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**Udog** · 10-17-2017, 08:34 AM

Armadillo: Tuesday's six-pack

NBA over/under win totals for the coming season:

Golden State Warriors 67.5

Boston Celtics 56.5

Houston Rockets 55.5

San Antonio Spurs 54.5

Cleveland Cavaliers 53.5

Oklahoma City Thunder 51.5

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Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but……..

13) You hear a lot of cruddy things about people these days; here’s something nice about someone, Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds.

Votto is the Reds’ biggest star; when a 6-year old boy in Cincinnati had cancer this past summer, Votto visited the kid, without wanting publicity, and tried to make the kid feel as good as possible as this horrible disease took its toll. He helped in a fundraising event for the boy’s family that the Reds sponsored- he contributed $10,000 of his own money.

The little boy passed away 10 days ago; Votto was at the memorial service, again not wanting publicity, but in this age of negativity, how can you can not talk about such a nice person?

12) Detroit Lions’ QB Matthew Stafford is on pace to get sacked 61 times this season; the last NFL QB to get sacked 60+ times in a season? Jon Kitna, also of Detroit, back in 2006.

11) Maryland fired its athletic director, in part because the guy tried to get the AD job out at California, and Maryland’s school president wasn’t happy about that.

10) Rams play Arizona in London Sunday, but they’re staying in Jacksonville until Thursday, to get solid practices in, as opposed to doing tourist-type stuff in England. Different teams have taken different approaches to the London games; we’ll see how this works out.

9) New York-Houston playoff game Friday was the first time ever that the two cleanup hitters in a playoff game were the starting shortstops.

8) Cubs’ pitching coach Chris Bosio takes a while to the walk to the mound, but with good reason; he has a broken ankle, and is wearing a boot on his foot.

7) 37-year old Damien Wilkins has been out of the NBA since 2013, but he made the Indiana Pacers’ roster this season— good for him.

6) Nebraska hired Washington State AD Bill Moos as its new athletic director, which may be bad news for both football coach Mike Riley and basketball coach Tim Miles, both of whom have been struggling to win as much as the wealthy boosters would like.

5) Ike Iroegbu played an exhibition game for the Clippers last week with no name on the back of his uniform; he had arrived in LA just a few hours before the game. Clippers cut him over the weekend; he is probably headed to the G-League.

4) Golden State Warriors may have found itself a steal in Oregon alum Jordan Bell; the 38th pick in the draft scored 29 points in 49 minutes in the preseason.

3) When Cavaliers’ JR Smith drinks coffee, he puts in 8 creams and 8 sugars in each one. Not a lot of room left for the coffee.

2) 49ers released LB NaVorro Bowman last week, a once-great player who is still good enough to play in the NFL. He signed with Oakland Monday.

1) Chiefs were at the last NFL team to lose this season; last time the “last team to lose” won the Super Bowl that year? The 2006 Indianapolis Colts

**Udog** · 10-17-2017, 09:49 AM

NBA
Dunkel

Tuesday, October 17

Boston @ Cleveland

Game 501-502
October 17, 2017 @ 8:05 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Boston
118.135
Cleveland
135.624
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Cleveland
by 17 1/2
234
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Cleveland
by 3
212
Dunkel Pick:
Cleveland
(-3); Over

Houston @ Golden State

Game 503-504
October 17, 2017 @ 10:35 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Houston
116.711
Golden State
135.6241239.954
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Golden State
by 23
236
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Golden State
by 9
231 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Golden State
(-9); Over

NBA
Long Sheet

Tuesday, October 17

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BOSTON (62 - 38) at CLEVELAND (64 - 36) - 10/17/2017, 8:05 PM
Top Trends for this game.
BOSTON is 23-10 ATS (+12.0 Units) in road games in the first half of the season over the last 3 seasons.
BOSTON is 11-2 ATS (+8.8 Units) in road games against Central division opponents over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
CLEVELAND is 6-5 against the spread versus BOSTON over the last 3 seasons
CLEVELAND is 9-3 straight up against BOSTON over the last 3 seasons
6 of 12 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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HOUSTON (61 - 32) at GOLDEN STATE (83 - 16) - 10/17/2017, 10:35 PM
Top Trends for this game.
HOUSTON is 23-12 ATS (+9.8 Units) in the first half of the season over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
GOLDEN STATE is 8-3 against the spread versus HOUSTON over the last 3 seasons
GOLDEN STATE is 10-2 straight up against HOUSTON over the last 3 seasons
8 of 12 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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NBA
Armadillo's Write-Up

Tuesday, October 17

Not a lot to go on for the first 7-10 days, until these teams get some games under their belts. I’ll give you what relevant information I have:

Cavaliers won five of their last six games with Boston, beating Celtics in 5 games in playoffs LY. Road team won five of last six series games. Celtics lost four of last five visits here, but went 3-1-1 vs spread in those games (over 4-1). These teams made a big trade in offseason; Irving is now a Celtic, Thomas is out with an injury.

Golden State won 8 of last 10 games with Houston (7-3 vs spread); under is 6-1 in last seven series games. Rockets, who now have Chris Paul, lost four of last five visits to Oakland (2-3 vs spread). Warriors probably get their championship rings tonight, which can be a distraction.

NBA

Tuesday, October 17

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Trend Report
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8:00 PM
BOSTON vs. CLEVELAND
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Boston's last 5 games when playing on the road against Cleveland
Boston is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Cleveland
Cleveland is 13-5 SU in its last 18 games
Cleveland is 1-5-1 ATS in its last 7 games when playing at home against Boston

10:30 PM
HOUSTON vs. GOLDEN STATE
Houston is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Houston's last 5 games on the road
Golden State is 19-3 SU in its last 22 games when playing Houston
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Golden State's last 7 games when playing Houston

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**Udog** · 10-17-2017, 02:30 PM

NBA Game of the Day: Opening Night

After what may be the wildest offseason ever, the NBA action finally returns to the court Tuesday night with an epic doubleheader. The season opens with Kyrie Irving making his return to Cleveland, before James Harden and Chris Paul try to show the West isn't just the Warriors for the taking.

Boston Celtics at Cleveland Cavaliers (-3.5, 212)

Kyrie Irving figures to receive a chilly reception when he returns to Cleveland as a member of the Boston Celtics for Tuesday's season-opening game against the Cavaliers. Irving played six seasons with Cleveland but requested a trade following last season and ended up in Boston for a package that included point guard Isaiah Thomas and forward Jae Crowder.

The four-time All-Star guard helped Cleveland reach three NBA Finals - including winning the 2016 title - but reportedly tired of playing with forward LeBron James and now attempts to downplay his return to no avail. "The excitement and the energy is there but I think everything extra has been created by outside influence," Irving said. "So that's neither here nor there. I don't know what that reality is. ... It's going to happen regardless. That's just the nature of the business. I understand that." Irving helped the Cavaliers defeat the Celtics in last season's Eastern Conference finals and Cleveland's revamped roster includes veteran guards Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose and Jose Calderon in addition to newcomers Thomas (out due to hip surgery) and Crowder. James has been bothered by a sprained left ankle and his availability may not be determined until close to tipoff.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, TN

LINE HISTORY: The Cavs opened this Eastern Conference Final rematch favored by 4-points at home and were bet down to -3.5, but as of Tuesday morning the line returned to the opening number. The total opened at 212 and dropped to 211, but has come back up to the current number of 212.5.

INJURY REPORT:

Celtics - C Aaron Baynes (Probable Tuesday, knee), PF Marcus Morris (Late October, knee)

Cavaliers - PF Kevin Love (Probable Tuesday, knee), SF LeBron James (Questionable Tuesday, ankle), PG Isaiah Thomas (Mid January, hip).

ABOUT THE CELTICS (2016-17: 53-29, 40-40-2 ATS, 39-39-4 O/U): Irving wasn't the lone big offseason acquisition as Boston lured All-Star small forward Gordon Hayward (formerly of the Utah Jazz) to town with a four-year, $128 million deal. The move to Boston allows Hayward to reunite with Brad Stevens, his former college coach at Butler, and he looks to build off a career-best 2016-17 campaign in which he averaged 21.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Veteran post player Al Horford, second-year swingman Jaylen Brown and rookie forward Jayson Tatum are the other likely starters, with Tatum drawing the assignment of guarding James in his NBA debut.

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (2016-17: 51-31, 36-53-3 ATS, 47-34-1 O/U): James missed four of Cleveland's five preseason games but he did participate in Monday's practice, which consisted of shooting drills and a walkthrough. "You know I never hide stuff from you guys, I really don't know," Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue told reporters. "I mean, just depends on how he feels after (Monday), but I really don't know." Thomas may not make his Cleveland debut until around the All-Star break, so veterans like Rose, Wade and J.R. Smith will be asked to help James and center Kevin Love on the scoring side.

TRENDS:

* Cavaliers are 8-2-1 ATS in their last 11 vs. Eastern Conference opponents.
* Road team is 12-3-1 ATS in the last 16 meetings.
* Over is 20-7 in Cavaliers last 27 home games.
* Over is 4-1 in the last five meetings in Cleveland.

CONSENSUS: Bettors are giving LeBron the edge in this matchup with 60 percent of the public on the Cavaliers. Bettors are also expecting a high scoring matchup, with 62 percent of wagers on the Over.

Houston Rockets at Golden State Warriors (-9.5, 229)

The Golden State Warriors begin pursuit of their third NBA title in four seasons when they host the Houston Rockets in Tuesday's season-opening clash. The Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers to win last season's NBA Finals and will be in the hunt again this season behind the star quartet of forwards Kevin Durant and Draymond Green and guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

Curry and Durant co-existed beautifully in the latter's first season with the Warriors but now the focus is on Curry, who coach Steve Kerr predicts will be better than his two recent NBA MVP campaigns of 2014-15 and 2015-16. "I think Steph is at his absolute peak right now," Kerr told reporters. "Physically, emotionally, this is probably as good as he's ever going to be, this year. I think he's better now than he was last year and the year before. And that's saying something." The Rockets added veteran point guard Chris Paul to the James Harden-led group and coach Mike D'Antoni feels his squad is closer to competing with the Warriors in terms of a possible matchup in the Western Conference finals. "We closed the gap only because I feel that we're better this year than last year," D'Antoni told reporters. "Now, we'll see if they're better. They might be better, so maybe it's an illusion. That's the reason we can say that. We just feel like we're a better team this year."

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT

LINE HISTORY: The defending champion Warriors opened this matchup at most shops favored by 9.5-points, but they have been bet down slightly to the current number of Warriors -9. The total opened at a very high 232 and was bet down as far as 228, before rebounding to the current number of 229.5.

INJURY REPORT:

Rockets - PG Chris Paul (Probable Tuesday, knee).

Warriors - SG Andre Iguodala (Probable Tuesday, back), SF Omar Casspi (Probable Tuesday, ankle), PF Draymond Green (Probable Tuesday, back), PG Shaun Livingston (Probable Tuesday, illness), SF Kevin Durant (Probable Tuesday, illness).

ABOUT THE ROCKETS (2016: 55-27, 42-20 ATS, 41-40-1 O/U): Harden was a do-it-all machine last season when he was the runner-up for MVP to Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook, but Paul is now around to be the primary ball-handler. "I can adjust to anybody," Harden told reporters. "Anybody that is a leader can figure it out and work together. That's just how life works. Anybody that works hard and has a great work ethic and loves and is passionate about something will be able to mesh and work together no matter what. We bring those qualities out of each other, me and CP. It's bound to work." Houston will again hoist a ton of 3-pointers as Harden (262), guard Eric Gordon (246) and forward Ryan Anderson (204) each topped 200 last season while forward Trevor Ariza (191) fell just short.

ABOUT THE WARRIORS (2016: 67-15, 40-39-3 ATS, 32-50 O/U): Durant enters this season in a comfortable position after the decision to leave Oklahoma City 15 months ago created plenty of drama, in addition to the upheaval of moving from a town he spent eight seasons living in to adjusting to a new city before capping off the season by being named Finals MVP. "He looked so relaxed and confident," Kerr said of Durant's preseason play. "Last year, he was trying to decipher what we were doing. This year, he just did it. There's a comfort level that exists now that allows him to go out there and play without thinking." Thompson remains one of the best two-way shooting guards in the NBA while Green is the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

TRENDS:

* Warriors are 9-1 ATS in their last 10 vs. Southwest Division opponents.
* Rockets are 1-5 ATS in the last six meetings.
* Under is 6-1 in the last seven meetings.
* Over is 5-0 in Warriors last five vs. Southwest Division opponents.

CONSENSUS: Despite the sky-high expectations for the Warriors this season, bettors think the spread in this matchup is too much with 60 percent of the public on the new-look Rockets. Bettors also think this will be a high-scoring game, even with a total hovering around 230, 59 percent of wagers are on the Over.

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Tuesday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 10/17

Tuesday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 10/17

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