Announcement

**Udog** · 05-20-2019, 08:41 AM

Armadillo: Monday's six-pack

Odds to win the US Open golf tournament next month:

5-1— Brooks Koepka

8-1— Dustin Johnson

12-1— Eldrick Woods

14-1— Rory McIlroy

16-1— Justin Rose

20-1— Day, Fowler, Rahm, Smith, Thomas

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Armadillo: Monday's List of 13: In a perfect world, where I made all the decisions……

13) Kids could go right from high school to the NBA; going to school for only one year is a farce, so if a kid goes to college, then he is there for at least two years. College baseball has that rule, but I think it is three years for them.

12) Both leagues would have the DH; this will happen in a couple years. Add a player or two to rosters, to appease the players’ union.

11) NFL would have an 18-game regular season, only two preseason games; Super Bowl would be Sunday night of Presidents’ Day weekend.

10) College football teams wouldn’t play I-AA opponents; SEC teams do this a lot. Last year, Alabama played The Citadel, Ole Miss played Southern Illinois, South Carolina played Tenn-Chattanooga. Seriously? Go play a MAC team or a Sun Belt team, at least.

9) Online poker would be made legal so the poker companies would advertise on TV and ESPN would start replaying the World Series of Poker again, like they used to. The stuff ESPN puts on in daytime on weekdays is mostly terrible. Mike Greenberg, Stephen A Smith both make around $6M a year, a tremendous waste of money.

Listening to talking heads in contrived arguments is a waste of electricity. Much rather watch people play cards, or replays of games, actual competition.

8) As far as college basketball transfers go, if you poach a transfer from a team, then you have to go play a game in that team’s gym. Most of the teams that poach transfers are way better than the teams they poach from anyway, but they often don’t have the onions to play road games.

By way of explanation, over the last seven seasons, Duke has played only three non-conference road games, all mandated by the ACC-Big 14 challenge. When Duke poached Seth Curry from Liberty, they should have had to go there and play a true road game.

7) I would take the radios out of NFL players’ helmets; coaches have six days to prepare their teams to play. Gameday should be the players’ day; let the QB’s call their own plays, which would make the game lot more exciting. QB’s calling the plays would make the game more fun.

6) I’d eliminate the American/National Leagues and go to geographic realignment, which would reduce travel costs and invigorate regional rivalries. Going to 32 teams (which will happen soon) will make scheduling a lot easier.

5) NBA playoff series would be best-of-3, with finals best-of-5. Less games, more drama; it is more interesting when the best team has a chance to lose. Would the NCAA tournament be at all interesting if a 16-seed played Duke/Kentucky best-of-3?

4) I’d get rid of the Electoral College in our presidential election; whoever gets the most votes wins, just like in all the other elections.

3) Would definitely move the NBA Draft Lottery back to a half hour before the actual draft; imagine the drama then? Lot of executives would have to think on their feet.

2) You want to make baseball’s All-Star Game more interesting? Make it USA vs the World, and it’ll become a serious game fairly quickly. Maybe too serious.

1) Would like to make people happier; nowadays, there is so much anger in the world. There is a lot less tolerance of others than there used to be. You be you, and let others do what they do. Cheer the bleep up!!!!

**Udog** · 05-20-2019, 08:45 AM

**Udog** · 05-20-2019, 08:47 AM

G4 - Warriors at Blazers
Kevin Rogers

There isn’t much that can stop the Warriors on their way to a fifth straight Western Conference title. Not even playing without Kevin Durant for four consecutive games, including three in the conference finals. And rallying from a 17-point deficit in Game 2 and an 18-point deficit in Game 3 is old hat for Golden State, who is looking to knock out Portland for the third time in the last four postseasons.

The Blazers built a 62-45 advantage in the second quarter of Game 2 at Oracle Arena, but Portland was limited to 46 points after halftime in a 114-111 setback. Portland returned to the Moda Center for Game 3 on Saturday night seeking its sixth victory in seven home playoff games and an opportunity to sneak back into this series.

For the second straight game, the Blazers came out on fire as they led the champs, 60-42 late in the first half. Once again, the Warriors made the necessary “halftime adjustments” and outscored Portland in the second half, 57-33 to grab a 110-99 victory and improve to 5-2 away from Oakland in the playoffs.

No KD, no problem for the Warriors as Golden State rode the three-headed monster of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green to its 11th playoff victory in 12 tries against Portland since 2016. Curry continued to torch the Blazers by scoring at least 36 points for the third consecutive game in this series, while hitting 6-of-16 attempts from three-point range. Green posted his third triple-double of the postseason with 20 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists, while Thompson scored 19 points, representing the only three Warriors to reach double-figures.

The key to Portland’s success in this series (or any other series) is the backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum combining for at least 50 points. The Blazers went 7-1 in the first two rounds against the Thunder and Nuggets when Lillard and McCollum topped the 50-point mark. Through the first three games against Golden State, the Portland pair scored 36, 45, and 42 points, which has not been a recipe for success.

In Game 3, Lillard continued his recent playoff struggles by hitting 5-of-18 shots and scoring 19 points, while McCollum put up 23 points, including a 2-of-10 effort from three-point range. The starting frontcourt of Maurice Harkless and Al-Farouq Aminu combined for only eight points, while Portland missed 24 three-point attempts and misfired on 13 free throws.

Since 2015, the Warriors own a 5-3 SU/ATS when leading a playoff series, 3-0 with all eight contests coming away from Oracle Arena. Golden State last swept the Western Conference finals in 2017 when the Warriors wiped out the Spurs by 14 points in Game 4. All five of these victories by the Warriors in this span came by double-digits, including a 25-point rout of the Blazers in the 2017 first round.

NBA expert Tony Mejia checks in with his thoughts on Game 4, “The knowledge that Lillard is playing through separated ribs isn’t going to affect the Warriors’ game plan. Golden State is still going to send extra bodies his way to keep him from getting comfortable and make others beat him. At this point, given the second-half droughts that have impacted this series, Steve Kerr is quite comfortable with his strategy. Terry Stotts has already tweaked things by starting Meyers Leonard instead of Enes Kanter to run offense through him along the perimeter and has altered his rotation some."

“Lillard and others have missed good looks, so being on the verge of a sweep for the third straight year has been a collective collapse. For that reason, the Blazers remain dangerous, because it’s going to be very important to this group that they don’t go out at home or have to think about getting the broom treatment for another summer. If Green can’t manage to raise the Warriors’ intensity level the way he was able to in Game 3, taking points for pride’s sake shouldn’t be dismissed. We all saw the Blazers’ spirit get broken in Game 3, but the Warriors will have to beat them back for another 48 minutes on Monday night. That’s likely to be easier said than done. Teams facing a sweep against Golden State have gone 2-4 over the past few seasons,” Mejia said.

After closing as a 2 ½-point underdog in Game 3, the Warriors are flipped to a four-point favorite in Monday’s potential close-out game. Durant will be sidelined once again for Golden State to no one’s surprise and likely will not suit up at the earliest until the opener of the NBA Finals.

**Udog** · 05-20-2019, 08:55 AM

501Golden State -502 Portland
PORTLAND is 12-1 ATS (10.9 Units) in home games revenging a loss vs opponent of 10 points or more over the last 2 seasons.

NBA
Dunkel

Monday, May 20

Golden State @ Portland

Game 501-502
May 20, 2019 @ 9:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Golden State
128.775
Portland
120.850
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Golden State
by 8
218
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Golden State
by 3 1/2
217
Dunkel Pick:
Golden State
(-3 1/2); Under

NBA
Long Sheet

Monday, May 20

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GOLDEN STATE (68 - 29) at PORTLAND (61 - 36) - 5/20/2019, 9:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
GOLDEN STATE is 42-54 ATS (-17.4 Units) in all games this season.
GOLDEN STATE is 36-49 ATS (-17.9 Units) as a favorite this season.
GOLDEN STATE is 14-23 ATS (-11.3 Units) after a win by 10 points or more this season.
GOLDEN STATE is 23-36 ATS (-16.6 Units) after 3 or more consecutive wins over the last 2 seasons.
GOLDEN STATE is 52-67 ATS (-21.7 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 2 seasons.
GOLDEN STATE is 34-49 ATS (-19.9 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 106+ points/game this season.
GOLDEN STATE is 19-28 ATS (-11.8 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 106+ points/game - 2nd half of the season this season.
GOLDEN STATE is 35-43 ATS (-12.3 Units) versus good offensive teams - scoring 106+ points/game this season.
PORTLAND is 97-79 ATS (+10.1 Units) in all games over the last 2 seasons.
PORTLAND is 50-37 ATS (+9.3 Units) in home games over the last 2 seasons.
PORTLAND is 51-34 ATS (+13.6 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 106+ points/game - 2nd half of the season over the last 3 seasons.
GOLDEN STATE is 93-66 ATS (+20.4 Units) versus good offensive teams - scoring 106+ points/game - 2nd half of the season since 1996.

Head-to-Head Series History
PORTLAND is 9-9 against the spread versus GOLDEN STATE over the last 3 seasons
GOLDEN STATE is 14-4 straight up against PORTLAND over the last 3 seasons
10 of 18 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 20

How badly do the Warriors want some time off? Win here gets them some free time. Portland led last two games by 15-13 points at halftime, lost both; now comes word that Lillard is playing thru separated ribs that happened in Game 2. Lillard/McCollum combined to go 38-108 from floor in first three games— can’t beat Golden State that way. Curry has 73 points the last two games; Green had a triple-double in Game 3. Warriors’ bench was combined +31 in Game 3, and two of their subs are starting now, with Durant/Cousins out. Portland is 3-3 vs spread in last six games as an underdog; they were favored Saturday, but not here.

NBA

Monday, May 20

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Trend Report
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Golden State Warriors
Golden State is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Golden State is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Golden State's last 5 games on the road
Golden State is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Portland
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Golden State's last 6 games when playing Portland
Golden State is 15-8 ATS in its last 23 games when playing on the road against Portland
Golden State is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games when playing on the road against Portland
The total has gone OVER in 11 of Golden State's last 14 games when playing on the road against Portland
Portland Trail Blazers
Portland is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games
Portland is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games at home
Portland is 13-2 SU in its last 15 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Portland's last 5 games at home
Portland is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games when playing Golden State
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Portland's last 6 games when playing Golden State
Portland is 8-15 ATS in its last 23 games when playing at home against Golden State
Portland is 3-7 SU in its last 10 games when playing at home against Golden State
The total has gone OVER in 11 of Portland's last 14 games when playing at home against Golden State

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Announcement

Monday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 5/20

Monday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 5/20

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