Announcement

**Udog** · 05-15-2017, 08:24 AM

Armadillo: Monday's six-pack

— NASCAR driver Aric Almirola fractured his T5 vertebra in a frightening accident Saturday night. He is out of the hospital now and is back home in North Carolina.

— Warriors 113, Spurs 111– San Antonio was up 23 when Kawhi Leonard reinjured his left ankle in third quarter- so much for this series.

— Brewers 11, Mets 9– New York led this game 7-1; got swept in Miller Park.

— Bronx closer Aroldis Chapman is on the DL with a shoulder problem.

— RIP former umpire Steve Palermo, whose umpiring career ended in 1991 when he was shot while trying to help a robbery victim in Dallas. He was 67 years old.

— Marcus Camby graduated from UMass this weekend, 21 years after he led the Minutemen to the Final Four.

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Armadillo: Monday's List of 13:Coaches in movies I’ve enjoyed watching

This isn’t a ranking, just a numbered list of coaches in TV/movies that I’ve seen………

13) Ken Howard, The White Shadow– One of my all-time favorite TV shows, Ken Howard did a great job of portraying Coach Reeves, a former NBA player who becomes a high school coach in Los Angeles. He patterned Coach Reeves after his HS coach; Carver High’s uniforms are even the same colors of the school he went to, Manhasset HS on Long Island.

12) Gene Hackman, Hoosiers– He wins the state title and gets the girl (Barbara Hershey) in the end, but for the love of God, why didn’t he know enough to give Jimmy Chitwood the ball at the end of games? Even the drunk assistant coach (Dennis Hopper) knew enough to get Jimmy the ball.

11) Al Pacino, Any Given Sunday– Most people remember the “Life is a Game of Inches” speech before the last game, but what he said to Jamie Foxx at the dinner in his house earlier in the movie “You’re a goddamn QUARTERBACK!!!!” was the better speech, to me. This movie was made in 1999, but the divide between old-school thinking and modern analytics is in play, even back then.

10) Emilio Estevez, The Mighty Ducks– Mostly a goofy movie, but the underlying theme of a former star player coaching against the guy who coached him was interesting. Having players play catch at practice with raw eggs instead of hockey pucks was a curious coaching technique.

9) GD Spradlin, One on One– This is an underrated movie and also fairly old now, but Robby Benson was a hot-shot high school basketball star who was mostly in over his head when he went to play college ball at a bigtime school. This movie was filmed at Colorado State, which still plays in the same arena. Coach Smith was played by GD Spradlin, who also played Tom Landry in North Dallas Forty; if he such a great coach, why did he recruit Henry Steele (Benson), a flashy, small guard who couldn’t guard anyone?

8) Tom Hanks, A League of Their Own– Hanks was a great player who is now a crude drunk who wasn’t healthy enough to be in the service during the war, so he coaches a girls’ baseball team with Madonna and Geena Davis on it. A guy could do worse. When Hanks was a kid (in real life), he was a vendor at the Oakland Coliseum; this was a pretty good movie, but my friend Dennis kills me every time I say that.

7) Wilford Brimley, The Natural– Pop Fisher is manager of the New York Knights; all he does is complain about bad his team is, but when Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) shows up to play for the Knights, he won’t give him a chance to play, until Hobbs puts on a prodigious display in batting practice. This movie was filmed in Buffalo, in the stadium where the Bills played before Rich Stadium was built.

6) Jon Voight, Varsity Blues– Whoever made this movie had a high school coach they really hated; lot of unrealistic behavior by Voight’s character, the legendary football coach Bud Kilmer. He berates players, doesn’t give his best running back the ball near the goal line (the kid cites racist motives for that) and just seems like a miserable human. Eventually the players quit on him, but not before going to a strip club for an all-nighter on the night before a game, like that would ever happen.

5) JK Simmons, For the Love of the Game– Simmons is manager of the Detroit Tigers whose best pitcher is fading star Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner). Simmons is a Tiger fan in real life– he played the part well. Simmons is a great actor who plays a music teacher in the disturbing movie Whiplash– he pushes his students unmercifully, trying to get them to reach their potential.

4) Nick Nolte, Blue Chips– Nolte spent lot of time around Bob Knight’s Indiana teams prepping for this role, so you see lot of Knight’s antics, and the climactic game for Western U is against the Hoosiers (in scenes filmed in a high school gym in Indiana). Nolte gets the role down well; he coaches against Rick Pitino, Knight and George Raveling in games, recruits against Jerry Tarkanian and Jim Boeheim.

3) James Gammon, Major League– Mr Gammon passed away seven years ago; he had such a great voice that one of the truck companies still uses his voice for their commercials. He plays Lou Brown, manager of the Cleveland Indians, who leads a rag-tag bunch of players to the AL pennant. He later wound up as Don Johnson’s father in the TV series Nash Bridges.

2) Gabe Kaplan, Fast Break– I love this movie. Kaplan is the manager of a New York City deli who takes a chance and becomes the coach at obscure college in Nevada; he doesn’t get a big contract ($60 for every win) until he beats Nevada State– he has to beat the Nevada State coach in pool just to get them on their schedule. Cadwallader University– Bernard King was one of his players, another player turned out to be a girl. This movie should be on TV somewhere (NBA Network?) every now and then.

1) Billy Bob Thornton, Friday Night Lights– I think this is the best representation of a coach I’ve ever seen on TV or in the movies. The movie is from a book that is based on a true story about Permian HS in west Texas, where high school football is a religion. Thornton has the coach thing down pat; his speeches before a game and at halftime are realistic and not over-the-top. Tremendous acting job.

**Udog** · 05-15-2017, 09:03 AM

Monday’s NBA Playoffs Game 7 betting preview: Wizards at Celtics

Bradley Beal scored a series-best 33 points in Friday's win but is still trying to find his shot from long range while shooting 26.3 percent from beyond the arc in the series.

Washington Wizards at Boston Celtics (-5, 209.5)

The Boston Celtics squandered a five-point lead in the final minute of Game 6 and were victimized by some fuzzy clock management in the final seconds of a 92-91 loss, but at least they can look forward to Game 7 at home. The top-seeded Celtics will try to continue the trend of the home team winning every game in the series and dispatch the Washington Wizards on Monday in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Wizards All-Star point guard John Wall buried a 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left in Game 6 to give his team a one-point lead and Kelly Oubre Jr. used Washington's foul to give with 2.7 seconds remaining, according to the NBA's Last Two Minute report, but Boston only got 1.7 seconds left on its final chance as Isaiah Thomas heaved up a 3-point attempt that missed the mark. The Wizards' win not only kept them alive but kept the home team undefeated in the 10 games the teams have played against each other going back to the regular season. "To have Game 7 back in Boston in the Garden," Thomas told reporters after the loss. "If you had said that back in October, that there'd be a Game 7 in the second round, a lot of people probably wouldn't even believe that. So we're excited. I mean, it hurts right now because we just lost. We have nothing to hold our heads down about, we're going to take a few days to figure out our adjustments and win Game 7." Washington is attempting to return to the conference finals for the first time since the 1978-79 season while the Celtics are looking to return for the first time since 2011-12.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT

LINE HISTORY: The Celtics opened as four-point home favorites for Game 7 and by Sunday afternoon that point spread was up to -5. The total hit the board at 211.5 and dropped down to 209.5.

INJURY REPORT:

Wizards - No injuries to report.

Celtics - No injuries to report.

ABOUT THE WIZARDS (56-38 SU, 47-46-1 ATS, 58-35-1 O/U): Wall is averaging 26.3 points and 10.2 assists in the series and combines with Bradley Beal to form a backcourt that is not afraid to take the big shots. "Now those guys are not babies anymore. They’re closers," Backup center Ian Mahinmi told the Washington Post. "They're proven closers. ... All those shots were like no hesitation. You could tell from the bench, you could tell from being on the floor, those guys are now calm when it comes down to taking the last shots and game-winning shots." Beal scored a series-best 33 points in Friday's win but is still trying to find his shot from long range while shooting 26.3 percent from beyond the arc in the series.

ABOUT THE CELTICS (60-34 SU, 48-44-2 ATS, 46-44-4 O/U): Thomas is averaging 19.3 points on 39 percent shooting in four games since exploding for 53 points in Game 2 but is looking forward to the opportunity to prove himself on the Game 7 stage. "That's where all the great players make their name," Thomas told reporters of Game 7. "You gotta give it everything you've got. I guess that's where legends are born. I'm excited." Thomas is getting plenty of help the last two games from shooting guard Avery Bradley, who followed up a playoff career-high 29 points in Game 5 with 27 in Game 6 and is 22-of-37 from the floor in that span.

TRENDS:

* Wizards are 0-6 ATS in their last 6 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
* Celtics are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games overall.
* Over is 4-0 in Wizards last 4 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
* Over is 6-0-1 in Celtics last 7 home games.
* Wizards are 0-8 ATS in the last 8 meetings in Boston.

CONSENSUS: 65 percent of users are siding with the home favorite Boston Celtics and Over is picking up 65 percent of the totals wagers.

**Udog** · 05-15-2017, 09:09 AM

NBA
Dunkel

Monday, May 15

Washington @ Boston

Game 715-716
May 15, 2017 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Washington
126.633
Boston
122.680
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Washington
by 4
212
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Boston
by 5
209 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Washington
(+5); Over

NBA
Long Sheet

Monday, May 15

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WASHINGTON (56 - 38) at BOSTON (60 - 34) - 5/15/2017, 8:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
WASHINGTON is 2-10 ATS (-9.0 Units) in road games against Atlantic division opponents this season.
WASHINGTON is 5-17 ATS (-13.7 Units) in road games versus good offensive teams - scoring 106+ points/game over the last 3 seasons.
BOSTON is 30-18 ATS (+10.2 Units) against Southeast division opponents over the last 2 seasons.
BOSTON is 43-28 ATS (+12.2 Units) revenging a loss vs opponent over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
BOSTON is 12-5 against the spread versus WASHINGTON over the last 3 seasons
BOSTON is 10-7 straight up against WASHINGTON over the last 3 seasons
9 of 17 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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NBA
Armadillo's Write-Up

Monday, May 15

Home side won all six Celtic-Wizard games in this series and last ten meetings overall; Wizards lost last five games in this building (0-5 vs spread). Six of last nine series games went over- favorites are 10-3 vs spread in last 13 meetings. Over is 5-2 in Wizards’ last seven games- only one of games in this series have been decided by less than ten points. Thomas was just 8-24 from floor in Game 6 loss; in four games since his 53-point game, Thomas is 23-59 (39.0%) from floor. Beal/Wall scored 59 of 92 Wizard points in Game 6; they’ll need little more balance in this game.

Conference finals:
San Antonio-Golden State
GState 113-111, -10, O209.5

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
Wash 92-91, -5, U215.5

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 12-6-1 (32-28-2)
Over 12-7 (34-28)

NBA

Monday, May 15

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Trend Report
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8:00 PM
WASHINGTON vs. BOSTON
Washington is 1-6 SU in its last 7 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Washington's last 7 games on the road
Boston is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Boston's last 5 games when playing at home against Washington

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Announcement

Monday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 5/15

Monday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 5/15

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