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**Udog** · 05-17-2017, 08:25 AM

Armadillo: Wednesday's six-pack

— Late night Tuesday had a lot of fun baseball stuff; A’s/Angels won wild games out on the west coast.

— Celtics won the NBA Draft Lottery; Lakers get the 2nd pick.

— Since 2000, Buffalo Bills have had nine head coaches and seven GMs. That’s a lot.

— Mets’ SS Asdrubel Cabrera finally goes on the DL with his sprained thumb.

— Freddie Freeman has 13 hits, four homers in his first seven games in Rogers Centre in Toronto.

— Miami Marlins are already committed to paying $95.3M to only eight players next season- their payroll is a total mess. They’ve ranked 25th or lower in attendance the last five years. Oy.

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

13) Further proof the world is slowly going crazy…..

“Volunteers at an overdose prevention site in Vancouver say they saved the life of a (pet) rat named Snuggles after the little rodent overdosed on heroin.”

CNBC reported the pet rat was brought in by a woman who said it had eaten heroin off a table.

You cannot make this stuff up.

12) Cosmopolitan Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas started charging customers to park this week, the 23rd Strip property to charge customers to park in visits to resorts. Self-park is $7-10 a day; valet parking is $13-18 a day.

11) Supposedly, one of the main reasons that Ben Simmons spent his six months of college at LSU is because lot of higher-profile college programs weren’t fond of the idea of having a camera crew following him around all season, for the infomercial his people did on him that aired on Showtime.

I mean, how do you do a 90-minute “documentary” on a basketball player, but never have either his high school or college coach on to talk? Supposedly Simmons has grown another two inches since we last saw him play– he is now just about 7-feet tall. I’ll be very curious to see him play in NBA games.

10) Since 2005, there have been 30 games that weren’t played at Coors Field that had a total of 12 or more runs. Under was 17-13 in those games.

9) Washington Redskins signed free agent LB Nico Marley, grandson of music legend Bob Marley; his dad Rohan Marley played ball at Miami.

8) 16.9% of Ben Roethlisberger’s passing attempts last year went 20+ yards downfield; the next highest percentage of any NFL QB last year was Cam Newton, at 13.9%.

7) For the first time in 10 years, the winner of the Main Event at the World Series of Poker will be crowned in July and not November. Wish they would legalize online poker in this country so ESPN would start showing the WSOP the way it used to- enjoyed watching that stuff.

6) Diamondbacks’ catcher Chris Iannetta was hit in the face by a pitch over the weekend; he broke his nose, a couple teeth and got stitches in his upper lip. Catchers are tough people.

5) Stanford/Long Beach State will play basketball the next three years; this year in Long Beach, the next two years on the Farm. At least Stanford goes on the road once, more than most Power 5 schools do.

Tulsa/Oklahoma State will play a home/home series starting this winter, which is very unusual.

4) Back in late January, Alabama opened as -4.5 over Florida State in the college football season opener this fall. That spread is now Alabama -7.

3) Alabama hired Yasir Rosemond as an assistant basketball coach; he has extensive recruiting ties in the Atlanta area- he previously was an assistant at Georgia and Oregon.

2) Old Italian proverb: “When the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.”

1) Geddy Lee, lead singer of Rush, was at the Braves-Blue Jays game in Toronto Tuesday. Lee is a huge baseball fan and apparently has a great memorabilia collection.

**Udog** · 05-17-2017, 08:37 AM

Wednesday’s NBA Eastern Conference Finals Betting Preview: Cavaliers at Celtics

The second-seeded Cavaliers haven't played since May 7 and will continue to ride the red-hot duo of forward LeBron James (34.4 average) and point guard Kyrie Irving (23.8).

Cleveland Cavaliers at Boston Celtics (+4, 219.5)

Series tied 0-0

The Cleveland Cavaliers have been scorching hot in the playoffs with eight straight victories and aim to keep the streak alive when they visit the Boston Celtics in Wednesday's opener of the Eastern Conference finals. Cleveland had few issues sweeping both the Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors while the Celtics had to fight through a tough seven-game series against the Washington Wizards that ended on Monday night.

The second-seeded Cavaliers haven't played since May 7 and will continue to ride the red-hot duo of forward LeBron James (34.4 average) and point guard Kyrie Irving (23.8) as they look to shake off the rust. "I know our team is anxious to play," Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue told reporters. "(Kyle) Korver and LeBron, those guys are talking about it, so our guys are just anxious to play and ready to go out there." Top-seeded Boston posted a 115-105 victory over Washington to reach the conference finals for the first time since 2012 and will be huge underdogs against the Cavaliers. "We gotta get ready for the defending champs, we know that," standout point guard Isaiah Thomas said after Monday's game. "The good thing about it is we've got homecourt advantage, so we're going to be ready on Wednesday to try to take care of home court. We know it's going to be tough but at this point, anything can happen, we really believe that."

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

LINE HISTORY: The Cavaliers opened as three-point road favorites for Game 1 and the public didn't think that was enough points, forcing the books to bump the number up to 4. The total hit the board at 219.5 and has been steady since its release Monday night.

INJURY REPORT:

Cavaliers - C E. Tavares (Out For Season, hand), PG K. Felder (Out Indefinitely, leg).

Celtics - No injuries to report.

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (59-31 SU, 41-45-4 ATS, 53-36-1 O/U): Coach Tyronn Lue has vowed to get power forward Kevin Love more involved in this series after he averaged just 13.8 points and 9.1 rebounds during the first two rounds. Love averaged 23.7 points and 13 rebounds in three games against the Celtics this season and Lue feels the matchups will be more in Love's favor in this round, but Love maintains he's not overly concerned. "I told him, 'We're 8-0. I don't mind it,'" Love recently told reporters. "If I get five or six shots, if I get 15 shots, it don't matter to me, as long as we win. I've been in this position before; we're having success, so I'm happy. Feel good."

ABOUT THE CELTICS (61-34 SU, 49-44-2 ATS, 47-44-4 O/U): Thomas has carried Boston through most of the playoffs in an inspiring manner considering the tragic death of his sister to go along with numerous minor bumps and bruises. Despite the hardships, Thomas is averaging 25.4 points in the postseason - he had 29 points, 12 assists and just two turnovers in the Game 7 win over the Wizards - and has four 30-point outings. "He's dealing with more stuff, physically, and has obviously gone through what he went through at the start of the playoffs," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said after the win over Washington. "It's pretty remarkable."

TRENDS:

* Cavaliers are 5-0-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall.
* Celtics are 9-2 ATS in their last 11 games overall.
* Under is 8-2 in Cavaliers last 10 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
* Over is 7-0-1 in Celtics last 8 home games.
* Under is 6-0 in the last 6 meetings in Boston.

CONSENSUS: 68 percent of users are siding with the road favorite Cavaliers and Under is picking up 53 percent of the totals wagers.

**Udog** · 05-17-2017, 08:40 AM

NBA
Armadillo's Write-Up

Wednesday, May 17

Quick turnaround for Celtics, who won Game 7 here against the Wizards two nites ago. Boston is 8-5 in playoffs, 5-2 at home- over is 5-2 in their last seven games. Cleveland is 8-0 in playoffs, 4-0 on road (3-0-1 vs spread)- they haven’t played in 11 days- which is worse? Quick turnaround or 11 days without a game? Over is 6-2 in Cleveland’s last eight games. Cavaliers won eight of last ten games with Boston, winning four of last five in this building; under is 7-3 in last ten series games. Cavs are 3-1 vs Boston this season, with wins by 6-6-23 points.

Conference finals:
San Antonio-Golden State
GState 113-111, -10, O209.5
State 136-100, -13, O211

Cleveland-Boston

NBA

Wednesday, May 17

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Trend Report
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8:30 PM
CLEVELAND vs. BOSTON
Cleveland is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Boston
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of Cleveland's last 14 games when playing Boston
Boston is 3-5-1 ATS in its last 9 games when playing Cleveland
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of Boston's last 14 games when playing Cleveland

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**Udog** · 05-17-2017, 10:18 AM

NBA
Dunkel

Wednesday, May 17

Cleveland @ Boston

Game 721-722
May 17, 2017 @ 8:30 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Cleveland
129.860
Boston
123.309
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Cleveland
by 6 1/2
215
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Cleveland
by 4
220
Dunkel Pick:
Cleveland
(-4); Under

NBA
Long Sheet

Wednesday, May 17

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CLEVELAND (59 - 31) at BOSTON (61 - 34) - 5/17/2017, 8:30 PM
Top Trends for this game.
CLEVELAND is 9-20 ATS (-13.0 Units) in road games after 3 or more consecutive wins over the last 2 seasons.
BOSTON is 44-28 ATS (+13.2 Units) revenging a loss vs opponent over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
BOSTON is 7-7 against the spread versus CLEVELAND over the last 3 seasons
CLEVELAND is 11-4 straight up against BOSTON over the last 3 seasons
10 of 15 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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**Udog** · 05-17-2017, 10:25 AM

WNBA
Dunkel

Wednesday, May 17

Indiana @ Phoenix

Game 651-652
May 17, 2017 @ 10:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Indiana
110.095
Phoenix
111.449
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Phoenix
by 1 1/2
162
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Phoenix
by 4
158
Dunkel Pick:
Indiana
(+4); Over

WNBA
Long Sheet

Wednesday, May 17

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INDIANA (0 - 1) at PHOENIX (0 - 1) - 5/17/2017, 10:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
INDIANA is 22-11 ATS (+9.9 Units) in a road game where where the total is greater than or equal to 150 over the last 3 seasons.
INDIANA is 29-15 ATS (+12.5 Units) in May games since 1997.
PHOENIX is 13-33 ATS (-23.3 Units) in May games since 1997.
PHOENIX is 6-16 ATS (-11.6 Units) in home games in May, June, or July games over the last 3 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
PHOENIX is 3-3 against the spread versus INDIANA over the last 3 seasons
INDIANA is 4-2 straight up against PHOENIX over the last 3 seasons
3 of 6 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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WNBA

Wednesday, May 17

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Trend Report
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10:00 PM
INDIANA vs. PHOENIX
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Indiana's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Indiana's last 7 games when playing Phoenix
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Phoenix's last 5 games at home
Phoenix is 13-5 SU in its last 18 games at home

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Announcement

Wednesday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 5/17

Wednesday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 5/17

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