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**Udog** · 02-17-2018, 08:41 AM

Armadillo: Saturday's six-pack

Over/under win totals for baseball this season:

Houston Astros 96.5

Los Angeles Dodgers 96.5

Cleveland Indians 94.5

Washington Nationals 92.5

Boston Red Sox 91.5

Miami Marlins 64.5

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Armadillo: Saturday's List of 13: Random thoughts, mostly about Las Vegas

13) My favorite dinner place in Las Vegas is Battitsta’s, a hole-in-the-wall place behind the Cromwell and next to Bally’s. Very good Italian place; old school, with checked tablecloths and an older guy who walks around playing the accordion.

Runner up place to eat is the Mirage, where they have the Carnegie Deli, with the biggest sandwiches ever. I order extra bread and make two sandwiches out of it.

Another good restaurant is in the Stratosphere, but I can’t remember the name of it; it is an Italian place downstairs and it is really good- lighting is dark and reminds you of scenes in different movies.

12) If you like basketball, Las Vegas is a fun place to live; UNLV hoops are lot of fun to go to; they’re having a resurgent year this season- little disappointed the public hasn’t caught on to them that much yet, but part of that is how well the new hockey team is doing.

11) In July, NBA Summer League is at UNLV for a good part of the month; for $30, you can sit in an air conditioned arena all day long and watch guys try to make the NBA.

Later in July, the best high school players in the western US play in tournaments all over Las Vegas. All the college coaches you see on TV all winter are there at one time or another— lot of good basketball.

10) Then in March, the WCC, WAC, Mountain West and Pac-12 all have their conference tournaments in Las Vegas. Lot of good action to choose from.

9) There is a Pinball Museum on Flamingo Road; you can go in and play these old-time pinball machines for a quarter. its a quirky fun way to spend a couple of hours.

8) There is a never a shortage of shows, concerts to go to in Las Vegas; plus the Golden Knights have 41 home games a year now. Jewel is playing at the Wynn in late March; Donnie and Marie play in Vegas all the time. Carrot Top has his comedy act there all the time. Lot of stuff going on.

7) Best sportsbook in Las Vegas is definitely the Westgate, where I stayed the last 11 days; huge place, good bar, three food options, just by the sports book and tremendous TV screens to watch almost anything you want. On NFL Sundays, the Westgate opens their theater to show NFL games.

6) The Neon Museum downtown has a lot of old neon signs from old casinos that don’t exist anymore; its an oddly cool piece of history, especially at dusk, when they light some of the signs.

5) They play AAA baseball at Cashman Field downtown in the spring/summer; this will be the last year for the Mets’ AAA team in Las Vegas. They’re also building a new ballpark out in the northwest section of town, up in Summerlin. No word on whose AAA team will move in, with the Mets’ team moving to Syracuse in 2019.

4) One thing about the Las Vegas airport; people arriving at the airport most always look happier than people flying out of Las Vegas.

3) Had a 3.5-hour layover in Baltimore’s airport Friday night, which would’ve been lot more palatable if they had decent WiFi there. They do have Chick-fil-A though and Chick-fil-A is tremendous.

2) St Bonaventure 77, Rhode Island 74— Rams’ 16-game winning streak is over. Bonnies have won eight games in a row.

1) I’m back in my palatial suburban estate after 11 days in the desert; Las Vegas is great fun to visit- there was a magic convention at my hotel while I was there (no, things didn’t keep disappearing) and I went to a UNLV game (NHL tickets are too expensive since the Knights are doing so well). A full 11 days of fun, plus I missed a snowstorm. Worth it!!!!

**Udog** · 02-17-2018, 08:43 AM

NBA's Best ATS Teams Heading Into All-Star Weekend:

1. Celtics 34-23-2
2. 76ers 31-23-1
3. Raptors 32-25
4. Clippers 31-24-1
5. Nets 33-26
6. Pacers 32-26
7. Hawks 31-26-2
8. Bulls 30-26-1

NBA's Worst ATS Teams Heading Into All-Star Weekend:

30. Cavs 18-37-1
29. Thunder 25-34
28. Hornets 22-31-4
27. Grizzlies 24-30-2
26. Warriors 26-31-1
25. Bucks 24-28-5
24. Kings 25-29-3
23. Suns 27-30-2

**Udog** · 02-17-2018, 08:43 AM

2018 NBA All-Star Saturday Night betting: Slam Dunk, 3-Point & Skills Contests
Ashton Grewal

NBA All-Star Saturday is a party and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise. Who here hasn’t pumped up your Reeboks and showed off your anti-gravity moves on a hoop eight feet off the ground?

Maybe you don’t have all the moves you once did and maybe those shoes don’t pump up the same way for you as they did for Dee Brown. You can still get in the mix by betting on the three skills competitions on Saturday night which sportsbooks have been kind enough to post odds on.

Here’s a look at the players competing in each event and the odds to win along with my best stab at handicapping them.

Taco Bell Skills Challenge

Time: 8:00 PM ET

Participants and their odds:

Lou Williams (+350)
Joel Embiid (+700)
Lauri Markkanen (+750)
Al Horford (+500)
Buddy Hield (+600)
Andre Drummond (+1000)
Jamal Murray (+375)
Spencer Dinwiddie (+500)

This used to be a guard-only event with players showcasing their dribbling, passing and shooting but the format was switched up so it could include the big fellas too. The four guards fill out one side of the bracket and the four bigs battle it out in the other bracket. The winner of each side faces off in the final and of the last two winners have been 7-footers.

It’s not about how fast a player is dribbling through the pylons; it’s about how quickly they can pass the ball into the net and if they can make their first 3-point attempt. Drummond has attempted six 3-pointers this season and has missed all of them. Let’s rule him out. Embiid loves the spotlight but he’s the second-worst shooter in the field. Bye, bye Joe Joe.

If Buddy Hield loses by five seconds in the first round it’ll be the closest game he’s played in since he was at Oklahoma. Spencer Dinwiddie is having a great season for the Nets but he was almost out of the league a year ago and he’s the least accurate shooter from deep between the guards.

That leaves us with Al Horford, Lauri Markkanen, Jamal Murray and the favorite Lou Williams. Markkanen is my pick because the price is nice, his shot is pure and he’s extremely mobile for a 7-footer.

Pick: Markkanen +750

Three-Point Contest

Klay Thompson +210
Kyle Lowry +850
Eric Gordon +375
Paul George +650
Bradley Beal +750
Wayne Ellington +750
Devin Booker +550
Tobias Harris +1100

This used to be an event reserved for off-the-bench specialists like Craig Hodges, Tim Legler and Jason Kapono. But many of the best players in the league are also the best shooters because of the expansion of the 3-point shot.

All-Star players like Klay Thompson, Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving have taken home the hardware in this competition in five of the last eight years. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been handsome payouts in the past for bettors who correctly predicted the winners. Last year’s champ, Eric Gordon, was listed at +660 and 2016 winner Klay Thompson was +450.

Thompson is the chalk again this year while defending champ Gordon is the third choice. Tobias Harris and Wayne Ellington are the only two players in the field who are competing in the event for the first time.

Gordon and fellow dead-eye shooter Bradley Beal carry the lowest season 3-point shooting percentage at 33.4 and 37. Devin Booker’s 3-point shooting stats are finally starting to catch up to his reputation as a marksman. He’s shooting a career-best 38.3 percent from deep and he performed pretty well when he competed as a rookie in 2016.

Paul George is my pick and not because he’s the hottest hand entering the night. He’s making 47.4 percent of his shots from deep this month on 9.8 attempts per game. He’s a California native and the LA crowd should be pulling for him – especially with the way he’s been flirting with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Pick: George +650

Verizon Slam Dunk

Dennis Smith Jr. +190
Donovan Mitchell +210
Larry Nance Jr. +290
Victor Oladipo +375

This event is tougher to handicap with many favorites winning the competition but last year gave long shot bettors so hope. While the 2017 Slam Dunk Contest didn’t live up to the epic showdown among Aaron Gordon and Zach LaVine in 2016, underdog bettors were treated to a healthy payout when Glenn Robinson III (+1300) won.

Books aren’t offering that type of value this year but it is clear the hype is behind Dallas Mavericks rookie Dennis Smith Jr. to put up the most impressive showing. Larry Nance Jr. is the best in-game dunking between the four players in this event but his specialty is dunking on guys. Not sure if that will translate as well in this competition.

Utah Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell has flashed some creativity with his finishes at the rim this season. It’s nothing more than a hunch but I’ll back him.

Pick: Mitchell +210

**Udog** · 02-17-2018, 08:44 AM

NBA All-Star Game producing a dominant Over trend
Ashton Grewal

The total in the 2018 NBA All-Star Game is the second highest in 10 years – and possibly in the exhibition game’s history – but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any value betting the Over.

The Over is 8-1 in the last nine All-Star games and last year’s contest was the highest-scoring (374 points) in the history of the game. The total in this year’s game is 78 points greater than the over/under line in the 2009 game. Oddsmakers have increased the All-Star total almost every year but haven’t been able to slow the winning tickets for Over bettors.

The Houston Rockets are threatening to produce the greatest single season offense in NBA history is season for the same reason the scoring in All-Star games keeps soaring: 3-point shooting.

The game in 2010 had 38 attempts from deep and in just six years the record was set for most 3-pointers attempted in an NBA All-Star game with 139. The All-Star record for most total points was set in 2016 and then broken the very next year.

Of course this year the league introduced a new format for the composition of the two teams. It’s no longer East vs. West; it’s Team LeBron vs. Team Steph. There are some, like Sharp 600 podcast host Joe Fortenbaugh, who think there will be more intensity in this year’s game because of the team selection process.

Bragging rights are not the only stakes that have been increased. The NBA doubled its prize payout to each player on the winning team from $50,000 to $100,000. A six-figure cash prize might be enough to see some players get down in a defensive stance before the last two minutes in the fourth quarter.

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Saturday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 2/17

Saturday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 2/17

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