HISTORY: The Wizards opened as 4.5-point home favorites with their backs against the wall in Game 6, and by Thursday evening that spread was bumped up to -5. The total opened at 216.5 and was dropped slightly to 216.

INJURY REPORT:

Celtics - No injuries to report.

Wizards - No injuries to report.

ABOUT THE CELTICS (60-33 SU, 47-44-2 ATS, 46-43-4 O/U): With Isaiah Thomas going to work as a facilitator, shooting guard Avery Bradley was free to do some scoring in Game 5 and poured in 25 of his career postseason-high 29 points in the first half as Boston raced out to a big lead. "He was the key to this game," Thomas told reporters of Bradley. "On both ends of the floor, offensively and defensively, he did it all, and we need that from him. Especially in Game 6, we're gonna need that from him. I'm proud of him. I told him before the game that I believe in him, and he's gonna have a big game, and he did." Bradley went 12-of-19 from the floor in the win after totaling 12 points on 5-of-17 shooting in Games 3 and 4.

ABOUT THE WIZARDS (55-38 SU, 47-45-1 ATS, 58-34-1 O/U): Washington had all the momentum going into Game 5 after winning the previous two games by a total of 46 points but ended up shooting 38.5 percent from the floor in Game 5 while allowing Boston to go off at 52.9 percent. "It started with the focus," Wizards Coach Scott Brooks told reporters. "That was our No. 1 mistake. We didn’t have the focus that it would have taken to win in this building." Shooting guards Beal and Bojan Bogdanovic combined to go 8-of-26 from the floor - 1-of-8 from beyond the arc - in the loss.

TRENDS:

* Celtics are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games following a straight up win.

* Wizards are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 after allowing 100 points or more in their previous game.

* Over is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings.

* Favorite is 12-2 ATS in the last 14 meetings.

* Home team is 13-3 ATS in the last 16 meetings.

**Udog** · 05-12-2017, 08:51 AM

NBA
Long Sheet

Friday, May 12

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BOSTON (60 - 33) at WASHINGTON (55 - 38) - 5/12/2017, 8:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
BOSTON is 14-29 ATS (-17.9 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 106+ points/game - 2nd half of the season since 1996.
WASHINGTON is 26-17 ATS (+7.3 Units) revenging a loss vs opponent this season.
WASHINGTON is 147-189 ATS (-60.9 Units) on Friday nights since 1996.

Head-to-Head Series History
BOSTON is 11-5 against the spread versus WASHINGTON over the last 3 seasons
BOSTON is 10-6 straight up against WASHINGTON over the last 3 seasons
9 of 16 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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NBA
Armadillo's Write-Up

Friday, May 12

Home side won all five Celtic-Wizard games in this series and last nine meetings overall; Celtics lost last four games in this building, all by 15+ points (0-4 vs spread). Six of last eight series games went over- favorites are 10-2 vs spread in last twelve meetings. Over is 5-1 in Wizards’ last six games. Wall/Beal shot combined 14-36 in Game 5 loss; can Washington go on another 26-0 run like they did in Game 4 win? Boston was 16-33 on arc in Game 5; none of games in this series have been decided by less than ten 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
SA 114-75, -5, U215
Spurs win series, 4-2

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

Friday, May 12

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Trend Report
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8:00 PM
BOSTON vs. WASHINGTON
Boston is 9-4 SU in its last 13 games when playing Washington
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Boston's last 5 games on the road
Washington is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Washington's last 6 games at home

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**Udog** · 05-12-2017, 09:59 AM

NBA
Dunkel

Friday, May 12

Boston @ Washington

Game 711-712
May 12, 2017 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Boston
123.680
Washington
125.633
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Washington
by 2
220
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Washington
by 5
216
Dunkel Pick:
Boston
(+5); Over

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Friday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 5/12

Friday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 5/12

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