Announcement

**Udog** · 08-27-2020, 08:43 AM

Enough is enough. More power to pro athletes in their effort to bring attention to a despicable condition in this country and the world. Since no one knows what to expect, we'll proceed as if games will be played today.

**Udog** · 08-27-2020, 08:44 AM

Armadillo: Thursday's six-pack

Odds to win the golf tournament this week:
+750— Dustin Johnson
+1000— Jon Rahm
+1200— Bryson DeChambeau
+1300— Justin Thomas
+1800— Rory McIlroy
+2000— Webb Simpson, Xander Schauffele

Americans who have died from COVID-19: 178,819
Please wear a mask when you go out.

**********

Armadillo: Thursday's Den: Doing some thinking out loud…….

13) Pretty good day/night for two pitchers from the Albany area.

Braves’ rookie Ian Anderson made his MLB debut in the opener of a twinbill- he gave up only one hit in six IP in a 5-1 win over New York.

Colorado’s Jeff Hoffman came out of the bullpen and squelched a late Arizona rally, getting the last out of the Rockies’ 8-7 win in the desert. It was his first career save.

Anderson went to Shenendehowa HS (with Kevin Huerter of the Atlanta Hawks), Hoffman went to Shaker HS (my high school’s arch-rival). Tommy Kahnle is another big league pitcher from the Albany area; he also went to Shaker.

12) There have been 16 doubleheaders in the major leagues this year; eight of them have been swept, which is an unusually high percentage of sweeps.

11) There was a time when the major league umpires’ union was pretty powerful; used to be that replays of close calls weren’t allowed to be shown on the stadium scoreboard.

Now the umpires’ union is hoping MLB doesn’t go to robotic umps to call balls/strikes; replays are an integral part of the game

10) Doug Eddings had the plate in the Colorado-Arizona game Wednesday; game was taking forever because Robbie Ray doesn’t throw strikes anymore, and Eddings was calling strikes whenever he could find a pith close to the plate. Ray threw 99 pitches in four tedious innings.

The last 2+ years, under is 37-31 with Eddings behind the plate.

9) We’ve mentioned how umpires have been traveling a lot less this season; in Kyle Hendricks’ last three starts for the Cubs, he’s had the same home plate umpire, Tim Timmons for all three games. That is really rare in the big leagues.

8) In Lucas Giolito’s no-hitter for the White Sox Tuesday night, he threw only 27 balls; Pirates swung/missed at 30 of his pitches, and only one batter reached base, on a walk.

7) Bad Beat of the night from Tuesday morning in the KBO; Kiwoom Heroes had a 5-0 lead after five innings at KT, but the Wiz rallied for a 6-5 win in 10 innings. Kiwoom used 12 pitchers in the game; they don’t have the 3-batter minimum in Korea.

6) Random stat: In baseball history, the most hits by one player, against one team:
Detroit Tigers’ Ty Cobb had 619 hits against New York. Lot of fewer teams back then, and no interleave play, so teams played each other a lot more than they do now.

5) Tampa Bay Rays already have 21 wins; 10 different Tampa pitchers have at least one save.

4) In his last 105 games, Ronald Acuna Jr. has 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases; if he stays healthy for an entire season, he’s going to put up some massive numbers. But he has to stay healthy, and stealing a lot of bases takes its toll on a players’ legs.

3) Indiana Pacers fired coach Nate McMIllan Wednesday; he made the playoffs all four years he coached the Pacers, but then went 3-16 in the playoffs, getting swept three of four years. Like all pro sports, NBA is a performance-based business.

2) Portland Trailblazers’ star Damian Lillard is going back to Portland to have his right knee checked; he dislocated a finger on his left hand in a game last week, then sprained his knee in the Blazers’ last game.

1) If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
AL East- Tampa Bay, New York
AL Central- Minnesota, Clev/CWS
AL West- Oakland, Houston
AL Wild Cards- Chi/CWS, Toronto

NL East- Miami, Atlanta
NL Central- Chicago, St Louis
NL West- Los Angeles, San Diego
NL Wild Cards- Colorado, San Francisco

**Udog** · 08-27-2020, 08:49 AM

725DENVER -726 UTAH
UTAH is 98-78 ATS (12.2 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 106+ points/game in the last 3 seasons.

727LA CLIPPERS -728 DALLAS
LA CLIPPERS are 11-3 ATS (7.7 Units) in road games versus good ball handling teams - committing <=14 turnovers/game - 2nd half of the season in the current season.

751BOSTON -752 TORONTO
BOSTON is 9-1 ATS (7.9 Units) playing with 3 or more days rest over the last 2 seasons.

NBA
Long Sheet

Thursday, August 27

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DENVER (48 - 30) vs. UTAH (47 - 30) - 8/27/2020, 4:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
DENVER is 4-17 ATS (-14.7 Units) in road games after a win by 10 points or more over the last 2 seasons.
DENVER is 24-36 ATS (-15.6 Units) after scoring 115 points or more over the last 2 seasons.
DENVER is 27-15 ATS (+10.5 Units) vs. division opponents over the last 2 seasons.
UTAH is 23-32 ATS (-12.2 Units) as a favorite this season.

Head-to-Head Series History
DENVER is 9-7 against the spread versus UTAH over the last 3 seasons
UTAH is 8-8 straight up against DENVER over the last 3 seasons
9 of 16 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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LA CLIPPERS (52 - 25) vs. DALLAS (45 - 35) - 8/27/2020, 9:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
LA CLIPPERS are 2-13 ATS (-12.3 Units) in road games when leading in a playoff series since 1996.
LA CLIPPERS are 245-299 ATS (-83.9 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record - 2nd half of the season since 1996.
DALLAS is 88-72 ATS (+8.8 Units) in all games over the last 2 seasons.
DALLAS is 457-371 ATS (+48.9 Units) as an underdog since 1996.
DALLAS is 233-184 ATS (+30.6 Units) in road games revenging a loss vs opponent since 1996.
DALLAS is 38-22 ATS (+13.8 Units) after allowing 115 points or more over the last 2 seasons.
DALLAS is 32-17 ATS (+13.3 Units) after a loss by 10 points or more over the last 3 seasons.
DALLAS is 73-53 ATS (+14.7 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 3 seasons.
DALLAS is 74-53 ATS (+15.7 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 106+ points/game over the last 2 seasons.
LA CLIPPERS are 43-33 ATS (+6.7 Units) in all games this season.
LA CLIPPERS are 36-27 ATS (+6.3 Units) as a favorite this season.
LA CLIPPERS are 43-29 ATS (+11.1 Units) in road games versus poor defensive teams - allowing 106+ points/game over the last 2 seasons.
LA CLIPPERS are 28-15 ATS (+11.5 Units) in road games versus poor defensive teams - allowing 106+ points/game - 2nd half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
LA CLIPPERS are 42-29 ATS (+10.1 Units) in road games versus good offensive teams - scoring 106+ points/game over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
LA CLIPPERS is 9-6 against the spread versus DALLAS over the last 3 seasons
LA CLIPPERS is 10-5 straight up against DALLAS over the last 3 seasons
9 of 15 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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BOSTON (52 - 24) vs. TORONTO (57 - 19) - 8/27/2020, 6:30 PM
Top Trends for this game.
TORONTO is 43-31 ATS (+8.9 Units) in all games this season.
TORONTO is 33-22 ATS (+8.8 Units) as a favorite this season.
TORONTO is 34-25 ATS (+6.5 Units) versus good offensive teams - scoring 106+ points/game this season.
TORONTO is 19-10 ATS (+8.0 Units) versus good offensive teams - scoring 106+ points/game - 2nd half of the season this season.
BOSTON is 43-29 ATS (+11.1 Units) in all games this season.
BOSTON is 46-28 ATS (+15.2 Units) as an underdog over the last 3 seasons.
BOSTON is 9-1 ATS (+7.9 Units) when playing with 3 or more days rest over the last 2 seasons.
BOSTON is 13-4 ATS (+8.6 Units) after a division game this season.
BOSTON is 24-11 ATS (+11.9 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
BOSTON is 34-25 ATS (+6.5 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 106+ points/game this season.
BOSTON is 21-12 ATS (+7.8 Units) in road games versus good offensive teams - scoring 106+ points/game this season.
BOSTON is 25-14 ATS (+9.6 Units) in road games versus good offensive teams - scoring 106+ points/game - 2nd half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
TORONTO is 227-276 ATS (-76.6 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record - 2nd half of the season since 1996.

Head-to-Head Series History
BOSTON is 7-5 against the spread versus TORONTO over the last 3 seasons
BOSTON is 7-5 straight up against TORONTO 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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NBA

Thursday, August 27

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Trend Report
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Denver @ Utah
Denver
The total has gone OVER in 12 of Denver's last 13 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Denver's last 6 games on the road
Utah
Utah is 11-1 SU in its last 12 games when playing at home against Denver
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Utah's last 6 games when playing Denver

Boston @ Toronto
Boston
Boston is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Boston's last 6 games
Toronto
Toronto is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Toronto is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games at home

LA Clippers @ Dallas
LA Clippers
The total has gone OVER in 5 of LA Clippers's last 5 games on the road
LA Clippers is 9-1 ATS in its last 10 games on the road
Dallas
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Dallas's last 5 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Dallas's last 6 games when playing LA Clippers

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**Udog** · 08-27-2020, 09:29 AM

Game 1 Odds: Celtics vs. Raptors
Michael Crosson

The Celtics and Raptors will be the first teams to kick off a second-round playoff series on Thursday night, thanks to first round sweeps of the 76ers and Nets to start off their 2020 playoff campaigns.

Toronto was expected to dominate Brooklyn heading into the postseason, but they weren’t expected to do it how they did. The Raptors scored an impressive average of 126+ points per game in its four playoff victories against Brooklyn, and there is no doubt they are a vital title-threat if Fred Van Fleet and the crew plan to continue scoring the way they did in round one.

Joel Embiid and the Sixers were expected to at least make Boston sweat a little bit in the opening round, even with the absence of Ben SImmons, but Jayson Tatum’s supporting cast was proven to be drastically superior to Joel’s young squad of role players, winning by an average margin of 11.75 points in a four-game beatdown of their division rival, resulting in firing of Brett Brown.

Betting Resources

Matchup: Eastern Conference Game 1
Venue: ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
Location: Orlando, Florida
Date: Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020
Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN

The Boston Celtics are listed as slight underdogs to the Toronto Raptors in both Game 1 and the best-of-seven series. (AP)

Line Movements

The higher-seeded Toronto Raptors head into Game 1 of their second round series as two-point favorites against Brad Stevens and his Boston Celtics, despite boasting a losing record against Boston in the regular season.

‘Unders’ have been golden for two of the best defensive teams in the league to start the playoffs, as Celtics/Raptors games have stayed under the total in five out of eight bubble playoff contests to date. The total ‘over-under’ for this contest is holding strong at 216 points.

The oddsmakers are projecting this series to be a tight one, as Boston enters Game 1 as a slim +125 underdog to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals ahead of the Raptors (-150).

Spread: Toronto -2
Money-Line: Toronto -120 Boston +100
Total: 216
Updated Series Price: Toronto -140, Boston +120

Celtics Betting Outlook

Inside the Stats

Bubble: 9-3 SU, 6-5-1 ATS, 5-6-1 O/U
Playoffs: 4-0 SU, 3-1 ATS, 1-3 O/U

The Celtics are another team that looks like they are just now starting to put it all together, as we saw Kemba Walker looking like his old self, hanging 32 points on the Sixers in their Game 4 win to close out the final game of Boston’s first round series.

All the talk leading up to this series is surrounding the strength of Toronto’s defense, but let’s not forget about Boston’s deep defensive unit. The Celtics rank 4th in the NBA in defensive rating (106.5), trailing the second ranked Raptors by just a thin margin (104.7).

Boston held an always explosive Philadelphia team under 102 points in three out of four contests in the first-round of the playoffs while scoring an average of 112 points per game.

I expect them to put out an even better defensive effort against Toronto in this series, as they will likely need one to compete with the defending champs.

Raptors Betting Outlook

Inside the Stats

Bubble: 11-1 SU, 9-3 ATS, 4-7-1 O/U
Playoffs: 4-0 SU, 3-1 ATS, 3-1 O/U

Toronto is notorious for being one of the best teams in the NBA on the defensive side of the ball, but in its series with the Nets, Nick Nurse’s team got it done with overpowering offense, tallying 115+ points in three out of their last four contests.

It seems like the Raptors are just now beginning to hit their stride offensively after exploding for 150 points in their most recent contest, making that 3-1 ATS in the last four games.

Toronto is not a team to be reckoned with in the East and they have a chance to put the East on hold with a statement win on Thursday night.

Celtics vs. Raptors Head-to-Head

2019-20 Regular Season

Aug. 8, 2020: Boston (+1.5) 122 vs. Toronto, Push 222
Dec. 28, 2019: Toronto (+7) 113 at Boston 97, Under 217
Dec. 25, 2019: Boston (+4) 118 at Toronto 102, Over 214
Oct. 25, 2019: Boston (-2.5) 112 vs. Toronto, 106, Over 213.5

A highly anticipated playoff matchup kicks off on Thursday night in the bubble when the Raptors and Celtics square off for the fifth time this season.

Boston currently owns a 3-1 series lead, winning by an average margin of 14.7 points against Toronto on the year, but take that with a grain of salt as Pascal Siakam did not participate in two of those contests and the most previous matchup between these teams in the bubble was a meaningless one with key players on both sides not receiving typical minute loads.

This series is loaded with elite defensive talent at multiple positions on the floor, but that hasn’t necessarily been on display in the games between these teams so far this season, as they have combined for over 216 points in three out of their four matchups.

Try not to look too deep into the regular season H2H tallies between these two teams, as the recent results aren’t likely indicative of how this series will play out on the stat sheet.

Key Injuries

Boston

SG Javonte Green: Knee - Out
SF Gordon Hayward: Ankle - Out

Toronto

SF Patrick McCaw: Knee - Out
SF Oshae Brissett: Knee - Out

Gordon Hayward will miss Boston’s second round series with the Raptors after exiting Game 1 against the Sixers with a grade-3 right ankle sprain, requiring him to leave the bubble on Friday for treatment.

Kyle Lowry headlines the key injury concerns for Toronto heading into Thursday’s Game 1 affair as he is a game-time decision with an ankle issue. Coach Nick Nurse confirmed Lowry missed practice on Tuesday afternoon, but is “hopeful” his point-guard will be available for Thursday’s contest.

**Udog** · 08-27-2020, 10:15 AM

NBA
Dunkel

Thursday, August 27

Denver @ Utah

Game 725-726
August 27, 2020 @ 4:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Denver
113.505
Utah
119.345
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Utah
by 6
233
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Utah
by 2
220 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Utah
(-2); Over

Boston @ Toronto

Game 751-752
August 27, 2020 @ 6:30 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Boston
124.535
Toronto
129.170
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Toronto
by 4 1/2
230
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Toronto
by 2
216
Dunkel Pick:
Toronto
(-2); Over

LA Clippers @ Dallas

Game 727-728
August 27, 2020 @ 9:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
LA Clippers
126.779
Dallas
114.731
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
LA Clippers
by 12
247
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
LA Clippers
by 8 1/2
238
Dunkel Pick:
LA Clippers
(-8 1/2); Over

Announcement

Thursday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 8/27

Thursday's NBA Trends and Indexes - 8/27

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